The role of tenebrionid beetles on litter fragmentation processes and soil biogeochemical cycles in arid Patagonia

CHELI, GERMÁN H.; BOSCO, TOMÁS; SARAVÍ CISNEROS, H.; CARRERA, ANALÍA L.; MARTÍNEZ, FERNANDO; FLORES, G. E.

Prague

Congreso; 5th International Tenebrionoidea Symposyum; 2018

Mendel University in Brno

Tenebrionid beetles are among the most abundant and diverse insects of arid environments. Due to their detritivore habits and multiple physiological and behavioral adaptations, they are typically considered playing important roles on biogeochemical cycles in these environments. However, in South America, there are few or none studies that has directly quantified or demonstrated this role. South America endemic species of the Nycteliini tribe (subfamily Pimelinae) are specially adapted to arid and semi-arid environments. In addition, Nyctelia dorsata (Fairmaire), one of the most frequent and biggest components of the epigean insect community of northearn Patagonia, is frequently observed feeding on litter. In this contribution, we evaluate the detritivore role of N. dorsata and its effect on soil Nitrogen cycle throughout microcosms experiment (Fig. 1).