Analysis of host plant availability and use by 2 species of soldier beetles (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) using community-gathered digital specimens

Abstract

Digital specimens collected by community members are a largely untapped source of entomological data. By mining and curating data from photo observations uploaded to online community data repositories, researchers can utilize this wealth of information to address questions about predator–prey interactions, phenotypic variation within species, plant–pollinator interactions, and a host of other topics. We mined data from photo observations on the community science website iNaturalist to investigate patterns in host plant availability and affiliation by 2 species of soldier beetles, Chauliognathus marginatus (F.) and Chauliognathus pensylvanicus (De Geer). Chauliognathus marginatus was observed with white flowers more than expected based on their potential availability, while C. pensylvanicus was observed with yellow flowers over all other flower colors and more than expected based on their potential availability. Communities of flowers available to, and observed with, C. marginatus and C. pensylvanicus differed significantly at the family and genus levels. To our knowledge, this is the first study to utilize a dataset mined and curated from community science photo observations to address species-specific behavior and ecology questions. With appropriate study design and analytical methods, these types of data could prove invaluable in future investigations of a variety of entomological and ecological questions.