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To understand the potential consequences of arable land use changes for insect conservation and ecosystem functioning, it is fundamental to know how insect species with different functional traits respond to crop choice and production method.This study examined the effects of crop type and production method on functional traits of butterfly, bumblebee and carabid beetle communities using species abundance data from 78 fields in Southern Finland. Surrounding landscape composition was also accounted for. The studied traits were associated with dispersal capacity, habitat or diet specialization and phenology—the key determinants modifying species responses to agricultural disturbances and land use changes.Butterfly habitat breadth was narrowest and wingspan shortest in long‐term fallows. Fallows also supported the highest share of butterflies overwintering in early development stages and bumblebees with late‐emerging queens. The tongue length of bumblebees was longest in organic oat fields, probably due to flowering weeds with long corolla.For carabid beetles, the proportion of poor flyers and carnivores was highest in perennial crops and fallows. Carabid beetles overwintering as adults were relatively more abundant in organic than in conventional production, probably due to more intensive tillage in organic fields.In all insect groups, poor dispersers and/or specialists decreased with increasing arable land cover in the surrounding landscape.Increasing the area of long‐term fallows and perennial crops and enhancing within‐field plant diversity while maintaining landscape heterogeneity would promote insect species sensitive to agricultural disturbances and land use changes and their associated ecosystem services in boreal farmland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting arthropods in agricultural landscapes can contribute substantially to stop their decline and enhance pest control. Higher soil moisture and the presence of field margins can increase the abundance of arthropods in agricultural landscapes and influence their distribution within crop fields. However, little is known about the influence of soil moisture and distance from field margins on the overwintering of arthropods in arable fields. We investigated the influence of soil moisture and distance from a field margin on the numbers of arthropods, ground beetles and spiders emerging from soil in winter wheat fields. We established transects in winter wheat fields away from two different types of field margins: (i) around small standing water bodies (kettle holes) to capture a wide range of soil moisture values and (ii) other semi-natural landscape elements. At three distances (1 m, 20 m, 50 m), we sampled arthropods with emergence traps and measured soil moisture between March and June. We found that soil moisture had a positive effect on the emergence numbers of arthropods in general and ground beetles and spiders in particular. Distance from field margins generally had negative effects on the emergence numbers of ground beetles, but positive effects on the emergence numbers of spiders. Emergence numbers and soil moisture content did not differ significantly between the two types of field margins. The high emergence numbers inside the fields indicate that arable fields are important overwintering habitats for beneficial arthropods. Proper management of arable soils to promote soil water holding capacity and soil moisture content may have the added benefit of promoting the production of beneficial natural enemies from local soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Simplified agricultural land with high chemical input is increasingly replacing natural habitats in many parts of the world. This loss and fragmentation of natural areas may have profound impacts on an array of wildlife, including predatory arthropods that provide natural biocontrol of agricultural pests. There is increasing interest in utilising short‐term seminatural habitat restoration in agricultural systems to support populations of beneficial organisms. We assessed the impact of two types of short‐term set‐asides on the diversity and abundance/activity density of phytophagous and predatory arthropods. We found that flower‐enhanced set‐asides supported higher abundances of both phytophagous and predatory arthropods compared to control crop fields. In addition, we found that both set‐aside types (flower enhanced and traditional) supported a more active and diverse community of beneficial predatory carabid beetles, with particularly strong trends in set‐asides supplemented with flowering plants. These results suggest that small‐scale, temporary, seminatural habitats in agricultural systems provide support for a diverse and abundant community of both beneficial and phytophagous arthropods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally held that microbes exert primary control over nitrogen availability in temperate forests. Yet the role of soil and litter‐dwelling invertebrates to provide additional control via the breakdown of organic matter is an area of current exploration. Through trophic interactions within soil food webs, predators may indirectly affect prey with cascading effects on litter breakdown and nitrogen availability. The importance of these interactions, however, may be context‐dependent, varying with the stage of forest development and associated decomposer species composition given that young and old forests have vast differences in nitrogen availability, vegetation litter, soil properties and invertebrate functional groups. We examined ground beetle control over soil nitrogen and soil properties using a 68‐day mesocosm experiment that manipulated trophic structure (omnivore + predator beetles, predator beetles, and no beetles) in a young and old forest stand in the northeastern United States. In the young forest, net nitrogen mineralization decreased under predator + omnivore and the bulk soil C:N ratio in the old forest. However, we found no response in either forest context to the predator only treatment. Our study demonstrates the potential for ground beetles to strongly impact nitrogen availability and soil properties in forest ecosystems. Therefore, animal trophic interactions and their contexts must be included in our paradigm of nutrient cycles in temperate forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flower strips are a prominent agri‐environmental scheme with the central objective to promote biodiversity and maintain associated ecosystem services. The promotion of natural enemies by increasing resource availability through flower strips is a promising approach for integrated pest management.In a 3‐year field study, two annual and two perennial flower strip mixtures, as well as a grass mixture, were tested regarding their attractiveness for natural enemies at three different study sites in Germany. Natural enemies were sampled annually in nine sampling rounds at a 10‐day rhythm using sweep netting and pitfall traps. To assess available floral resources, we estimated the species‐specific flower cover and classified species into flower types.Flower strip mixtures differed in their attractiveness to natural enemies. Treatment effects on arthropod activity density were most pronounced in the second and third year. Overall, perennial were more attractive than annual flower strip mixtures for most natural enemies, however, the response to flower strip mixtures varied significantly among taxa. For example, perennial flower strips showed a two‐ to fourfold increase of plant‐dwelling spider and parasitoid wasp activity density as well as higher numbers of juvenile stages of predatory bugs and rove beetles compared to annual flower strips. In contrast, annual flower strip mixtures showed the highest attractiveness for ground beetles. Moreover, different natural enemy taxa were associated with varying flower strip characteristics such as flower type proportion, herbivore availability and plant species richness.Synthesis and applications. We found taxon‐specific responses of natural enemies to different flower strips, which provide guidance for the floral composition of flower strips in order to maximize their effectiveness for natural pest control. We suggest the use of perennial mixtures with high proportion of flower heads (Asteraceae) and disk flowers (esp. Apiaceae, Rubiaceae, Brassicaceae) in particular, but also flag blossoms (Fabaceae) as these flower types were positively associated with several natural enemy groups. However, since we found mixed responses to flower types, specific flower strip composition will ultimately depends on its objective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the phenomenon of freshwater macroinvertebrates, specifically the midge Axarus, boring into rock and hard substrates in aquatic ecosystems. While burrowing into softer sediments is well-documented, the behavior of burrowing into rock and hardpan habitats is less understood. The article presents observations of Axarus populations in Lake McMurtry, Oklahoma, where the larvae were found to create burrows in clay and sandstone habitats. The study also highlights the presence of other invertebrates and parasites associated with the burrows. The authors emphasize the need for further research on rock-boring macroinvertebrates and their ecological impacts. [Extracted from the article]

