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Records of Perching by Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) in the Northeastern Atlantic Forest of Brazil

Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) are an important group of copronecrophagous beetles in the tropical and temperate regions (Hanski and Cambefort 1991). They are essential to the ecosystem because they cycle nutrients, disperse secondary seeds, and control populations of cattle parasites (Nichols et al. 2008). The Neotropical region is one of the most relevant regarding dung beetle diversity. However, it has a relatively low availability of mammal dung (one of the most important resources for these beetles) compared, for example, to the Ethiopian region (Hanski and Cambefort 1991; Halffter and Halffter 2009). In part, this may be a driver of high interspecific competition for food resources among dung beetles in the Neotropics (Gill 1991; Halffter et al. 1992; Davis et al. 2001). The high degree of competition for food resources may also lead to the development of adaptive strategies that reduce competition. The occupation of specific microhabitats, different patterns of feeding adaptations, and segregation of daily activities are some examples of strategies that dung beetle species employ to avoid high competition for resources (Halffter and Mathews 1966; Hernández 2007; Lopes et al. 2011; Salomão et al. 2014; Noriega 2015). Some dung beetle species perch (Howden and Nealis 1978; Louzada 1998). Perching is a less known but apparently highly important activity. This behavior has been observed in various biomes such as tropical, subtropical, temperate, and scarp forests (Davis 1999; Ballerio 2008; Jacobs et al. 2008; Medina and Campos 2013). Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, there are no records of such behavior for species in Pernambuco’s endemism center situated in the northeastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest. This ecosystem is considered one of the most important ecosystems in the world and extremely important for worldwide conservation efforts (Myers et al. 2000; Tabarelli et al. 2010). In the Atlantic Forest, dung beetles display a wide variety of strategies to reduce the competition for resources. They have specialized feeding and habitat occupation strategies (Forti et al. 2012; Costa et al. 2013; Salomão et al. 2014). Canthon (Canthon) virens Mannerheim, 1829, for example, preys on queen ants of the genus Atta Fabricius, 1805 during the ants’ nuptial flights (Forti et al. 2012). Another example of adaptation is the specialization on sloth dung by some species of the genus Trichillum Harold, 1868 and Uroxys Westwood, 1842 (Ratcliffe 1980). Based on such specializations, we can better understand some dung beetles’ adaptations to certain environments as they show strong niche segregations. In the present study, we present the first record of perching observed in dung beetles in fragments of the northeastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The observations of perching were made in situ during expeditions conducted in the morning (08:00-12:00 hr) and one expedition in the afternoon (15:00-16:00 hr) in four Atlantic Forest remnants (Table 1) in the State Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil. Perching beetles were collected and perching height above ground was measured using a metric tape. Body lengths of the specimens of Canthon Hoffmannsegg were DOI.org/10.1649/0010-065X-70.4.903