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Erin Marcela Rivera Groves
Erin Marcela Rivera Groves

Public Documents 1
Harvesting the Casualties of War: Macrogerodonia sp. rove beetles prey exclusively up...
Erin Marcela Rivera Groves
Alejandro Lopera

Erin Marcela Rivera Groves

and 3 more

February 25, 2026
Social insects represent a major component of tropical forest biomass, yet the ecological fate of their necromass remains poorly understood. Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini), particularly species in the genus Trigona, frequently engage in aggressive, sometimes lethal conflicts while competing for nutrient-rich resources such as carrion. Here we report a previously undescribed trophic interaction in which rove beetles of the genus Macrogerodonia (Staphylinidae) prey exclusively on wounded or recently killed Trigona workers. Field observations and cafeteria choice experiments showed that beetles consistently preyed on injured Trigona bees, ignoring carrion and alternative invertebrates, including flies, grasshoppers, and other stingless bee genera. Same behavior was observed at additional sites in Peru and Costa Rica, suggesting this interaction is geographically widespread. Our observations indicate a previously undescribed, highly specialized trophic interaction linking social insect warfare to predator specialization, emphasizing the ecological significance of social insect necromass in structuring tropical forest food webs.

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