Ground beetle groups inhabiting the lawn and area occupied by ruderal vegetation in the Botanic Garden of the Perm State University were examined from April to November 2021 using the soil trap method with a preservative (4% formaldehyde). In total, 1643 ground beetle individuals were collected during the research period; 41 species representing 14 genera and belonging to 7 life forms and 5 ecological groups were identified. Pterostichus melanarius was the absolute dominant; the following species acted as subdominants in different seasons: Bembidion properans, Calathus erratus, Amara aenea, Harpalus rufipes, Harpalusaffinis, and Harpalus tardus. The abundance, number of species, and diversity of the ground beetle population vary significantly on different sampling plots and feature seasonal changes. On the lawn sampling plot, two abundance peaks (in May and August) were recorded in the seasonal dynamics of ground beetles; on the ruderal vegetation sampling plot, a single peak was recorded in May. Quantitative ratios between ecological groups vary dynamically throughout the season, but the predominance of meadow–field species remains a common feature. On the plot with ruderal vegetation, mixophytophages predominate over zoophages both in number of species and abundance, while zoophages predominate on the lawn both in species diversity and abundance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy metals are an important group of toxic substances harmful for many organisms. Of these, mercury is one of the most monitored in the environment. Several matrices are used for the monitoring of environmental load, including a range of organisms; bats, however, have only been examined rarely. Insectivorous bats are apex predators threatened by several human interventions in their natural environment, including heavy metal pollution. The aim of this study was to analyze the content of total mercury in the fur, flight membrane, and pectoral muscle of greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis). Total mercury concentrations were also measured in carabid beetles from the catch locality Zastávka u Brna. Samples were obtained from 43 bat carcasses at two different localities in the Czech Republic (Zastávka u Brna, Malá Morávka). Total mercury content varied between 1.76–72.20 µg/g in fur, 0.04–0.14 µg/g in skin, and 0.05–0.20 µg/g in muscle. Total mercury values in the fur of some individuals from Malá Morávka exceeded the recognized toxicity limit. Furthermore, there was a significant difference (p < 0.001) in content of total mercury in fur between localities, and there was a clear effect of age on concentrations in fur, skin, and muscle, the concentrations being significantly correlated (fur and skin rs = 0.783; fur and muscle rs = 0.716; skin and muscle rs = 0.884). These findings confirm the usefulness of fur samples from living bats for biomonitoring mercury burden in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study is a first attempt to address the critical issue of effect of elevation on the distribution and body size of carabid beetles in the same region, including mountainous forests and the alpine tundra of the upper limit of vegetation in the north cold temperate zone. The richness, abundance and body size of carabid beetles linearly decrease with elevation increase. The larger carabid species C. canaliculatus and C. venustus become smaller to adapt to high-elevation tundra conditions. The vegetation type changes at high elevations is an important factor that leads to changes of carabid distribution and body size along the elevation gradient. These high-elevation species such as C. macleayi, N. pektusanica and P. jaechi should be given priority attention in the context of global climate change. The environment of mountain ecosystems can change greatly in short distances as elevation increases. The effects of elevation change on the distribution and body size of carabid beetles were investigated at elevations of 750–2600 m in the Changbaishan Nature Reserve (Northeast China). The richness and abundance of carabid species decreased significantly as elevation increased. However, the change trends are different in forests and tundra. In the broad-leaved Korean pine forest and coniferous forest at low elevations, carabid beetle species have high richness and abundance. The community composition of carabid beetles was significantly different at different elevations and among different vegetation types. Some species only occurred at specific elevations. There were fewer indicator species in high-elevation areas, but Carabus macleayi Dejean, Nebria pektusanica Horratovich and Pterostichus jaechi Kirschenhofer were mainly found in high-elevation areas. The average body size of species in the carabid beetle community was negatively correlated with elevation. The sizes of the larger Carabus canaliculatus Adams and Carabus venustus Morawitz were negatively correlated with elevation. Their body sizes decreased obviously in the tundra at elevations above 2000 m. Changes in vegetation types at high elevations affect the distribution and body sizes of beetles along the elevation gradient. Some large carabid species may be smaller at high elevations where a unique insect fauna has developed. The body size and distribution range of the carabid may be the factors that affect body size reduction at high elevation. Although some high-elevation species also occur in low-elevation areas, the protection of species diversity in high-elevation areas should be emphasized in the context of global climate change. The results illustrate the mechanisms of carabid beetles' response to elevation change and the need for carabid beetles' diversity conservation under global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although most carabids are carnivorous generalists, some species show dietary specializations such as malacophagy, which is characterized by two main strategies of snail predation: entering the shell or breaking it. The shell‐breaking strategy has been well studied in the malacophagous specialists of the tribe Licinini. However, little is known about the ability of other carabids to feed on snails and, in particular, to use the shell‐breaking strategy. