Diversity, habitat preferences, and seasonality of Kansas carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae).

Abstract

Pitfall trapping, blacklighting, and examination of institutional collections produced records for 13 species of Silphidae in Kansas: Necrodes surinamensis (Fabricius), Necrophila americana (Linnaeus), Nicrophorus americanus Olivier, Ni. carolinus (Lin naeus), Ni. marginatus Fabricius, Ni. mexicanus Matthews, Ni. orbicollis (Say), Ni. pus tulatus Herschel, Ni. tomentosus Weber, Oiceoptoma inaequale (Fabricius), O. novebora cense (Forster), Thanatophilus lapponicus (Herbst), and T. truncatus (Say). No current populations of the federally endangered silphid, Ni. americanus or Ni. mexicanus were documented in Kansas, and records for both species are more than 50 years old. Data based on 2007 specimens resulting from 1709 pitfall trapnights in 23 Kansas counties are standardized and used in an assessment of habitat preferences and seasonality among the encountered taxa. Four species (M. carolinus, Ni. marginatus, T. lapponicus, and T. trun catus) are nearly restricted to open prairies with sandy soil, 2 species (Ne. americana and O. noveboracense) are dominant in woodlands, and 3 species (Ni. orbicollis, Ni. pustulatus, and O. inaequale) occur in both wooded and open habitats. Necrodes surinamensis and Ni. pustulatus have bimodal peaks of activity in Kansas. Adults of O. inaequale and O. noveboracense were not captured in Kansas after mid-summer. Necrophila americana, Ni. marginatus, Ni. orbicollis, and Ni. tomentosus occur in Kansas from spring to late summer. The purpose of this study is to reveal current patterns of diversity, distribution, habitat preferences, and seasonality for Kansas carrion beetles (Cole?ptera: Sil phidae). Although Peck and Kaulbars (1987) summarized these attributes for all species in the conterminous United States, this study provides more detailed information about the habitats and seasonality of Kansas taxa. Carrion beetles have been widely studied for several reasons. First, most have a well-defined ecological role as primary scavengers of carrion and thus appeal to ecologists. Second, members of the subfamily Nicrophorinae (Nicrophorus spp.) stimulate interest from behavioral and evolutionary biologists due to their parental care (summarized in Anderson and Peck, 1985), a behavior quite uncommon among beetles. Third, the presence within this family of a federally endangered insect, the American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus Olivier, has drawn attention from biologists, conservationists, and the news media. Populations of this species have been intensively studied on Block Island, Rhode Island (Kozol et al., 1988), and in Oklahoma (Creighton et al., 1993), while populations in Arkansas (USFWS, 1991) and Nebraska (Ratcliffe and Jameson, 1992) were more recently re-discovered and are currently being investigated. Another reason con tributing to interest in Silphidae concerns the attractiveness of many species that have contrasting aposematic coloration (noted in Anderson and Peck, 1985). With abundant resources, coexistence of species with similar niche requirements can occur. As resources begin to limit populations, however, alternative niche 1 This paper published through a grant from the C. P. Alexander Fund of the Kansas Entomological Society. Accepted for publication 10 November 1995. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.59 on Sun, 16 Oct 2016 04:39:33 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms