Abstract
The Calyptratae are one of the most diverse groups of Diptera. Some species have immature states involved in the decomposition of organic matter of animal origin (i.e., they are sarcosaprophagous). In this study, we examined the diversity and synanthropy of sarcosaprophagous calyptrates in several environmental zones of the Ecuadorian Andes. Captures were performed in an urban zone located in the Tocachi community with monocultures (MC) and polycultures (PC), a rural zone with an agroecological farming system (AFS), and a forest zone with a montane forest located in the Parque Arqueológico Cochasquí (PAC) and the Cochasquí montane forest (CMF). A total of 2,925 specimens of Calyptratae were collected, representing 38 morphotypes and 17 species. Four are new reports for Ecuador: Dolichophaonia trigona (Shannon & Del Ponte), Phaonia trispila (Bigot), Compsomyiops melloi Dear, and Calliphora lopesi Mello. CMF and PAC presented high abundance and richness, followed by AFS, MC, and PC; PAC showed the highest diversity, in contrast to lowest in MC; the evenness decreased from forest to urban zones. Species that exhibited a preference for human settlements (positive synanthropic index) included Limnophora marginata Stein, Phaonia trispila, Lucilia cuprina (Wiedemann), Calliphora lopesi, Compsomyiops melloi, and Calliphora nigribasis Macquart. Those with a preference for uninhabited areas (negative index) included Tricharaea sp1, Sarconesiopsis magellanica (Le Guillou), and Sarconesia chlorogaster (Wiedemann).
Highlights
The highly diverse Dipteran infraorder Calyptratae has members that widely distributed through most biogeographic regions (Wiegmann et al 2011; Lambkin et al 2013)
Three types of environment were identified: (i) urban zone located in the Tocachi community (-0.0352S & 78.282W), characterized by basic services, with paved streets, a school area, a housing yard consisting of monocultures (MC) and polycultures (PC); (ii) rural zone located 1km away from the community (-0.048S & 78.290W), characterized by a small human population (< 30 permanent inhabitants) without basic services in an agro-ecological farming system (AFS); (iii) forest zone corresponding to low human disturbance, with a lower montane forest located in the Parque Arqueológico Cochasquí (PAC) (-0.059S & 78.304W) and the Cochasquí montane forest (CMF) (-0.058S & 78.304W)
Sarcophagidae was commonly represented by Tricharea sp1 and Peckia (Sarcodexia) sp1
Summary
The highly diverse Dipteran infraorder Calyptratae has members that widely distributed through most biogeographic regions (Wiegmann et al 2011; Lambkin et al 2013). These insects are characterized by a high capacity for decomposing organic matter, where their larvae play an important role in nutrient recycling (Byrd & Castner 2001; Kimberly et al 2005). Several Calyptratae are well adapted to human-perturbed habitats, forming an anthropo-biocenosis (Polvoný 1971) This taxon is highly specialized in some feeding habits: Saprophagous, coprophagous, necrophagous, hematophagous and pollen feeders (Hernández & Dzul 2008). Ecological investigations in sarcosaprophagous dipterans are scarce. Torres (2016) studied blowfly diversity in different types of humanmodified and wild environments, and noted that diversity decreased and species dominance increased in human environments (urban and rural), in contrast to wild habitats
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