Taxonomy, host associations, and collecting methods of shining fungus beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scaphidiinae) in fragments of the Atlantic Forest in Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil

• Ano de defesa: 2024
• Autor(a) principal: Groll, Elisa Von
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa; Biologia Animal
• Palavras-chave em Português: Besouro; Besouro - Morfologia; Biodiversidade; Fungos; Taxonomia dos Grupos Recentes
• Link de acesso: https://locus.ufv.br//handle/123456789/32299; https://doi.org/10.47328/ufvbbt.2024.120

The subfamily Scaphidiinae, which included just over 1000 species until 1997, now records over 2000 species, indicating a continuous increase that shows no signs of imminent stabilization. Despite its greatest diversity being concentrated in the tropics, the Neotropical Region remains understudied concerning this subfamily. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to fill the existing knowledge gap about these insects. To achieve this goal, collections, dissections, redescriptions, and descriptions of new species were conducted. The research has resulted in four already published articles, with a fifth in the process of publication. In the first article, a new species (Scaphisoma pandemum von Groll & Lopes-Andrade, 2021) is described for Brazil. The second article introduces a new method for collecting beetles in fungi. The third article describes five new species of the genus Cyparium Erichson, 1845, and redescribes two species. The fourth article brings a new record for Brazil: S. nigrofasciatum Pic, 1915, original from Asia was collected in Minas Gerais. The fifth article, yet to be published, presents 20 new species distributed across five genera: Cyparium, Alexidia Reitter, 1880, Baeocera Erichson, 1845, Scaphisoma Leach, 1815, and Toxidium LeConte, 1860. All taxonomic papers include, whenever possible, illustrations of the external and internal morphology of males and females, accompanied by data related to the host. In addition to taxonomic results, the collections made in Minas Gerais have significantly expanded the Entomological Collection of the Laboratory of Systematics and Biology of Coleoptera at the Federal University of Viçosa (CELC), making it the largest collection of Scaphidiinae in Brazil, with more than 1800 specimens, enabling the continuation of research on this group. Keywords: Biodiversity; fungi; morphology; Neotropical Region.