Coexistence, habitat associations and puparia description of three dipteran species of the Family Carnidae

Francisco Valera,Jesús Veiga,Alba Sandoval,Eulalia Moreno

doi:10.1017/pao.2017.23

Abstract

Abstract Differentiation of niche by means of resource partitioning facilitates coexistence of species with similar requirements. Here we analyse the association between different habitats (i.e. nest types) and two Diptera species of the poorly known Family Carnidae that coexist during their larval and pupal stage in the nests of troglodytic bird species. We also describe for the first time the puparium of Hemeromyia anthracina and Hemeromyia longirostris and offer morphometric data of the puparia of these two species and of Carnus hemapterus. Both the smaller size and the occurrence of well-developed spiracles allow easy discrimination of the puparium of C. hemapterus. The puparia of both Hemeromyia species is very similar and only differ in the distance between the small spiracles. Hemeromyia anthracina and C. hemapterus coexisted in nest boxes but the former species did not occur in natural sandy cavities where, in turn, C. hemapterus was highly prevalent. Carnus hemapterus prevalence did not differ between nest boxes and natural cavities but its abundance was higher in the first type of nest. This study shows clear associations of the two dipteran species with specific types of nests. Yet, some conditions are seemingly acceptable for both species.

Highlights

The study of the factors that allow coexistence of closely related species has been an important subject in ecology for decades and various mechanisms have been reported to prevent or reduce competitive exclusion (Tilman, 1982; Hairston et al 1996; Leisnham et al 2014)
This paper provides a full description, including morphometrics, of the puparium of C. hemapterus, H. anthracina and H. longirostris after unequivocally verifying the emergence of adults of the collected pupae, being the most complete report until the date for C. hemapterus and the first one for the two later species
We describe patterns in habitat associations of C. hemapterus and H. anthracina that can reflect partial niche segregation

Summary

Introduction

The study of the factors that allow coexistence of closely related species has been an important subject in ecology for decades and various mechanisms (e.g. niche differentiation, temporal segregation) have been reported to prevent or reduce competitive exclusion (Tilman, 1982; Hairston et al 1996; Leisnham et al 2014). Studies based on interspecific comparisons among closely related species occurring in sympatry (Dearn, 1977; Dingle, 1978; Tauber and Tauber, 1981) can contribute to a better understanding of habitat selection criteria and stable coexistence by means of resource partitioning (Tauber and Tauber, 1981, 1982). Such studies can be hampered by the lack of information on basic aspects of the study species, for example, the proper description and identification of different life stages of each species

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