Scarabaeidae of the Museo de Zoología LOUNAZ-UNL

Study Extent

Collecting trips by the personnel of the Museo de Zoología de la Universidad Nacional de Loja (LOUNAZ) will be conducted in the southern region known as Zona de Planificación 7, which also includes reserves and national parks within the government system called Sistema Nacional de Áreas Protegidas.

Sampling

To collect dung beetles, three 250-meter linear transects were established in each vegetation type in the study areas. Five pitfall traps were placed, 50 meters apart, in each transect, baited with human feces and chicken viscera, intercalated. Transects were placed 100 meters apart from each other. For each locality, three independent sampling events were conducted (one per month). The traps were left opened for 72 hours, and checked every 24 hours. Also, every 24 hours the bait was checked and replaced if needed, in order to maintain the efficiency of the trap.

Method steps

1. Before starting any sampling event, collecting permits by the Environmental Ministry in Ecuador are requested and granted. Students, technicians and researchers who do collecting are trained previously on what collecting data should be included in the labels. The training includes the use of a GPS (Gramin) to collect elevation data and coordinates where each individual trap was placed. Training is conducted by the invertebrate and vertebrate museum curators. Once the specimens are brought to the lab they are mounted and labeled. Each specimen receives a unique LOUNAZ identification number. A specialized taxonomist identifies the specimens to family and subfamily level to make sure they indeed belong to the Scarabaeidae (Coleoptera) taxonomic group (following general museum guidelines). Later, specimens are identified to species level using the taxonomic keys listed below. Identifications have been validated by Fernando Vaz de Mello, William Chamorro, and Aura Paucar-Cabrera. The identification data is entered in the database by locating the unique LOUNAZ id number. Specimens are identified to species level when genera revisions allow it, however not all species names are entered in this database as currently those species names have not been registered by the node administrator and haven´t been given a serial number to use in this system yet. Taxonomic keys: Chamorro, William, Marín-Armijos, Diego, Granda, Valeria, & Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Z.. (2018). Listado de especies y clave de géneros y subgéneros de escarabajos estercoleros (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) presentes y presuntos para Ecuador. Revista Colombiana de Entomología, 44(1), 72-100. https://doi.org/10.25100/socolen.v44i1.6545 Génier, F. 2009. Le genre Eurysternus Dalman, 1824 (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Oniticellini), revision taxonomique et clés de determination illustrées. Sofia: Pensoft. 430 pp. Génier, F. 1996. A revision of the Neotropical genus Ontherus Erichson. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 170: 1-169. Sarmiento R, Amat G. Escarabajos del género Dichotomius Hope, 1838 (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) en Colombia. Fauna de Colombia, monografía No 4. Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia; 2014. 130p. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/2.1.4692.9926. Silva, F.A.B., Louzada, J. & Vaz-de-Mello, F.Z. A revision of the Deltochilum subgenus Aganhyboma Kolbe, 1893. Zootaxa 3925(4):451-504.

The LOUNAZ invertebrate collection holds specimens in the class Insecta, identified to order, genera and species level.

1. Insecta
   rank: class

The southern region known as Zona de Planificación 7, which also includes reserves and national parks within the government system called Sistema Nacional de Áreas Protegidas.