Dung-beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabeidae) from the Zona Protectora Las Tablas, Talamanca, Costa Rica

Dung-beetle species are considered an important focal indicator group in tropical forests. During 2007,eighteen traps were set in two permanent biodiversity plots during one week surveys in Las Tablas Protected Zonewithin La Amistad Biosphere Reserve. The main purpose of this study was to determine the group composition anddiversity as the basis for permanent monitoring and to measure potential impacts of land use change and climate changeon mountain diversity. Pitfall traps were placed randomly within the plots with human feces as bait. A total of 26species distributed in 13 genera and six tribes were collected. The composition of species includes eight endemicspecies, seven for Costa Rica (CR) and Panama and one only for CR. The diversity found in this study was typical ofprevious studies in the region. Further sampling is needed to obtain the total number of species for the area. This studyis part of an on-going research project about climate change impacts and biodiversity monitoring in this important ecoregionof Mesoamerica.