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate the ability of various generalist carabid species to feed on snails under laboratory conditions. We recorded 723 instances of predation in 89 of 180 carabid individuals (representing 23 of 33 species); all of them were exclusively shell‐breaking attacks. While carabids mostly favoured individuals <8 mm as prey, they showed no preference for shell shape. Using a subset of 14 carabid species with a high frequency of snail predation, we found significant differences between the predation rates of carabid species depending on their body size using GLMMs. This study revealed that many generalist carabids can indeed feed on snails by breaking the shell, but predation rates were highly inconsistent among individual species. Shell‐breaking patterns of generalists differed markedly from those of malacophagous specialists reported in the literature, as damage parallel to the shell coiling axis occurred more frequently than spiral damage. Our results show that the shell‐breaking predation patterns of carabids are closely related to their degree of dietary specialization on snails and that many generalist carabids frequently accept snails as their prey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognized that heterogeneous environments promote biodiversity. Consequently, we investigated whether heterogeneous environments influence the diversity of ground‐dwelling beetles within a well‐managed conifer plantation forest. We collected carabid beetles, and necrophagous silphid and dung beetles (necrophagous beetles) using pitfall traps at 37 sites with or without fish meat bait. The result of a two‐dimensional principal component analysis (PCA) utilizing environmental indices measured at each site suggested that the environmental heterogeneity depended on the survival density of planted conifers, serving as an indicator of historical gap formation levels. Gaps populated by invading broadleaved trees exhibited low canopy opening percentages and understory cover degrees, while those filled by the growth of planted conifers displayed the opposite conditions. The presence of bait had a negligible impact on carabid beetles but significantly influenced necrophagous beetles. No significant relationships were found between the scores of PCA components and the beetle species richness, suggesting that a heterogeneous environment does not increase the beetle species diversities. However, significant relationships were observed with the scores on nonmetric multidimensional scaling axes, indicating that a heterogeneous environment contributes to the complexity of beetle assemblages. The most dominant carabid, Synuchus cycloderus, was abundant in areas where historical gap formation was thought to be more prevalent. Among necrophagous beetles, Pherotrupes laevistriatus and Panelus parvulus preferred habitats with darker environments, in contrast to Onthophagus fodiens and O. nitidus. This study will aid in developing forestry practices aimed at conserving specific ground‐dwelling beetle species within conifer plantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive research in evolutionary biology has focused on the exaggeration of sexual traits; however, the developmental basis of exaggerated sexual traits has only been determined in a few cases. The evolution of exaggerated sexual traits may involve the relaxation of constraints or developmental processes mitigating constraints. Ground beetles in the subgenus Ohomopterus (genus Carabus) have species‐specific genitalia that show coevolutionary divergence between the sexes. Here, we examined the morphogenesis of the remarkably enlarged male and female genitalia of Carabus uenoi by X‐ray microcomputed tomography. The morphogenetic processes generating the male and female genitalia at the pupal stage were qualitatively similar to those in closely related species with standard genital sizes. Higher growth rates contributed to the exaggeration of both the male and female genital parts of C. uenoi, possibly related to a gene network commonly upregulated in both sexes. Additionally, the length of the copulatory piece (CP), the enlarged male genital part stored in the aedeagus (AD), reached close to that of the AD at the later developmental stages and thereafter decelerated to grow in parallel with the AD, suggesting a structural constraint on the CP by the outer AD. Then, unlike related species, the lengths of the CP and AD increased at eclosion, suggesting a mechanism leading to further elongation of the male genitalia. These observations suggest that a developmental process allows continuous growth of the male genitalia even under the spatial limitation. These results revealed the spatio‐temporal dynamics of the development of exaggerated genital structures under structural constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector has been intensifying production systems to increase yields. Olive cultivation is the most widespread permanent crop in Europe and the Mediterranean region and in many cases, it is under intensive farming practices with heavy use of agrochemicals, greatly affecting olive grove biodiversity. In this study we investigate the impact of different understorey management practices (undisturbed, cleared with mechanical means) on plant cover, ground beetle and bee richness and abundance, and on the abundance of ground arthropods and flying insects in olive groves on Lesvos Island, North Aegean, Greece. We found that undisturbed understorey had a positive impact on plant richness and abundance, ground beetle and bee richness and abundance, as well as ground arthropod and flying insect abundance. The results suggest that maintaining the plant cover undisturbed significantly improves the biodiversity of the olive groves and by extension the ecosystem services, such as pollination, pest control and soil health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among gastrointestinal nematodes, Haemonchus contortus (Rudolphi) Cobb (order Strongylidae; family Trichostrongylidae) is one of pathogenic and economic importance in domestic and wild ruminants, including the European bison, Bison bonasus Linnaeus (order Cetartiodactyla; family Bovidae); a species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. Carabus granulatus Linnaeus (order Coleoptera; family Carabidae) is one of the most prevalent species of ground beetle, inhabiting a wide range of terrestrial ecosystems in Poland. Twenty‐six ground beetles of this species inhabiting the Białowieża Primeval Forest in eastern Poland were screened for the presence of DNA of pathogenic gastrointestinal nematodes of ruminants. Extracted DNA was sequenced and compared to reference sequences. In six insects, the presence of H. contortus DNA was detected. The obtained nucleotide sequences were homologous to each other and to the majority of the published DNA sequences of H. contortus isolates. The sequences were also identical to a sequence of H. contortus isolated from European bison in Poland. The study provides the first molecular evidence of the presence of H. contortus DNA in C. granulatus. The finding suggests that ground beetles may play a role in the transmission dynamics of this parasite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To successfully conserve and restore agrobiodiversity, it is essential to understand the impact of multiple drivers and interlinkages across multiple taxa that occur above, across, and below the soil interface. Based on data from six agricultural landscapes in Central Germany, with 16 sampling plots per landscape, we used structural equation models to disentangle the impacts of climate, land-use, and soil factors on the diversity of multiple taxonomic groups. We expected belowground communities (soil bacteria and fungi) to be more driven by soil variables, mobile aboveground groups (wild bees, ground beetles) to be more driven by climate and land use, and vascular plants, that have an above- and belowground component, to respond to a combination of all factors. According to our expectations, climate and land-use variables had an important role in shaping aboveground and plant communities. In contrast to our expectations, soil characteristics were of lesser importance for belowground organisms. Moreover, climatic factors had a strong impact on the soil microbiome, but this effect was indirect, modulated by soil pH. We also found indications for cascading effects of environmental factors via interlinkages within and among the above- and belowground communities. Our results highlight the importance of direct and indirect effects of multiple drivers on the diversity of multiple taxonomic groups and support recent calls for a multifunctional approach for sustainable landscape management and nature restoration, suggesting to focus on the promotion of semi-natural habitats but also considering the climatic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural intensification and expansion are regarded as main drivers of biodiversity loss. This conclusion is mainly based on observed declines of local diversity (α-diversity), while effects on community composition homogenization (decrease of β-diversity) at a larger spatial scale are less well understood. Carabid beetles and spiders represent two widespread guilds and are important predators of pest species. Here we surveyed carabid beetles and spiders in 66 winter wheat fields in four northwestern European countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and UK) and analyzed how their community composition was related to geographic distance (separation distance between any pairwise fields) and three environmental variables: crop yield (proxy for