Faunal survey, endemism and possible species loss of Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in the western slopes of the moist South Western Ghats, South India

Abstract

Species composition, distribution patterns and endemism are outlined for the dung beetles in the ecoregions of the western slopes of the moist South Western Ghats, South India. Among the 142 dung beetle species known, 35 are endemic to the Western Ghats; 29 are endemic to the moist South Western Ghats; 25 are regionally endemic to the South Western Ghats montane rain forests ecoregion; and one each to the Malabar Coast moist deciduous forest ecoregion and the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests ecoregion. Five species, including the 3 flightless species, are local endemics to the upper montane tropical montane cloud forests. The montane rain forests ecoregion has the highest number of endemics in the moist south Western Ghats and the moist deciduous forests ecoregion and Malabar Coast moist deciduous forest ecoregion have the lowest levels of endemism. Of the 137 dung beetle species known prior to the deforestation and habitat modification of the region, only 87 have been collected recently.

Dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) community structure across a forest- agriculture habitat ecotonein South Western Ghats

“…Decades of anthropogenic pressures such as fragmentation, logging and habitat conversion exerted on the forests in the Western Ghats (Sukumar and Easa, 2006;Latha and Unnikrishnan, 2007;Prabhakaran, 2011) had led to the establishment of heliophilic species in the forest of the region which are adapted to tolerate the warmer microclimat ic conditions of the edge. Earlier studies done in forest and modified habitats had revealed the presence of heliophilic species in the region (Vinod, 2009;Sabu et al, 2011, Venugopal, 2012. In addition, intrusions of wild animals from forest into the edge provides adequate food resource for dung beetles of ecotone.…”

“…Decades of anthropogenic disturbance in the region has resulted in the establishment of heliophiles and synanthropic species. Further deterioration of the forests can lead to species loss in the region (Sabu et al, 2011). Hence, it is recommended to conduct similar studies to fully understand the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on biodiversity of the South Western Ghats, as such studies assists to plan adequate conservation strategies for the region in the future.…”

An Opto-Electronic Sensor for Detecting Soil Microarthropods and Estimating Their Size in Field Conditions

“…Dispersal capacity also depends on habitat characteristics [ 42 ], such as water content in the soil, soil texture and structure (particle size and distribution), porosity. These will influence sampling efficiency of soil fauna [ 40 , 43 ].…”

A first faunistic study on the tribe Oniticellini Kolbe, 1905 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) of Baikunthapur Tropical Forest of the Himalayan foothills, West Bengal, India

“…2e): Length 6 mm, breadth 2.5 mm; upper surface dark; head short and broad, gently rounded at sides, with the vertex bearing two sinuate carina basally and the genae not protruding from sides of clypeus at clypeo-genal junction; clypeus anteriorly reflexed and deeply bilobed in the middle; pronotum coarsely and rugosely punctured, very dark on disc and testaceous at sides and bears a mid-longitudinal groove at the base; elytra shallowly striate and not completely covering the abdomen and metepisterna at the sides, interstriae flat, narrow and fringed before the hind margin, 1 interstria with 4, 5 with 2 and 7 with 1 long erect setae, 3 without long erect setae, other than the tuft on apical declivity; metasternal shield smooth, with a very indistinct depression medially; pygidium narrower at base than the 1 to 5 elytral interstriae of the two elytra taken together; hind femur devoid of setae on postero-inferior edge. (Péringuey 1901, Branco 2010, Thomas et al 2011, Chandra and Gupta 2013, Karimbumkara and Priyadarsanan 2013, Löbl and Smetana 2006, Noureen et al 2015, Gajendra and Prasad 2016, Philips 2016, Anto and Vinod 2017, Singh et al 2017, Schoolmeesters 2020.…”

“…Euoniticellus pallipes (Fabricius, 1781) Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bosnia, Bulgaria, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Libya, Mongolia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, Senegal, Somalia, Spain, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan Löbl and Smetana (2006), Thomas et al (2011), Chandra et al (2012), Sullivan et al (2016), Singh et al (2017), Schoolmeesters (2020) 9.…”