The potential influence of a tree crown's epiphyte assemblage on its beetle fauna was studied for a year in Panama. Beetles were collected with various types of insect traps in 25 tree crowns of Annona glabra. The studied trees were assigned to three different categories according to their epiphyte load (small, medium and large), and to an epiphyte-free control group. We collected 7,681 specimens of 352 morphospecies and 44 families. The most abundat and species-rich family were the Curculionidae. By far the most abundant species was a small bark beetle (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) which alone contributed 16% of all individuals. The proportion of rare species was relatively low (10% singletons, 30% doubletons). Species richness and abundance did not differ significantly between the four tree categories, nor did they correlate with epiphyte biomass. We could not detect differences in species composition between categories by Morisita-Horn indices (0,49-0.82) and two-dimensional scaling analyses. Frequently, singletons accounted for approximately half of all species (45-58%), here we observed only 10% of singletons. One of the main reasons for these differences is the duration of our study (13 months). It is concluded that epiphytes do not exert an ecologically significant influence on the beetle fauna in the investigated tree crowns.