Are fungivorous Scarabaeidae less specialist?

Authors

  • Silvia A. Falqueto Laboratório de Ecologia de Comunidades, Depto. de Biologia Geral, Univ. Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil
  • Fernando Z. Vaz-de-Mello Laboratório de Ecologia de Comunidades, Depto. de Biologia Geral, Univ. Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil
  • José H. Schoereder Laboratório de Ecologia de Comunidades, Depto. de Biologia Geral, Univ. Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil

Keywords:

mycophagy, fungivory, dung beetles, food resource, rainforest

Abstract

In a tropical forest patch of Southeastern Brazil, adult Scarabaeidae beetles were used to test the hypothesis that fungivorous guilds have a higher proportion of generalist species than either frugivorous, necrophagous or coprophagous ones. No significant differences were found between guilds in relation to either the proportion of generalists or niche breadths of the component species. Only two fungivorous specialist species were sampled. These results indicate that sporocarps eaten by Scarabaeidae are not as rare as literature suggests. Fungi may help maintain high species diversity of Scarabaeidae in tropical forests.

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Published

2005-06-01

How to Cite

Falqueto, S. A., Vaz-de-Mello, F. Z., & Schoereder, J. H. (2005). Are fungivorous Scarabaeidae less specialist?. Ecología Austral, 15(1), 017–022. Retrieved from https://ojs.ecologiaaustral.com.ar/index.php/Ecologia_Austral/article/view/1472

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 1 (2005)

Section

Articles

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