Monday, December 10, 2007
D0137

Species diversity and seasonality in Colombian fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)

Bradley Williams Smith, bwsmith1@ufl.edu and Marc Branham, marcbran@ufl.edu. University of Florida, Entomology and Nematology, Natural Area Drive P.O. Box 110620, Gainesville, FL

Insect distributions are highly dependent on many different factors, including seasonality, environmental parameters, interspecific competition, etc. The diversity, distribution and seasonality of the Colombian firefly fauna was quantified by using diversity modeling software (EstimateS) and species distribution modeling software (MaxEnt). Species accumulation curves and diversity statistics are calculated given the number of firefly species, individual specimens and number of traps (from March 2000 to December 2004) for both the individual parks and the entire country. The projected distribution of firefly species was modeled using environmental parameters of 25 different protected areas as well as the entire country of Colombia. It was determined that fireflies in Colombia exhibited the greatest abundance of species in September-October while the greatest abundance of individual specimens occurred in May-July. The lowest abundance of species and individual specimens occurred in March-April.