00484nam a2200109   4500008004600000245003700046210003700083250017200120100001900292700001600311856004700327       Submitted                   eng d     00aDung Beetles of the Upper Amazon0 aDung Beetles of the Upper Amazon  a[Specimens are located in the Adrian Forsyth Insect Collection (AFIC), housed in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.]1 aLarsen, T., H.1 aForsyth, A.  uhttps://scarabaeinae.myspecies.info/node/102108nas a2200313   4500008004100000020001400041245007000055210006900125260000800194300001200202490000600214520129900220653001301519653001501532653000901547653002301556653001601579653002601595653001401621653001001635653002401645653000901669653001701678100001901695700001501714700001601729700001501745856003401760       2009                        eng d  a1744-956100aFrom coprophagy to predation: a dung beetle that kills millipedes0 aFrom coprophagy to predation a dung beetle that kills millipedes  cApr  a152-1550 v53 aThe dung beetle subfamily Scarabaeinae is a cosmopolitan group of insects that feed primarily on dung. We describe the first case of an obligate predatory dung beetle and contrast its behaviour and morphology with those of its coprophagous sympatric congeners. Deltochilum valgum Burmeister killed and consumed millipedes in lowland rainforest in Peru. Ancestral ball-rolling behaviour shared by other canthonine species is abandoned, and the head, hind tibiae and pygidium of D. valgum are modified for novel functions during millipede predation. Millipedes were killed by disarticulation, often through decapitation, using the clypeus as a lever. Beetles killed millipedes much larger than themselves. In pitfall traps, D. valgum was attracted exclusively to millipedes, and preferred injured over uninjured millipedes. Morphological similarities placing D. valgum in the same subgenus with non-predatory dung-feeding species suggest a major and potentially rapid behavioural shift from coprophagy to predation. Ecological transitions enabling the exploitation of dramatically atypical niches, which may be more likely to occur when competition is intense, may help explain the evolution of novel ecological guilds and the diversification of exceptionally species-rich groups such as insects.10aBEHAVIOR10aCOLEOPTERA10aDEAD10aDeltochilum valgum10adung beetle10aecological transition10aEVOLUTION10aguild10amillipede predation10aPeru10aSCARABAEIDAE1 aLarsen, T., H.1 aLopera, A.1 aForsyth, A.1 aGenier, F.  u<Go to ISI>://00026437190000302438nas a2200217   4500008004100000245011500041210006900156260000800225300001200233490000700245520181300252653002102065653001002086653001602096653001102112653001302123100001902136700001502155700001602170856003402186       2006                        eng d00aExtreme trophic and habitat specialization by Peruvian dung beetles (Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae : Scarabaeinae)0 aExtreme trophic and habitat specialization by Peruvian dung beet  cDec  a315-3240 v603 a<p>Resource partitioning strategies can help us understand the origin and maintenance of highly diverse communities. We collected 205 dung beetle species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaemae) associated with many different kinds of resources in southeastern Peru. We focus only on extreme cases of resource specialization of species occupying unusually narrow ecological niches, rather than the broad range of specialists which exists. The natural history of most of these species is previously unknown, and several have been considered very rare. Although dung beetles were captured with all types of dung, including avian, reptile and invertebrate dung, species did not specialize exclusively on certain dung types. Ten species appeared to specialize exclusively on a single non-dung food resource, including fruit, fungus, carrion, dead invertebrates, and live millipedes. The diets of 15 species captured only by hand or with passive flight intercept traps are unknown, and these included species in unusual genera such as Anomiopus, Bdelyrus, Canthonella, Dendropaemon, and Sinapisoma. Eleven species appeared to specialize exclusively on a restricted habitat or microhabitat such as riverine beach, Guadua bamboo patches, river alder forest (Tessaria), attine ant nests, or abandoned termite nests. Four species of Canthon were forest canopy specialists. The apparent rarity of some of these species, such as Canthonidia rubroinaculata Blanchard, Deltochilum valgum Burmeister, Ontherus laminifer Balthasar, and Ontherus raptor Genier, may only be due to their unusual habits, while other species, such as Megatharsis buckleyi Waterhouse, appear to be genuinely rare. We also discuss the implications of these findings for sampling methodology and assessment of species abundance distributions.</p>
10aBates coleoptera10agenus10arain-forest10ararity10arevision1 aLarsen, T., H.1 aLopera, A.1 aForsyth, A.  u<Go to ISI>://000243471300007