Habitat association promotes diversity of histerid beetles (Coleoptera: Histeridae) in neotropical ecosystems

Abstract

We aimed to verify how distinct habitats (forest, cerrado, rupestrian field, and introduced pasture) and attractive baits contribute to histerid beetle distribution in the Serra de São José, Brazil. Beetles were sampled using baited pitfall traps (50 g of omnivore dung, bovine dung, or bovine carcass), resulting in the collection of 1,129 individuals representing 22 species. Histerid diversity was reduced in areas with low vegetation complexity, where we also observed a high dominance of Hister cavifrons Marseul. Meanwhile, Euspilotus excavata Arriagada was abundant and exclusive in the forest. Habitats exhibited distinct histerid communities according to a ANOSIM test, but the same test failed to find that baits attracted different “communities” of species. These results highlight the simplification process acting after habitat degradation, with a prevalence for common species with a large geographic distribution. Our results also show the importance of habitat diversity at the landscape level to histerid biodiversity in the Neotropics.