Phytophagous scarab beetles from the Central Region of Guerrero, Mexico (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae, Rutelinae, Dynastinae, Cetoniinae)

Abstract

From July 1999 to June 2000, 1.307 specimens of phytophagous Scarabaeidae representing four subfamilies, 11 tribes, and 57 species of the following genera were collected: Calomacraspis, Macraspis, Pelidnota, Chrysina, Anomala, Strigoderma, Cotinis, Hologymnetis, Euphoria, Golofa, Strategus, Cyclocephala, Tomarus, Bothynus, Phyllophaga, Diplotaxis, Polyphylla, Isonychus, and Chnaunanthus. The area surveyed included the Mochitlán, Atlixtac, Chilpancingo, and Tixtla regions located in the central part of the state of Guerrero at an altitude of 840-1.600 m. These regions are characterized by six types of vegetation: pine forest, pine-oak forest, oak forest, tropical deciduous forest, palm groves, riparian forest, and pasture land. The 1307 specimens were captured using fermented fruit traps and by careful examination of herbaceous, brush, and arboreal vegetation in deposits of the detritus produced by ants (Atta mexicana, Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a dead forest as well as by nocturnal collection. Specific richness for Mochitlán is 22 species, Tixtla 23, Chilpancingo 32, and Atlixtac 34; Phyllophaga and Euphoria make up 66.66% of the species, Euphoria subtomentosa being predominant. Central Guerrero has greater specific similarity with species from the high part of the Balsas Basin (southern Morelos 46%, Cuernavaca, Morelos 38%) than with fauna established on the Mexican Pacific slope (Chamela, Jalisco 30%, and Tepic, Nayarit 29%).