Effect of global climate change on the distribution of Anchomenus dorsalis (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in Europe

Shifts in the bioclimatic range of Anchomenus dorsalis – specialized entomophage – were modeled in the MaxEntsoftware package and are presented on habitat maps. For the prediction, we used two climatic scenarios – mild (RCP2.6) and extreme (RCP8.5). Under the considered scenarios, the further warming would lead to shift and extension of the range to the north, northeast and east and decrease in the number of populations in the southern regions of Europe. The most important bioclimatic indicators which describe the geographic distribution of A. dorsalis are mean annual air temperature, mean daily amplitude of temperature for each month, overall amount of precipitations in the coldest quarter of the year, minimum temperature of the coldest month, mean temperature of the warmest quarter of the year, and annual amount of precipitations. Global warming causes the bioclimatic range of A. dorsalis to shift northeast and east in intracontinental territories, and west and northwest on islands. This species of ground beetle is an important object in monitoring of the condition of natural and agrarian ecosystems, sensitive to the growing global climate changes.  Poikilothermic animals may suffer from overheating, and even if they live far in the northern hemisphere, the ability of their organism to withstand increase in the environmental temperature is limited. Mild winters (with higher temperatures) may increase the mortality of A. dorsalis by exhausting their energy reserves.

The ground beetle tribe Platynini Bonelli, 1810 (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in the southern Levant: dichotomous and interactive identification tools, ecological traits, and distribution

The carabids of the tribe Platynini from the southern Levant (Egypt: Sinai Peninsula, Israel, Jordan) and adjacent regions of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia are reviewed in terms of species taxonomy, ecological, distributional traits, and conservation biology. In addition to a classical dichotomous identification key to the 14 species of the region, identification tools are made freely available via the Xper3 knowledge database “Platynini, southern Levant”. Besides an interactive identification key, a matrix with character states for the species and single access identification keys are available. A database including all available records from the southern Levant is also provided. First faunistic records are recorded for Anchomenus dorsalis infuscatus from Sinai (Egypt), Olisthopus fuscatus from Lebanon and Iraq, and for O. glabricollis from Iraq. Threatened species are discussed, also with regard to the reasons of their decline. The majority of species lives in wetlands, especially on the shore of winter ponds and streams, which have been extremely degraded in the last decades.

Do properties and species of weed seeds affect their consumption by carabid beetles?

Seed predators are an integral part of agroecosystems, where they can reduce the populations of weeds. The preference of predators for seeds and the observed predation rate may be affected by the properties of seeds (e.g. taxonomy, chemical composition, physical defence). In this work, we focused on seed consumption of Taraxacum officinale Web. and Stellaria media (L.) Vill., from France and the Czech Republic, by three species of ground beetle that are seed predators (Coleoptera: Carabidae): Poecilus cupreus (Linnaeus), Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger) and Anchomenus dorsalis (Pontoppidan). The seed species were offered in arenas, simultaneously, under three different experimental manipulations of moisture and seed coat conditions: dry and intact, water-imbibed and intact, and water-imbibed with a damaged seed coat. Seed consumption was checked after 0.5, 1, 2, 24, and 48 hours of exposure. Anchomenus dorsalis largely refused to feed on seeds. Taraxacum officinale seeds with damaged coats were most preferred by the remaining two species of carabids. The consumption by P. cupreus of T. officinale seeds with damaged coats increased from 0.18 % after 0.5 hours to 83.83 % after 48 hours, and by P. melanarius from 13.76 % after 0.5 hours to 76.77 % after 48 hours. Seeds of S. media were consumed less. There was a significant difference in consumption rates due to the country of origin of the seeds, but there were no differences between the carabid sexes. That carabids preferred water-imbibed and damaged seeds may suggest an involvement of olfactory clues in the seed selection process, and/or shorter seed-handling times.

The ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) of the Karatepa and Chakilkalyan mountains (west part of Zarafshan Mountains Range, Uzbekistan)

Ground beetles (Carabidae) are one the most numerous and well-studied families of Coleoptera. However, the study of the biodiversity of these beetles in Uzbekistan lags far behind other Central Asian countries. This research was carried out during 2018–2019 in two areas in the west part of the Zarafshan Mountain Range – in the Chakilkalyan and Karatepa mountains. In total, 49 species of ground beetles belonging to 31 genera, 16 tribes and 8 subfamilies were recorded. The most representative was the subfamily Harpalinae (32 species from 20 genera, 65.3%). By the number of individuals, representatives of Harpalinae made up 85.6% of all collected ground beetles. The Trechinae subfamily included five species from three genera (10.2%), the Scaritinae subfamily – four species from two genera (8.2%), the Carabinae subfamily – three species from two genera (6.1%), the Broscinae subfamily – two species from the same genus (4.1%). The subfamilies Brachininae, Cicindelinae and Nebriinae are represented by one species (2.0% each). In the Karatepa Mountains, 34 species from 23 genera were identified, and in the Chakilkalyan Mountains, 34 species from 21 genera. 19 species of ground beetles were common to the two mountains. The fauna of ground beetles in these mountains differed significantly in the composition of the dominant species. In the Karatepa Mountains, the dominant species were Zabrus morio, Eocarterus chodshenticus, Amara aenea, and Acinopus laevigatus, and the subdominant ones were Brachinus explodens, Calathus ambiguus, and Poecilus longiventris. In the Chakilkalyan Mountains, Anchomenus dorsalis, Harpalus rufipes, and Chlaenius extensus are dominant, while Amara aenea, Harpalus distinguendus, Dolichus halensis turned out to be subdominant. However, the composition of dominant species varied at different sites. The rarest species were Anisodactylus binotatus, Cymindis andreae, Taphoxenus goliath, Calosoma sycophanta, Scarites subcylindricus, Chilotomusus gentensis, Calathus peltatus and Broscus punctatus. Different areas of both mountains differed significantly in the diversity of ground beetle fauna. In both mountains, the lowest diversity was noted at the highest altitude areas. In four areas of the Karatepa Mountains, the average value of the Zhakar and Chekanovsky-Sørensen indices was 0.27 and 0.11, and in five areas of the Chakilkalyan Mountains – 0.24 and 0.25. And the similarities between the communities of the two mountains were also insignificant (0.39 and 0.11).