land-use intensity), percentage cropland (proxy for landscape complexity) and soil organic carbon content (proxy for local soil conditions). We further analyzed whether the relationship between carabid beetle and spider community composition and geographic distance was influenced by environmental variables. We found that, 55 % and 75 % of all observed carabid and spider individuals, respectively, belonged to species that occurred in all four countries. However, individuals of species that were unique to a particular country only accounted for 3 % of all collected individuals for both taxa. Furthermore, we found a negative relationship between distance and similarity of spider communities but not for carabid beetle communities. None of the environmental variables were related to similarity of carabid beetle and spider communities, nor moderated the effects of distance. Our study indicates that across a great part of the European continent, arthropod communities (especially carabid beetles) in agricultural landscapes are composed of very similar species that are robust to current variations in environment and land-use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amara (Parapercosia) taurica (Motschulsky, 1845) (Coleoptera: Carabidae) is a rare ground beetle found sporadically through the virgin steppes of Southeastern Europe, Caucasus, Turkey, Kazakhstan and the south of Western Siberia. This study reports the first record of this steppe species in Bulgaria. One male specimen was collected by a pitfall trap in the Chepan Planina Mountain (part of the Western Stara Planina Mts.) in central-western Bulgaria, in the period July-September 2023. In addition, 14 other members of the family Carabidae were found during the same study. Of them, Cymindis axillaris is recorded for the first time from the Western Stara Planina Mts. This study is also the second record of Ophonus parallelus in the Stara Planina Mts. The relatively low anthropogenic pressure in the studied habitat and the adjacent areas is believed be a crucial factor for the survival of vulnerable steppe elements, including A. taurica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulgarian ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) have been studied intensively by many native and foreign scientists. The various field observations presented here contain data on the distribution of 94 Bulgarian carabid species from 19 tribes, collected in nine zoogeographical regions and subregions, mostly in the mountains in Southwestern Bulgaria. These records expand the range of seven species to new zoogeographical (sub)regions. The polytypic high mountain bog dwelling species Agonum carbonarium Dejean is reported for the first time for the Bulgarian fauna, with the taxonomic status of the Bulgarian (and Balkan) populations remaining unclear. New altitude limits are given for eight species.

Intensive use of pesticides is among the main drivers of biodiversity loss, especially of insects. Here, field concentrations of chemical synthetic pesticides were measured in soil and carabid beetles in a vineyard (VP) and olive grove (OP), in two consecutive years. The aim was to determine if active ingredients in pesticides applied in the field accumulate in carabids and how this correlates with treatment intensity. Carabids and soil samples were collected at a vineyard and olive grove in Zadar County in Croatia, soil in 2018 and 2019 and carabids in 2019. Both were under integrated pest management (IPM), with a total of 34 pesticides applied, between January and August in the two years of this study. Using LC-MS/MS, a broad range of pesticides, mainly fungicides, was detected in the soil and carabids. In soil samples, boscalid (0.047 mg/kg), mandipropamid (0.08 mg/kg), fluopyram (0.09 mg/kg), cyprodinil (0.09 mg/kg) and tebuconazole (0.13 mg/kg) were detected in the highest amounts. In addition, nine substances were detected in carabids, with valiphenalate (0.048 mg/kg), difenoconazole (0.051 mg/kg) and azoxystrobin (0.064 mg/kg) in the highest concentrations. Bioaccumulation factor (BAF) indicated the accumulation of valiphenalate, metalaxyl-M, spiroxamine and difenoconazole in carabids. Data measured directly in the field revealed the accumulation of pesticides in carabids, which indicates they could be good bioindicators in IPM and contribute to a better understanding of the distribution of pesticides in Mediterranean agroecosystems.

Vast grassland areas disappear due to abandonment, conversion to arable fields or urban areas. Consequently, grassland species have declined dramatically during and since the last century. The majority of remaining European grasslands are managed, many of them by mowing, which, in general, decreases arthropods' abundance and species richness.Here, we aimed to study the effects of width and proportion of refuge areas on local abundance and richness of arthropods in hay meadows. Within a ca. 4000 ha semi‐natural grassland area of the Great Hungarian Plain, we established refuge strips of different widths (3 and 9 m) and proportion of total field area (10 and 25%) following a randomised block design with six replicates per treatment. We studied five arthropod groups (grasshoppers, true bugs, carabids and ground‐dwelling and vegetation‐dwelling spiders), which we sampled 2 weeks after mowing by sweep netting and pitfall traps.Uncut strips were warmer and moister than the mown areas. The effects of refuge strips and their arrangement were stronger on the vegetation‐dwelling than on ground‐dwelling arthropods, although all taxa were affected in some way. We found more true bugs in mown areas between narrow strips than between wide strips. The interaction effect of width and proportion of refuge strips on the abundance of grasshoppers, ground‐dwelling spiders and species richness of carabids showed that wider strips are more beneficial if their proportion is low and narrow strips are more beneficial with high proportion.Synthesis and applications: Our findings provide evidence that uncut refuge strips can harbour diverse and abundant arthropod assemblages in hay meadows and mitigate the adverse effects of uniformly executed mowing on arthropods. Modifying attributes and considering farming practices, wide strips with a low (10%) proportion of total field area seem optimal for both conservation and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In symbiotic interactions, microorganisms associated with the intestinal tract, constituting the gut microbiome, are especially important, because they influence the life history and fitness of their host organisms. The gut microbiome of ground beetles, one of the most species-rich animal families, is poorly known, and research on sex-specific differences is almost completely missing. Investigating the gut bacterial microbiome of a widespread European carnivorous species, Carabus convexus, using next-generation high-throughput sequencing, we found 1138 different operational taxonomic units belonging to 21 bacterial phyla, 90 families, and 197 genera. One of the most abundant bacterial families and genera was previously not known from the digestive tracts of other ground beetle species. We also detected carbohydrate-degrading gut bacterial symbionts, which indicated possible plant feeding in this predatory species. Although the composition of the gut bacterial microbiome was not significantly different between the sexes, the gut symbionts showed more between-individual variability in females. This difference may result from the different mobility of sexes and the difference in reproductive investment. Biological interactions, including symbiotic ones, have vital roles in ecological and evolutionary processes. Microbial symbionts in the intestinal tracts, known as the gut microbiome, are especially important because they can fundamentally influence the life history, fitness, and competitiveness of their hosts. Studies on the gut-resident microorganisms of wild animals focus mainly on vertebrates, and studies on species-rich invertebrate taxa, such as ground beetles, are sparse. In fact, even among the species-rich genus Carabus, only the gut microbiome of two Asian species was studied, while results on European species are completely missing. Here, we investigated the gut bacterial microbiome of a widespread European Carabus species, targeting the V3 and V4 regions of the 16S ribosomal RNA genes by next-generation high-throughput