Arboreal foraging height in a common neotropical dung beetle, Canthon subhyalinus Harold (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Abstract

Arboreal foraging by dung beetles has been reported from tropical rainforests in several regions. In the central Amazon, Brazil, the widespread, arboreal dung beetle Canthon subhyalinus Harold was caught most often in dung traps at 8-24 m above the forest floor, below the height of most primate activity in the area, where dung should be plentiful yet competition for it low. Studies of dung beetle diversity routinely only include traps set on the forest floor, missing arboreal species such as C. subhyalinus, and generating misleading descriptions of dung beetle diversity and abundance. Future studies of dung beetle diversity should include arboreal traps to accurately sample the diversity and abundance of species that rarely forage at ground level.