Ground beetles (Carabidae) of field margin habitats

The aim of this study was to identify the role of field margin habitats in preserving the diversity and abundance of ground beetle assemblages, including potentially entomophagous species and those with conservation status in Poland. Research material was collected in 2006–2007 in four types of margin habitats – a forest, bushes, ditches and in two arable fields. Insects were captured into pitfalls, without preservation liquid or bait added to the traps. Traps were inspected twice a week, between May and August, and one sample was a weekly capture. In field margin habitats the most abundant species were Limodromus assimilis, Anchomenus dorsalis, Pterostichus melanarius and Carabus auratus. A lower abundance of species was noted on fields, with dominant Poecilus cupreus and P. melanarius. The group of zoophagous carabids found in our study includes 30 species from field margin habitats, i.e. 37.5% of all captured Carabidae taxa and 58.3% of all specimens. The share of aphidophagous species was 84.9% among bushes, 86.7% near ditches, and 88.0% in the forest habitat. Several species captured during the study are under protection in Poland. These include the partly protected Carabus convexus, which also has the status of near threatened species, the partly protected Calosoma auropunctatum, and Broscus cephalotes. Considering all the investigated field margin habitats, ground beetles were most numerous in the oak-hornbeam habitat, defined as bushes, formed predominantly by Prunus spinosa, Crataegus leavigata, Sambucus nigra and Rosa canina. Thus, this habitat was the most important reservoir/refugium for the ground beetles.

Impact of Nonchemical Protection of Broad Bean on Epigeic and Soil Arthropodofauna—Analysis in Field-Realistic Conditions

Plant protection methods, even those considered as safe for the environment and consumers, may have unexpected effects on nontarget organisms. The effect of broad bean protection, using Pythium oligandrum, paraffin-coated garlic pulp, and extract from grapefruit seeds and pulp on the abundance of epigeic and soil arthropodofauna in a 3-year field experiment was estimated. The effect was compared with chemical protection, which served as the reference to the conventional system. Use of nonchemical products did not affect the overall abundance of the studied arthropods such as Arachnida (except Acarina), Carabidae, Staphylinidae, and Collembola. These methods, however, may favor Formicidae. In comparison to chemicals (carboxin, mancozeb, deltamethrin, and alpha-cypermethrin), nonchemical preparations seemed to be safer for soil mites—they limited their abundance to a lesser degree. Some individual carabid species showed differing responses to the applied protection methods: Amara aenea occurred only in nonchemically protected areas, Platynus assimilis tends to prefer broad beans protected solely with P. oligandrum, while Anchomenus dorsalis prefer plots protected chemically (seed treatment and 3-time spraying). This may be the effect of the different shading of the soil surface as a result of the influence of protection measures on plant growth. Other explanations may include different vulnerability of species to preparations as well as indirect reaction to the occurrence of other taxa (reduced competition and impairment of food sources) or hormesis.

The potential use of drones to help natural pest control - an example using carabids

Small automated flying vehicles (drones, by common name) are undergoing very fast development, and the range of their potential use is also fast expanding. One possible application in agriculture is to disperse biological control agents in areas that are otherwise inaccessible, or the distribution of natural enemies is uneconomic for various reasons. We develop the use of multirotor type drones (DJI S-900) as a possible vehicle to field-disperse carabid beetle adults as an inoculative biological control release against oilseed rape pests. We selected Pterostichus cupreus as a representative of common, larger species, and Anchomenus dorsalis as a similar representative of smaller species. To test the robustness of these species to being dispersed by drones, we subjected the two carabid species to simulated "drop tests", using a specially modified 1 L-sized dispenser that can be fitted to the drone. We mixed 15-20 adults with two media, buckwheat bran and vermiculite and allowed the machine "dispersing" them under laboratory conditions. Subsequently, we checked the "distributed" beetles for mortality, bodily damage, and feeding capacity. Our first tests show that A.dorsalis is suitable for drone-based distribution while the larger species likely requires further modification of the dispensing system, due to the larger size and motility of this species. The dropping caused no mortality or physical damage to A.dorsalis but some of the P.cupreus lost tarsal segments. Feeding was not impaired in either species, though. In summary, drone technology opens promising possibilities for the widening of biological control possibilities in various situations in agriculture.

The bioindication importance of the Carabidae communities of Veporské vrchy and Juhoslovanská kotlina

The Carabidae family (Coleoptera) is used frequently for its bioindication potential to detect the environmental burden. In 2013 and 2014, we studied the correlation of Carabidae on the biotopes of six areas in the Veporské vrchy Mts and the Juhoslovenská kotlina basin by using pitfall traps, Möricke plates and Bambara beetle traps. Out of 432 recorded specimens of beetles (53 species, 15 families), the Carabidae family were the highest number of species and specimens represented, with which we confirmed higher anthropogenic interference and disturbance of ecosystems in the Juhoslovenská kotlina basin. This statistic confirms the presence of the following species typically found on arable land: Anchomenus dorsalis, Calathus fuscipes fuscipes, Harpalus affinis and Pseudoophonus rufipes. The ecosystems in the Veporské vrchy Mts region show less disturbance, and the anthropological impact is smaller, indicated by the presence of the Carabus problematicus species, an important indicator of the conservation of natural forest ecosystems.