The rhinoceros beetle, Xyloryctes jamaicensis Drury (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae):a locally abundant detritivore of a Kansas riparian forest

TitleThe rhinoceros beetle, Xyloryctes jamaicensis Drury (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae):a locally abundant detritivore of a Kansas riparian forest
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1983
AuthorsSeastedt, TR
JournalJournal of the Kansas Entomological Society
Volume56
Pagination543 -546
Accession NumberKNZ0050
Keywordsbeetle, prairie, tallgrass
Abstract

Third stage larvae of the rhinoceros beetle, Xyloryctes jamaicensis Drury (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae), were abundant during autumn 1981 in litter and upper soil horizons of a bur oak- hackberry forest near Manhattan, Kansas. Densities of larvae ranged from 0 to 3.7 individuals/m2 within forest transects, while amounts of fecal pellets of these larvae ranged from 28.2 to 463.1 g/m2 along these same transects. No third stage larvae were present the following autumn, suggesting that the population is dominated by a particular brood. Fecal pellets exhibited slow decay rates (10%/yr), and the amount of pellets on the forest floor represents the relative abundance of several generations of larvae

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