Evaluation of Malaise and Yellow Pan Trap Performance to Assess Velvet Ant (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) Diversity in a Neotropical Savanna.
Given the global biodiversity crisis, it is crucial to identify methods best suited for conducting inventories. We evaluated the relative merits of Malaise traps (MT) and ground-level yellow pan traps (YPT) to sample male velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) in a Neotropical savanna biodiversity hotspot. We compared richness, number of captures, evenness, composition, and body size of male velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) sampled with both methods in four sites at Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros, central Brazil, during 19 d. We expected reduced diversity and smaller body size of velvet ants sampled with YPT, because they target visually oriented insects that are active closer to the ground, whereas MT represent a passive method that intercepts insects flying at different heights. Richness, total number of captures, and evenness of species and genera were significantly higher in MT. The body size of velvet ants captured with MT was significantly larger than those found in YPT. Generalized linear model and nonmetric multidimensional scaling analyses revealed a clear difference in the patterns of abundances and composition of velvet ants sampled with MT and YPT, especially for the genera Darditilla, Traumatomutilla, Lomachaeta, Pseudomethoca, Tallium, and Ephuta. YPT were effective at capturing few species that were rare in MT but, overall, MT were much more effective than YPT. We found similar patterns when using either species or genus for assessing samples obtained with MT or YPT, suggesting that ecological studies on Neotropical velvet ants may not require taxonomic resolution to the species level.
Department of Biology, Utah State University, 5305 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-5305 (ceciliavieira@icloud.com; james.pitts@usu.edu).
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Vieira
Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Av. Fernando Ferrari 510 - Goiabeiras, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES 29075-910, Brazil (cwaichert@gmail.com).
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Waichert
California Department of Food & Agriculture, Plant Pest Diagnostics Center, 3294 Meadowview Rd., Sacramento, CA 95832-1448 (kevin.williams@cdfa.ca.gov).
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Williams
Department of Biology, Utah State University, 5305 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-5305 (ceciliavieira@icloud.com; james.pitts@usu.edu).
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D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D001938:Brazil; D065948:Grassland; D007300:Insect Control / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D014863:Wasps
Cerrado; Moericke; assemblage; biodiversity; wasp