Staphylinid Fauna of the Soil with Different Uses in the Santa Marta Volcano, Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico

From collections in land with four uses (rainforest, agroforestry, maize crop, and grassland) from the localities of Lopez Mateos (LM), San Fernando (SF), and Venustiano Carranza (VC) in the Santa Marta Volcano, Veracruz, Mexico, 967 specimens were obtained in 11 subfamilies, 47 genera, and 114 morphospecies of the family Staphylinidae. The subfamilies with the greatest morphospecies richness were Aleocharinae (35), Paederinae (30), and Staphylininae (20). Greatest morphospecies richness was at SF (78) at the highest altitude (850 m) and has a rainforest cover of 50%, while LM occupied second place (61), and VC third place (38). The last two localities were at 250 m of altitude, but LM has a rainforest cover three times larger than VC. By type of land use, the greatest number of morphospecies was in the rainforest (59), followed by grassland, agroforestry land, and maize crop (46, 45, and 42 morphospecies, respectively). Pitfall traps collected markedly more abundance and taxa richness compared to the monolith collection, both at the three locations and with different land uses. The Staphylinidae analyzed is considered moderately diverse, because many morphospecies were represented by one or two individuals and because it represents 16.6% of all recorded species of the State of Veracruz (685). Staphylinidae is the family of Coleoptera with the most taxonomic richness of the edaphic fauna of the Santa Marta Volcano and plays an important role in natural control of populations of other invertebrates, including beneficial impact on maize crops by having 78% of morphospecies with predatory habits and more than 20% recycling decomposing organic matter.