sequencing. We identified 1138 different operational taxonomic units assigned to 21 bacterial phyla, 90 families, and 197 genera. Members of the carbohydrate-degrading Prevotellaceae family, previously not detected in ground beetles, were the most abundant in the gut microbiome of the carnivorous C. convexus. Presumably, individuals from the studied wild populations also consume plant materials, especially fruits, and these carbohydrate-degrading bacterial symbionts can facilitate both the consumption and the digestion of these supplementary foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Carabids are abundant and diverse arthropods in agroecosystems and are well known for their generalist diet and therefore biocontrol potential. Most studies on carabids' diet have focused on periods of peak pest infestations but their feeding habits through the cropping season are poorly known. In this study, we explored how carabids' trophic interactions with pests (aphids and slugs) and alternative prey (spiders, earthworms and springtails) varied from the wheat seedling emergence to wheat ripening by analysing the prey DNA in their gut. Carabids seemed to switch between prey depending on their availability at the time, reaffirming carabids' opportunistic diet. Regarding biocontrol, carabid taxa contributed complementarily to pest predation over the season and per pest taxon, highlighting the importance of favouring diversity in agroecosystems. To date, evaluating the diets of natural enemies like carabids has largely been limited to spatially explicit and short-term sampling. This leaves a knowledge gap for the intra-annual dynamics of carabid diets, and the provision and timing of delivery of natural pest control services. Season-long pitfall trapping of adult carabids was conducted in conventional winter wheat fields, from November 2018 to June 2019, in five French departments. Diagnostic Multiplex PCR of carabid gut contents was used to determine the dynamics of carabid diets. The overall detection rate of target prey DNA was high across carabid individuals (80%) but varied with the prey group. The rate of detection was low for pests, at 8.1% for slugs and 9.6% for aphids. Detection of intraguild predation and predation on decomposers was higher, at 23.8% for spiders, 37.9% for earthworms and 64.6% for springtails. Prey switching was high at the carabid community level, with pest consumption and intraguild predation increasing through the cropping season as the availability of these prey increased in the environment, while the detection of decomposer DNA decreased. Variation in diet through the cropping season was characterized by: (i) complementary predation on slug and aphid pests; and (ii) temporal complementarity in the predominant carabid taxa feeding on each pest. We hypothesize that natural pest control services delivered by carabids are determined by complementary contributions to predation by the different carabid taxa over the season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization profoundly alters environmental conditions for organisms, particularly through the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which elevates temperatures in city centers. This study examines the influence of urban environmental variables on rove and ground beetle communities. We sampled 36 grasslands in Rennes (northwestern France), yielding 3317 and 505 staphylinid and carabid adult individuals, respectively, belonging to 121 and 60 species, respectively. Staphylinid and carabid communities are not primarily affected by temperature-related variables. Staphylinids, often overlooked in urban ecology, showed species composition variation to be influenced by habitat and temperature, whereas their functional diversity was positively correlated with herbaceous vegetation height only. In contrast, carabid communities exhibited no significant relationship with the tested environmental variables. This study underscores the taxon-dependent nature of ectotherm's responses to thermal environments. Although a further investigation into species-specific traits, and particularly dispersal capacities in staphylinids, is needed to advance our understanding of urbanization's impact, our results indicate that functional diversity in staphylinid assemblages can be favored by locally reducing the mowing frequency or increasing the cutting height within urban green spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carabidae, or carabids, commonly known as "ground beetles", are found in numerous natural and cultivated habitats and are recognized for their beneficial role in controlling phytophagous pests in various temperate agroecosystems. However, the crop type and agricultural practices used in management areas significantly affect the structure of the carabid communities. The aim of this study was to investigate the abundance and diversity of ground beetles in hazelnut agroecosystems characterized by different agricultural methods in Calabria, Southern Italy. The carabids were collected from 2017 to 2018 in three hazelnut groves referred to in this study as AZ1, AZ2 and AZ3. Carabids were sampled using pitfall traps inspected every two weeks over a period of 24 months. A total of 4665 specimens belonging to 48 taxa were collected within the sampled sites. Many taxa were found to be widely distributed across the three selected hazelnut groves. Among these, Calathus spp., Harpalus dimidiatus (P. Rossi, 1790), Nebria spp., Platyderus neapolitanus jannonei (Binaghi in Magistretti, 1955), Poecilus cupreus (Linnaeus, 1758), Pterostichus melas italicus (Dejean, 1828), and Syntomus obscuroguttatus (Duftschmid, 1812) were the most abundant ones associated with all sampled areas. Concerning trophic preference, among the collected taxa, the most abundant ones were zoophagous and zoospermophagous. Additionally, taxa uncommon in agroecosystems but with ecological relevance, such as Carabus lefebvrei lefebvrei Dejean, 1826, Carabus preslii neumeyeri Schaum, 1856, and Carabus rossii Dejean, 1826, were also collected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co–B/Chi, which is made up of highly distributed Co–B particles, was synthesized by impregnation and chemical reduction methods. Scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller adsorption and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses were used to describe the morphology and microstructure of Co–B/Chi. The synthesized catalyst showed high catalytic activity in the hydrolysis reaction of NaBH4. The unsupported Co–B samples were compared with the chitin-supported Co–B catalyst, and the result showed that higher catalytic activity and good cycling stability for NaBH4 hydrolysis were obtained with the chitin-supported catalyst. The reaction conditions were investigated to achieve high hydrogen production. The maximum rate of hydrogen production was obtained at 40 °C and 20 mg catalyst amount. At ideal conditions, the hydrolysis reaction's activation energy was determined to be 51.65 kJ mol−1. It is indicate that Co–B/Chi is a viable low-cost catalyst for the hydrolysis of NaBH4 for hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The processes that influence community assembly, such as competition for resources and environmental filtering, are often scale dependent and vary across ecotones. Trait‐based ecology provides a useful framework for testing which ecological processes most strongly influence local community composition, especially across environmental gradients where species diversity varies. Where environmental filtering dominates, species distributions are expected to be defined by strong turnover along environmental gradients, with more similar species occupying more similar habitats. Where interspecific competition dominates, species are expected to diverge in relative abundance and resource utilization at sites, so species can co‐occur. Here, we integrate measurements of functional traits, microhabitat usage, isotopic composition (δ15N and δ13C), and abundance to test the importance of environmental filtering and resource/habitat partitioning in shaping a montane ground beetle species assemblage (Carabidae: Nebriini: Nebria) in the isolated, volcanic peaks of the northern Cascades Range, USA. Across species of Nebria, body size, pronotal shape, temperature preference, and isotopic enrichment varied across habitats ([gravel, rocks 10 cm–50 cm in diameter], large rocks [>50 cm in