Annotated list of beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) in an urban area of the Eastern Andes of Colombia

Study Extent

The municipality of Tunja is located in the department of Boyacá (Colombia) north of the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes (05°32'07"N, 73°22'04"W), with an average altitude of 2775 m a.s.l. and an area of 121.4 km2. The mean annual precipitation is 645 mm and the mean annual temperature is 12.9 °C (Venegas 2019). The urban part of the municipality has an area of 17.15 km2, which represents 14% of the total municipality (López 2019). Most of the buildings are located on the high slopes and are predominantly of colonial architecture, mainly in the center of the city. For green areas, the city has 88 urban parks, mostly with spaces smaller than 1000 m2, representing 0.2 km2 of the total area of the city (<1%). Within the urban area, 10 forest areas exist with a high dominance of introduced tree species such as Eucalyptus globulus Labill., Pinus radiata D.Don, Pinus patula Schltdl. & Cham., Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze, Acacia decurrens Willd., Acacia melanoxylon R.Br., Cupressus lusitanica Carrière and Araucaria heterophylla (Salisb.) Franco.

Sampling

Se revisan ejemplares depositados en la colección de insectos del Museo de Historia Natural "Luis Gonzalo Andrade" de la Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia (UPTC) y de colecciones esporádicas de varios puntos de la ciudad de Tunja, Boyacá.

Quality Control

We determined the species and confirmed new records with the support of specialists for each family and by means of keys to family and genera (taxonomic revisions) and original descriptions of the species

Method steps

1. We followed two steps for collecting the information: 1. We reviewed the specimens deposited in the Insect Collection of the "Luis Gonzalo Andrade" Natural History Museum of the Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia (UPTC). 2. Between the years 2016-2019, we collected beetles through hand collecting within the urban area of Tunja (sporadic encounters, not systematic sample), particularly in green areas such as parks, Eucalyptus L'Hér. plantations, and grasslands, and on sidewalks, homes and buildings (gray areas). Collections were made under the collection framework permitted by the Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia (Resolution 724 of 2014), granted by the National Environmental Licensing Authority - ANLA of Colombia. The collected specimens are deposited in the Insect Collection of the "Luis Gonzalo Andrade" Museum of Natural History. The information on the habitat where each specimen was found it was obtained from hand collecting and information from the labels of the specimens of the collection . The information on the habitat was categorized into types: green areas (parks, pastures, plantations) and gray areas (roads, sidewalks, houses, buildings).

We recorded 34 species, 30 genera, 17 subfamilies, and 12 families of beetles

1. Amphideritus setosus
   rank: species
2. Amphideritus steinheili
   rank: species
3. Amphideritus vilis
   rank: species
4. Amyipunga moritzii
   rank: species
5. Ancognatha scarabaeoides
   rank: species
6. Ancognatha ustulata
   rank: species
7. Calligrapha percheroni
   rank: species
8. Conoderus semimarginatus
   rank: species
9. Cycloneda sanguinea
   rank: species
10. Daiphron multicostatum
    rank: species
11. Deretrachys juvencus
    rank: species
12. Eriopis punicola
    rank: species
13. Eurysthea cribripennis
    rank: species
14. Golofa eacus
    rank: species
15. Harmonia axyridis
    rank: species
16. Heterogomphus dilaticolis
    rank: species
17. Heterogomphus schoenherri
    rank: species
18. Hister cavifrons
    rank: species
19. Hoplopyga liturata
    rank: species
20. Lasiocala lucens
    rank: species
21. Leschenius vulcanorum
    rank: species
22. Manopus biguttatus
    rank: species
23. Mimographus amandus
    rank: species
24. Nealcidion lineatum
    rank: species
25. Neda aequatoriana
    rank: species
26. Onthophagus curvicornis
    rank: species
27. Oxelytrum discicolle
    rank: species
28. Paulosawaya ursina
    rank: species
29. Pseudophengodes roulini
    rank: species
30. Pteroplatus gracilis
    rank: species
31. Rhysium guttiferum
    rank: species
32. Sitophilus oryzae
    rank: species
33. Tropisternus lateralis
    rank: species
34. Uroxys coarctatus
    rank: species

The municipality of Tunja is located in the department of Boyacá (Colombia) north of the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes, with an average altitude of 2775 m a.s.l. and an area of 121.4 km2