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The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of landscape and local environmental factors on the community structure of carrion beetles (silphid and dung beetles) and the abundance of major species in artificial (agricultural and urban landscapes) and forest landscapes in northeastern Japan. Eight study sites were set up in forest landscapes, six in agricultural landscapes, and six in urban landscapes. From June to October 2019, we collected carrion beetles using 385 pitfall traps. A total of 2,119 carrion beetles belonging to 15 species were captured. This included six species of silphid beetles and nine species of dung beetles. The non‐metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) for carrion beetle community showed that carrion beetles have different community structures in forest landscapes compared to other landscapes. Generalized dissimilarity modeling (GDM) showed that canopy openness and a landscape factor had the large influence on the community structure. The generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) showed that the abundance of the major species was low in open environments. This study indicates that the community structure of carrion beetles differs depending on the landscape in northeastern Japan. The local environment, especially the canopy openness, had a great influence on the community structure and abundance of carrion beetles. Anthropogenic changes at the landscape scale may alter carrion beetle community by significantly changing the local and surrounding environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fourteen mite species in three genera of the family Macrochelidae were collected from the body surface of dung beetles (Scarabaeidae) in Mt Merapi National Park, Jogyakarta, Indonesia. Of these, three species, Macrocheles turgoensis n. sp., M. pumilus n. sp. and Glyptholaspis merapiensis n. sp., were described as new to science. The remaining 11 species were Glyptholaspis fimicola (Sellnick, 1931), Neopodocinum spinirostris (Berlese, 1910), M. dispar (Berlese, 1910), M. entetiensis Hartini and Takaku, 2005, M. hallidayi Walter and Krantz, 1986, M. jabarensis Hartini and Takaku, 2003, M. merdarius (Berlese, 1889), M. muscaedomesticae (Scopoli, 1772), M. oigru Walter and Krantz, 1986, M. sukaramiensis Takaku, 2001 and M. sp. aff. glaber (Müller, 1860). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated geographic color variation of the beetle Phelotrupes auratus in the Kinki region of central Japan using a spectrophotometer. The reflectance spectrum of the dorsal surface of the elytron was measured for beetles collected from 23 sites. We focused on λmax(α), the wavelength at the peak (α peak) between 400 and 700 nm (human visual sensitivity range), for analyses of color variation. In populations distributed on the Kii Peninsula, in the southern part of the Kinki region, average λmax(α) values were lower (480–497 nm) than in populations distributed in the area west of Lake Biwa, the western part of the Kinki region (618–633 nm). For populations distributed in the areas south and southeast of Lake Biwa, a geographic cline of λmax(α) was observed approximately along an east–west transect, with average λmax values varying continuously from 624 to 557 nm. The easternmost populations along this cline had almost the same λmax(α) values as the populations distributed west of Lake Biwa. The coefficient of variation for λmax(α) tended to be larger in populations with intermediate averages than those with lower or higher average values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]