diameter], vegetation‐covered rocks, and alpine [snowfields and talus]), and habitat/microhabitat features were reliable predictors of species presence. Resource consumption among mid‐elevation species on Mt. Rainier—the peak with the greatest species diversity—is highly overlapping. Species turnover and nestedness varied significantly across habitat gradients and peaks throughout this region and varied nearly significantly across sites. Across habitat types and sites, more similar species are more likely to coexist. These results suggest that environmental filtering is the primary process structuring this species assemblage, although we find detailed evidence for microhabitat niche partitioning among species of Nebria at the site scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cali is the third most prominent, and one of the most crowed, Colombian cities. It still harbours some tropical dry forest patches that can mitigate the impacts of the urban transformation; however, there is an almost total absence of information on the biological importance of these sites and their potential for future ecological restoration processes. To assess if they serve as important refuges for insect bioindicator species, we sampled five urban patches of tropical dry forest in the city, plus one nearby rural patch, using specific trapping procedures for ants and carabid beetles. Patch areas were variable, from 1 to 50 ha. We found that the smallest patch presented the highest ant richness, with a tendency towards generalists and a few unique species. Meanwhile, some specialist species were found in the rural patch. A total of 109 ant and 13 carabid species were recorded, including four new records of ants for Colombia. Results suggest that environmental variables favour the presence of generalist and opportunistic ants. Despite this, the high ant richness demonstrates that. Urban forest patches are important refuges for biodiversity. The low richness observed for carabids could be a sign of the challenges that urban forests face considering the ecological importance of beetles. The possible dangers of intensive internal use of these forests is discussed to prevent local extinctions, since the biggest forests are not necessarily conserving a higher richness. This work represents an important contribution to urban ecology in the region, with possibilities of further restoration in urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to quantify the concentration of heavy metals (Mg, Cu, Pb, Fe, Zn, Cd, and Ni), in the soil, plant (Zygophyllum decumben) and ground beetles (Anthia duodecimguttata) at two sampling sites. The selected sites located in the Eastern region, Saudi Arabia. The first site was around to the cement factory, in Al-Ahsa (cement site). While the second one was at 15 Km away (reference site). The obtained results showed that there were no differences in the heavy metals (MHs) concentration in soil collected from the two sites (p>0.05), except Fe that its concentration was significantly higher in the cement site. In addition, six mean differences of MHs out of seven were proven highly significant in plants and insects collected from the cement site. Mg level was the same in plants and insects collected from the two inspected sites. The concentrations of different MHs were higher in beetles than soil and plant. Only, the concentration of Zn in plant (163.59 μg/g) was higher than that recorded in soil (1.67 μg/g) and insect (80.99 μg/g). The concentration of Mg, Cu, Fe, Pb, Cd and Ni increased and accumulated by transferring from soil to plant to beetle whereas the accumulation of Zn decreased by transferring from plant to insect. The concentration of U238, Th232 and K40 (Bq/kg) in the soil collected from the cement site is significantly higher than that recorded in the soil collected from the reference site. Except Cs137 that showed insignificant difference between the two studied sites. The concentrations of all recorded HMs and radioactivity level in the soil collected from the cement site were less than the acceptable limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energies are a major tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change. Among renewables, solar parks are a key technology and their expansion will strongly increase in the future. Hence, there is a great need for research regarding their impact on biodiversity. In this study, we investigated the importance of three solar parks in northern Germany as habitat for carabid beetles. More specifically, we determined how habitat characteristics (temperature, vegetation structure), species richness, activity densities and carabid beetle assemblages vary between different locations within solar parks: areas under solar panels "UNDR", gaps between panel rows "BTW" and areas at the edge of solar parks "EDGE". We found that UNDR strongly differed from BTW/EDGE in terms of habitat conditions, species richness and activity densities of carabid beetles. UNDR mainly provided habitat for a species- and individual-poor subset of species already present in BTW/EDGE and made only a small contribution to the total species richness of the investigated solar parks. BTW and EDGE, on the other hand, differed only slightly. Thus, the narrow gaps between the panel rows were of similar importance as a habitat for carabid beetles as the edge areas. Overall, the investigated solar parks—and thus also the more species-rich areas EDGE and BTW—almost exclusively provided habitat for widespread and common non-threatened generalists, while species of conservation concern were extremely rare. Implications for insect conservation: The low importance of UNDR for carabid beetles should be considered when assessing the biodiversity value of solar parks, since a large proportion of these facilities is covered with solar panels. Between panel rows and at the edge of solar parks, larger areas should be kept free from construction with solar panels in order to provide habitats for carabid beetles and other species groups. More research should be conducted on how to further improve solar parks for carabid beetles and overall biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the methods aimed at assessing carabid beetle diversity, pitfall trapping (PFT) is currently much more widely used than hand searching (HS). However, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of these two methods based on the same sampling effort, none in mountain areas. Here, we compared PFT and HS in terms of accuracy of the species richness estimate, detection of threatened species and cost-effectiveness, based on equal time spent in the field. The study was conducted along an elevational gradient in the alpine zone of the French Pyrenees. Our results showed that recorded species richness was significantly greater when sampling was performed using HS, suggesting that PFT only detected a subset of the ground beetle assemblage existing at each sampling plot. HS was more effective at characterizing rare species, especially microendemic species threatened by climate change. HS also enabled better detection of small species and of winged species. Additionally, HS involves fewer logistical constraints in performing field work and prevents overkilling in fragile alpine populations. However, some of the benefits we have highlighted in favour of HS may be specific to the studied habitat type, calling for more studies in different mountain habitats. Implications for insect conservation: Our results show that PFT alone does not allow for an accurate assessment of the conservation status of highly specialised alpine species, if they are small in size. Moreover, HS has a lower lethal impact on local insect populations. HS should therefore be recommended, whenever it is practically feasible, in the most sensitive and threatened high-alpine environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Carabid beetles are one of the several taxa useful as model organisms to study and monitor current ecosystems features, as well as environmental changes caused by global changes. Open data about these organisms are scarcely available. To fill this gap, a data table (Darwin Core formatted) was uploaded in GBIF database (). The dataset is the result of a pitfall trapping survey of carabid beetles living along an altitudinal bioclimatic gradient, in the Dolomites mountains within the protected area of the Regional Park "Paneveggio e Pale di