Estimation of the sampling cover for dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) in Colombia

The promotion of biodiversity conservation strategies must address the lack of information and the difficulty of identifying knowledge gaps that may facilitate our knowledge of different taxonomic groups. Dung beetles constitute one of those groups, despite having been proposed as an efficient bioindicator of environmental disturbance processes. In this work, we aimed to prepare a diagnosis on the state of knowledge of the subfamily Scarabaeinae, focusing on the cover sampling degree of this group in Colombia, with the purpose of identifying high-priority areas that will allow the completion of a national inventory. The work consisted of a bibliographical compilation using 12 referential databases and the examination of specimens deposited in 26 national collections. A total of 16 940 individuals were examined, finding registers for 232 species from 386 localities. The respective distribution cover maps were presented, and the cover at a national level was 10.62%. A historical analysis demonstrated a proliferation in the number of studies for the last three decades; nevertheless, a great proportion of unpublished works persists, resulting in only 64 sampled localities with published records. The localities with the greatest sampling efforts were RN La Planada, Lloro, AUN Los Estoraques, PNN Tinigua and Mariquita. Registries for all departments were available, and the best sampled ones were Cundinamarca, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca and Boyaca. The ecosystems with the greatest number of publications are the Andean pre mountain humid forest, followed by the Andean mountain humid forest and the Pacific humid forest. Other ecosystems with few studies included mangroves, desert zones, natural savannahs, palm swamps, paramos, flooding forests and agroforestry systems. The biogeographic region with the greatest number of localities was the Andean region, followed by Choco-Magdalenense and Amazonia. Our results showed that high levels of subsampling persist and that some zones lack registries, as in the case of some parks of the national system of protected areas. It is imperative that the sampling cover is extended at a national level, focusing all possible efforts on collecting in those subsampled regions that have high conservation importance, with the main goal of completing the listing of species and their distribution.