Abstract

FALQUETO, Silvia A; VAZ-DE-MELLO, Fernando Z  and  SCHOEREDER, José H. Are fungivorous Scarabaeidae less specialist?. Ecol. austral [online]. 2005, vol.15, n.1, pp.17-22. ISSN 1667-782X.

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.

Keywords : Mycophagy; Fungivory; Dung beetles; Food resource; Rainforest.

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