TiLIA: a software package for image analysis of firefly flash patterns

As flash signaling patterns of fireflies are species specific, signal‐pattern analysis is important for understanding this system of communication. Here, we present time‐lapse image analysis (TiLIA), a free open‐source software package for signal and flight pattern analyses of fireflies that uses video‐recorded image data. TiLIA enables flight path tracing of individual fireflies and provides frame‐by‐frame coordinates and light intensity data. As an example of TiLIA capabilities, we demonstrate flash pattern analysis of the fireflies Luciola cruciata and L. lateralis during courtship behavior.     

Host specificity and interaction networks of insects feeding on seeds and fruits in tropical rainforests

In the tropics, antagonistic seed predation networks may have different properties than mutualistic pollination and seed dispersal networks, but the former have been considerably less studied. We tested whether the structure of antagonistic tripartite networks composed of host plants, insects developing within seeds and fruits, and their insect parasitoids could be predicted from plant phylogenetic distance and plant traits. We considered subsets of the networks (‘subnetworks') at three rainforest locations (Panama, Thailand, Papua New Guinea), based on insect families, plant families or plant functional groups. We recorded 3197 interactions and observed a low percentage of realized interactions, especially in Panama, where insect host specificity was higher than in Thailand or New Guinea. Several factors may explain this, including insect faunal composition, incidence of dry fruits, high fruit production and high occurrence of Fabaceae at the Panamanian site. Host specificity was greater among seed-eaters than pulp-eaters and for insects feeding on dry fruits as opposed to insects feeding on fleshy fruits. Plant species richness within plant families did not influence insect host specificity, but site characteristics may be important in this regard. Most subnetworks were extremely specialized, such as those including Tortricidae and Bruchinae in Panama. Plant phylogenetic distance, plant basal area and plant traits (fruit length, number of seeds per fruit) had important effects on several network statistics in regressions weighted by sampling effort. A path analysis revealed a weak direct influence of plant phylogenetic distance on parasitoid richness, indicating limited support for the ‘nasty host hypothesis'. Our study emphasizes the duality between seed dispersal and seed predation networks in the tropics, as key plant species differ and host specificity tends to be low in the former and higher in the latter. This underlines the need to study both types of networks for sound practices of forest regeneration and conservation.     

Observations of immature and adult stages of the myrmecophilous cetoniine beetle Campsiura nigripennis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Several cetoniine species are known or speculated to be associated with ants, based on their specialized morphological characters. However, there are only a few species where biological information on the larval and adult stages is available. Field observations revealed that Campsiura nigripennis spends the immature stages inside elephant dung, and that adult females fly to elephant dung for oviposition. In addition, adult beetles of C. nigripennis intruded into arboreal nests of Oecophylla smaragdina. Specialized morphological characters appear to allow them to tolerate attacks from the ants. Furthermore, the distribution of the beetle in continental Asia largely overlaps that of the Asian elephant, indicating that dung of elephants, in conjunction with that of other large mammals, is fundamental to the biology of C. nigripennis.     

Diversity of pselaphine beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) in eastern Thailand

Pselaphine beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) are cosmopolitan, species‐rich, and yet poorly studied, particularly in the tropics. We sampled beetles in three types of primary forest and two types of disturbed forest habitats in eastern Thailand to assess the utility of pselaphine beetles as bioindicators of forest disturbance. We simultaneously measured leaf litter mass, soil moisture, soil acidity and canopy cover at each site to infer which environmental factors affect pselaphine beetle diversity and abundance. At each site, pselaphine beetles were extracted from ten 1 m² samples of leaf litter and soil with Tullgren funnels. We sampled 1867 adult beetles representing six supertribes, 51 genera and 114 morphospecies; 7% of the genera and 92% of the species were undescribed. Forest types differed significantly in species richness, abundance, diversity and evenness. Primary forest had greater numbers of species and individuals, and higher diversity indices (H′). Teak plantation and secondary forest had substantially fewer individuals and species of pselaphine beetles. Species composition differed between primary and degraded forests. Canopy cover, soil moisture, and leaf litter mass positively correlated with beetle species richness and abundance. Leaf litter mass and soil moisture were the two most important factors affecting the diversity of pselaphine beetle assemblages. Among the 114 morphospecies collected, 43 morphospecies were specific to two or three habitats and 64 morphospecies were found only in a single habitat. Thus pselaphine beetles appear to have rather narrow habitat requirements and their presence/absence was correlated with environmental differences. These traits make pselaphine beetles a suitable bioindicator taxon for assessing forest litter diversity and monitoring habitat change.     

Inferring the Provenance of an Alien Species with DNA Barcodes: The Neotropical Butterfly Dryas iulia in Thailand

The Neotropical butterfly Dryas iulia has been collected from several locations in Thailand and Malaysia since 2007, and has been observed breeding in the wild, using introduced Passiflora foetida as a larval host plant. The butterfly is bred by a butterfly house in Phuket, Thailand, for release at weddings and Buddhist ceremonies, and we hypothesized that this butterfly house was the source of wild, Thai individuals. We compared wing patterns and COI barcodes from two, wild Thai populations with individuals obtained from this butterfly house. All Thai individuals resemble the subspecies D. iulia modesta, and barcodes from wild and captive Thai specimens were identical. This unique, Thai barcode was not found in any of the 30 specimens sampled from the wild in the species'' native range, but is most similar to specimens from Costa Rica, where many exporting butterfly farms are located. These data implicate the butterfly house as the source of Thailand''s wild D. iulia populations, which are currently so widespread that eradication efforts are unlikely to be successful.     

Host record of the myrmecophilous carabid genus Cryptocephalomorpha (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Pseudomorphinae) with description of a new species from Thailand

Cryptocephalomorpha siamensis sp. nov. is described from Thailand. The type series was collected from a nest of myrmicine ant, Pheidole singaporensis, which is the first exact host record of the genus Cryptocephalomorpha. Collecting circumstances and observed behavior are reported.     

Insect assemblages attacking seeds and fruits in a rainforest in Thailand

Insect seed predators are important agents of mortality for tropical trees, but little is known about the impact of these herbivores in rainforests. During 3 years at Khao Chong (KHC) in southern Thailand we reared 17,555 insects from 343.2 kg or 39,252 seeds/fruits representing 357 liana and tree species. A commented list of the 243 insect species identified is provided, with details about their host plants. We observed the following. (i) Approximately 43% of identified species can be considered pests. Most were seed eaters, particularly on dry fruits. (ii) Approximately 19% of parasitoid species (all Opiinae) for which we could determine whether their primary insect host was a pest or not (all Bactrocera spp. breeding in fruits) can be considered beneficials. (iii) The seeds/fruits of approximately 28% of the plant species in this forest were free of attack. Phyllanthaceae, Rubiaceae and Meliaceae were attacked relatively infrequently; in contrast, Annonaceae, Fabaceae, Sapindaceae and Myristicaceae were more heavily attacked. There was no apparent effect of plant phylogeny on rates of attack but heavily attacked tree species had larger basal area in the KHC plot than rarely attacked tree species. (iv) Insects reared from fleshy fruits were more likely to show relatively stable populations compared to insects reared from dry fruits, but this was not true of insects reared from dipterocarps, which appeared to have relatively stable populations throughout the study period. We tentatively conclude that insects feeding on seeds and fruits have little effect on observed levels of host abundance in this forest.