S. Martino" (Trento, Italy). Investigated environments ranged from spruce forests to the extreme environments of high altitude, so to collect a dataset as complete as possible on carabid beetles harboured in this area. New information: The dataset included here is part of an initiative aimed at promoting the adoption of a formal structure for datasets on carabid beetles acquired by field surveys and to give open access to these data. This dataset gives the opportunity to test the effects of global change affecting the same area, within long-term surveys on carabid beetles. Furthermore, the availability of open data is intended to promote an ethical approach to ecological research under a social and scientific point of view, the first because it will avoid wasting public funds on repeating the same researches and the second because it will avoid recapturing new organisms in the same (or similar) environments by other researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensive use of pesticides is among the main drivers of biodiversity loss, especially of insects. Here, field concentrations of chemical synthetic pesticides were measured in soil and carabid beetles in a vineyard (VP) and olive grove (OP), in two consecutive years. The aim was to determine if active ingredients in pesticides applied in the field accumulate in carabids and how this correlates with treatment intensity. Carabids and soil samples were collected at a vineyard and olive grove in Zadar County in Croatia, soil in 2018 and 2019 and carabids in 2019. Both were under integrated pest management (IPM), with a total of 34 pesticides applied, between January and August in the two years of this study. Using LC-MS/MS, a broad range of pesticides, mainly fungicides, was detected in the soil and carabids. In soil samples, boscalid (0.047 mg/kg), mandipropamid (0.08 mg/kg), fluopyram (0.09 mg/kg), cyprodinil (0.09 mg/kg) and tebuconazole (0.13 mg/kg) were detected in the highest amounts. In addition, nine substances were detected in carabids, with valiphenalate (0.048 mg/kg), difenoconazole (0.051 mg/kg) and azoxystrobin (0.064 mg/kg) in the highest concentrations. Bioaccumulation factor (BAF) indicated the accumulation of valiphenalate, metalaxyl-M, spiroxamine and difenoconazole in carabids. Data measured directly in the field revealed the accumulation of pesticides in carabids, which indicates they could be good bioindicators in IPM and contribute to a better understanding of the distribution of pesticides in Mediterranean agroecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During a comprehensive survey of heterostigmatic mites associated with ground beetles and soil samples in northern and northeastern Iran, several colonies of caroboacarid mites, including three species of the genus Caraboacarus Krczal, 1959, C. stammeri Krczal, 1959, C. karenae Nickel & Elzinga, 1969, and C. krczali Eidelberg, 1994 as well as Minicaraboacarus quadridiscalis Hajiqanbar & Khaustov, 2008 and Intercaraboacarus clivinus Katlav & Hajiqanbar, 2015, were extracted from soil samples and ground beetles of the genera Calosoma Weber, Harpalus Latreille, Amara Bonelli and Scarites Fabricius in the sampling area. The world distribution and host specificity are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floodplains along rivers and streams are characterised by a high habitat heterogeneity and a large biodiversity. However, floodplains are highly threatened by anthropogenic activities such as channelisation and bank enforcement of watercourses. While floodplains along rivers are well known for their importance for riparian biodiversity, the conservation value of floodplains along small streams is less understood. We studied carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and ground‐dwelling spiders (Arachnida: Aranea) along forested small streams (~ up to 5 m width) in Rhineland‐Palatinate (Germany). We investigated 16 pairs of floodplains (natural stream sites with shallow bank and regular flooding events) and controls (deeply cut stream sites without regular flooding), where we sampled carabid beetles and spiders at different distances to the stream bank (0, 5 and 10 m). We found that floodplains along small streams had contrasting value for carabid beetles and ground‐dwelling spiders. For carabid beetles, we observed several typical floodplain species and distinct species assemblages and 2.7 times more individuals across species of conservation concern in floodplain sites. Moreover, species richness and total number of individuals of carabid beetles were highest directly at the stream bank (0 m distance) of floodplains compared with the more distant locations, while the opposite was found for the control stream sites. The spider composition also differed between floodplains and control steam sites, but only one typical floodplain species was detected. Species richness and number of individuals in ground‐dwelling spiders were lower in floodplains than in control stream sites. We conclude that the conservation value of floodplains of small streams is taxa‐dependent and that they appear less relevant for ground‐dwelling spiders but provide important habitats for riparian carabid beetles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species recovery following anthropogenic disturbances will depend on adaptations in survivorship and fecundity. Life‐history theory predicts increased environmental stress will result in (1) shifts in resource allocation from fecundity to body growth/maintenance and (2) increased provisioning among offspring at the cost of reproductive output. For remnant populations that persist after forest harvesting, selection mediated through anthropogenic disturbances may affect resilience to additional stressors such as climate change. We tested how rapid changes in environmental conditions affected maternal investment strategies in two ground beetle species, Pterostichus pensylvanicus and Pterostichus coracinus, by comparing fecundity and survivorship in populations from recently clear‐cut and uncut habitats. Using parents drawn from clear‐cut or uncut stands, we reared progeny in both common garden and reciprocal transplant experiments. In P. pensylvanicus, we found that neither lineage nor rearing habitat affected the number of eggs laid per female or survivorship of offspring. However, eggs laid by females from clear‐cuts were more likely to hatch and offspring reached maturity more quickly, suggesting increased provisioning per offspring. In P. coracinus, females from clear‐cuts laid more eggs, and their eggs hatched more rapidly and had greater hatching success, suggesting increased investment in overall reproductive output and increased offspring provisioning. In the reciprocal transplant, we observed significant habitat by lineage interactions on survival in P. coracinus, with survivorship increasing when progeny were reared in novel habitats. In both species, increased maternal investment among offspring was not associated with a reduction in overall reproductive output, as anticipated. However, maternal investment among offspring declined with increasing female size, implying trade‐offs between increased metabolic demand and fecundity. Taken together, our work suggests that females from more stressful, clear‐cut habitats increased investment in fecundity, compared to females from uncut habitats, and may compensate for larval mortality. These changes were driven by smaller individuals, suggesting that increased environmental stress can influence the relationship between female size and maternal investment strategy. Additionally, reciprocal increases in offspring survivorship in habitats other than the parents suggest that adjacent areas between unharvested and clear‐cut habitat may be useful in maintaining biodiversity under future climate stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of patterns and mechanisms of wildfire effects on biodiversity is of significant conservation importance. The research was conducted in a zone of mixed and broad-leaved forests. Carabid beetles were studied in eight sample plots that varied in relation to the 2010 and 2021 fires through 2022 and 2023. A total of 8667 specimens of 108 species of carabid beetles were counted. In 2022, plots were clearly differentiated by the pyrogenic disturbance in terms of the carabid species structure. As the pyrogenic disturbance increases, the total abundance of brachypterous as well as herbivore species