Life-history variation in three coexisting species of carnid flies (Diptera: Carnidae), Carnus hemapterus, Hemeromyia anthracina and Hemeromyia longirostris

Title:

Life-history variation in three coexisting species of carnid flies (Diptera: Carnidae), Carnus hemapterus, Hemeromyia anthracina and Hemeromyia longirostris

Creator:

Valera, Francisco, Martín-Vivaldi, Manuel, and Carles-Tolrá, Miguel

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:c8f796bb-d2d2-4b2c-914f-079cd0a23774
uuid:c8f796bb-d2d2-4b2c-914f-079cd0a23774

Subject:

Diptera, Carnidae, Carnus hemapterus, coexistence, diapause, emergence, Hemeromyia, seasonal cycles, and temporal and spatial segregation

Type:

article, model:article, and TEXT

Description:

Seasonal cycles constitute a major challenge for organisms since they may influence the genetic composition of a population, the species structure of a community and the interactions between organisms. Diapause is frequently used by insects to synchronize their life cycle with seasonal changes and is regarded as a key factor in the coexistence of competing species. Here the occurrence, abundance and emergence patterns of three poorly-known species of carnid flies (Carnus hemapterus Nitzsch, 1818, Hemeromyia anthracina Collin, 1949 and Hemeromyia longirostris Carles-Tolrá, 1992), which overwintered in the nests of several bird species at two localities, are reported and evidence of possible interspecific competition sought. Larvae of all three species were found in association with carrion and detritus. Both Hemeromyia species co-occurred in around 50% of the nests and Carnus with each of the Hemeromyia species at a lower rate (30-40% of the nests). Coexistence of all three carnid species was rare. We did not find any evidence of interspecific competition in the larval stage. Coexistence did not reduce the number of flies that emerged of any of the three species and the abundance of some species was even positively related. Species-specific emergence patterns and different habitat selection criteria (Carnus hemapterus seemed to avoid nests lined with vegetable material), which diminished the overlap between species were found. Such spatial and temporal segregation could facilitate the coexistence of these closely related species, which have similar ecological requirements, and might influence the seasonal dynamics of this poorly-known assemblage of insects inhabiting the nests of birds.

Language:

English

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
policy:public

Source:

European Journal of Entomology | 2006 Volume:103 | Number:2

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false