Entomofauna epigea asociada a un área de las selvas de transición de las Yungas (Jujuy, Argentina)

Abstract

“Epigeal entomofauna associated to an area of transitional forests of the Yungas (Jujuy-Argentina)”. The transition forest is an ecotone between the Yungas and the Chaco Forests, exposed to different degrees of anthropogenic disturbance. In the Province of Jujuy, studies on the entomological biodiversity associated with these kind of forests are scarce. The aim of this work was to characterize the epigeal insect community within an area of transitional forests of the Yungas of Jujuy, which represents baseline information for further studies. Samplings were carried out in Las Lancitas Provincial Reserve using flight interception traps and pitfall traps. The proportion of orders and the most abundant families of insects collected was calculated. They were identified to the level of morphospecies in order to es- timate the coverage of the sampling, species richness (Chao 1), equity (Shannon - Wiener) and to plot a curve of rank-abundance. There were collected 2.029 insects distributed in 9 orders. The orders of greater numerical importance were Coleoptera with 16 families (58%) an d Hymenoptera with 18 families (17%). Hemiptera and Diptera were recorded with proportions of 7%; Orthopteray Blattodea 4%, while the rest for the orders Thysanoptera, Collembola, and Dermaptera made the 1% of the insects collected. The families, Scarabeidae, Staphylinidae, Carabidae, and Formicidae were the best represented. A sampling coverage of between 92-94%, with a species richness of 159.63 ± 7.59 (Chao 1), and an equity of 3.58% (Shannon- Wiener) was estimated. The presence of numerous rare species at the end of the curve of rank-abundance evidences the need to move forward with the surveys