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1 January 2008 Insect Diversity of Tropical Montane Forests: Diversity and Spatial Distribution of Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Inhabiting Leaf Litter in Southern Mexico
Robert W. Jones, Charles W. O’brien, Lorena Ruiz-Montoya, Benigno Gómez-Gómez
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Abstract

The abundance, diversity, and spatial distribution of the weevil fauna (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) of leaf litter were compared between primary and successional cloud forests at the Biological Reserve Cerro Huitepec in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. In total, 2,102 individuals and 57 species of Curculionidae were collected and identified, of which >90% represented undescribed species. Total weevil densities averaged 8.51 ± 9.04 individuals per 0.5 m2 of leaf litter. Estimates of the total number of leaf litter weevils in the reserve were >20 million. Data suggest that even small fragments of cloud forest (<10 ha) may maintain viable populations of the more common species of leaf litter weevils for extended periods. However, because of their low powers of dispersion and their high levels of endemism, leaf litter weevils, and presumably other leaf litter insects, are particularly vulnerable to extinction when whole forest fragments are lost or when recent climate changes push cloud forests to higher elevations.

Robert W. Jones, Charles W. O’brien, Lorena Ruiz-Montoya, and Benigno Gómez-Gómez "Insect Diversity of Tropical Montane Forests: Diversity and Spatial Distribution of Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Inhabiting Leaf Litter in Southern Mexico," Annals of the Entomological Society of America 101(1), 128-139, (1 January 2008). https://doi.org/10.1603/0013-8746(2008)101[128:IDOTMF]2.0.CO;2
Received: 27 October 2006; Accepted: 1 September 2007; Published: 1 January 2008
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KEYWORDS
biodiversity
Cloud forests
conservation
Curculionidae
tropical montane forests
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