Leaf beetles attracted to light in a tropical dry forest of northern Mexico (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Abstract

This is the first study of the composition of leaf beetles attracted to light in Mexico. We analyze the richness, temporal abundance and similarity between four localities of tropical dry forest in Sierra de San Javier, Sonora. A total of 3217 individuals belonging to 45 morphospecies, 31 genera and 10 tribes within five subfamilies of Chrysomelidae were collected in light traps in the tropical dry forest of Sierra de San Javier, Sonora. Galerucinae was the subfamily with the greatest number of genera and species. The genera with the highest number of species were Pachybrachis Chevrolat and Alagoasa Bechyné. Eight genera were represented by two species and 21 genera by only one species. Metrioidea rugipennis (Blake) was the species with the highest number of individuals (80% of the abundance recorded). According to the taxonomic and species similarity analysis, the sites San Javier and La Barranca had the highest similarity, while the lowest values were recorded at Rancho Las Peñitas and Cañón de Lo de Campa. The low similarity between sites cannot be explained by the geographic distance since it was not a determining factor to explain the low similarity in Sierra de San Javier.