Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Flowers Are Essential To Maintain High Beetle Diversity (Coleoptera) In A Neotropical Rainforest Canopy, Susan Kirmse, Caroline S. Chaboo

Publications of UNSM Staff and Affiliates

Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the megadiversity of angiosperms and insects. Flowers and their pollinators represent the most common terrestrial mutualistic interaction today and this is thought to have driven the evolution of angiosperms and their visitors. Within the framework of that interaction, this paper develops and tests two new hypotheses: 1) megadiversity of canopy beetles in tropical rainforests is largely based on flower resources, and 2) the majority of adult canopy beetles are adapted to visit flowers. To test hypothesis 1, the beetle fauna associated with 23 canopy tree species (13 families, 45 individuals) in a 1.4 …