decreases sharply. The carabids that were the most prevalent in an undisturbed forest (Carabus arcensis, Carabus glabratus, Pterostichus oblongopunctatus, and Amara brunnea) demonstrated sensitivity to the 2010 fire. The pyrophilous species Pterostichus quadrifoveolatus and Sericoda quadripunctata were attracted to a moderately burned area. Poecilus lepidus is confined to areas burned in 2010 and not affected by the 2021 fire. A moderately burned area was characterized by increased abundance and number of species. In 2023, the degree of similarity of carabid populations between sample plots did not generally increase, but only the 2010 fire was identified as a significant factor in population differentiation. The abundance of carabids decreased in a moderately burned area and an unburned area near the fire edge. The abundance and number of species increased markedly in heavily burned areas due to open habitat species, while the abundance of Carabus arcensis and Amara brunnea decreased in unburned areas. Forest megafires threaten the biodiversity of carabid beetles in pine and secondary forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the spatial structure of spiders and beetles in 4 types of habitats in the Poloniny National Park. Between the years 2020 and 2021, we recorded 1,597 beetle specimens and 3,765 spider specimens using the pitfall trap method. The most represented beetles were Poecilus versicolor (53.4%), Nebria brevicollis (10.3%), Staphylinus caesareus (4.4%) and Amara familiaris (4.1%). Among the spiders, there were species Pardosa pullata (21.81%), Pachygnatha degeeri (14.21%), Xerolycosa nemoralis (10.28%), Pardosa palustris (7.86%), Trochosa ruricola (6.24%) and Alopecosa pulverulenta (4.38%). We confirmed the occurrence of two European important species of beetles (Carabus zawadzkii, Carabus variolosus) and 3 species of spiders belonging to the vulnerable species according to the IUCN threat status (Gongylidiellum vivum, Palliduphantes milleri and Xysticus lineatus). We also found the spider Micaria micans, which is new to the Slovak fauna and information about its distribution and habitat preferences in Slovakia is presented. Using multivariate analyzes (CCA, RDA) and classification species into bioindicative groups, we found a greater connection of adaptable and eurytopic species of ground beetles to the mesophilic meadow and of spiders to the habitat Nardetum pasture. Based on bioindicative groups of species (adaptable, eurytopic and relict), we found only a small difference in percentile points between spiders and beetles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new species belonging to the tribe Panagaeini (Coleoptera, Carabidae) are described. Namely Adischissus samarensis sp. nov. from Samar Island, Philippines and Microcosmodes tamilicus sp. nov. from Tamil Nadu, India. The newly described species are compared with related known taxa and their position in the species groups is discussed. Some taxonomical notes on the Craspedophorus microspilotus group of species sensu Kirschenhofer 2000 and Fedorenko 2016 are added. C. freudei Jedlička, 1966, C. denbickyi, C. molossus, C. maculatus, C. pacholatkoi (all four taxa described by Kirschenhofer 2000 and C. bretschneideri Kirschnhofer, 2011) are synonymised with C. geniculatus (Wiedemann, 1825). C. kiwlomensis Häckel et Kirschenhofer, 2014 is synonymised with C. chiangdaoensis Häckel et Kirschenhofer, 2014. Other taxa previously and erroneously synonymised with different species are synonymised with C. geniculatus including Craspedophorus louangnamthaensis Kirschenhofer, 2011, C. mandarinellus attapeuensis and C. mandarinellus malayensis (both Häckel et Kirschenhofer, 2014), and C. batesi Häckel, 2016 is synonymised with C. mandarinellus (Bates, 1892). C. punensis Häckel et Kirschenhofer, 2014 is revalidated as a species. C. kathmanduensis Kirschenhofer, 2004, C. gracilipes (Bates, 1892), provisionally C. obesus Louwerens, 1953 and C. halyi Andrewesa, 1923 are included in the C. microspilotus group sensu Fedorenko 2016. C. maharahstraensis Kirschenhofer, 2011 is excluded from the C. microspilotus group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ardistomis allegroi sp. nov. from Ecuador is described, figured including its male and female genitalia and is differentiated from the nearest species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of 2019' tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth, we assessed ground beetle communities of the Gorongosa National Park (GNP) in Mozambique. The influence of habitat shelters, namely the buffering role of closed microhabitat conditions on Alpha diversity and community trait values during a long period of drought, was evaluated across the main habitat types of the park: miombo forests, mixed forests, transitional forests, and grasslands (open savannas). These habitat types comprised a distance gradient in relation to lake Urema, in the center of GNP. Miombo forests were farther from the lake while grasslands and transitional forests were in the floodplain area. Ground beetle communities were sampled using pitfall traps set up at 25 sites of each habitat type along an environmental gradient of tree canopy cover during the last twenty days of the dry season. Higher species richness of ground beetles was found in closed habitat shelters along the distance gradient to lake Urema. A higher functional diversity was also found along the canopy gradient, with larger sized and wingless species being more abundant in closed habitats than in open areas. This result highlights the crucial role of habitat closedness in the protection of sensitive ground beetles. In particular, the buffer effect of tree canopy and the protection of the understory plants and the litter layer was critical for the survival of hygrophilous species and will be key in conservation strategies to face climate aridification and habitat fragmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pace of current climate change is expected to be problematic for alpine flora and fauna, as their adaptive capacity may be limited by small population size. Yet, despite substantial genetic drift following post-glacial recolonization of alpine habitats, alpine species are notable for their success surviving in highly heterogeneous environments. Population genomic analyses demonstrating how alpine species have adapted to novel environments with limited genetic diversity remain rare, yet are important in understanding the potential for species to respond to contemporary climate change. In this study, we explored the evolutionary history of alpine ground beetles in the Nebria ingens complex, including the demographic and adaptive changes that followed the last glacier retreat. We first tested alternative models of evolutionary divergence in the species complex. Using millions of genome-wide SNP markers from hundreds of beetles, we found evidence that the N. ingens complex has been formed by past admixture of lineages responding to glacial cycles. Recolonization of alpine sites involved a distributional range shift to higher elevation, which was accompanied by a reduction in suitable habitat and the emergence of complex spatial genetic structure. We tested several possible genetic pathways involved in adaptation to heterogeneous local environments using genome scan and genotype–environment association approaches. From the identified genes, we found enriched functions associated with abiotic stress responses, with strong evidence for adaptation to hypoxia-related pathways. The results demonstrate that despite rapid demographic change, alpine beetles in the N. ingens complex underwent rapid physiological evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the landscape of the Dolomites, within the protected area of the Paneveggio – Pale di S. Martino Park in the Eastern Alps of Italy, a study was conducted to explore the distribution of carabid beetles. To achieve this, pitfall traps were placed along a 1000-m elevation gradient, following the bioclimatic gradient from spruce forests to the resilient pioneer vegetation in the extreme high-altitude environments. The research revealed that both community diversity and biogeographic diversity exhibited a clear correlation with the bioclimatic gradient. As one ascended to higher altitudes, the composition and distribution of carabid beetle communities shifted, refl ecting the bioclimatic gradient. The chorological spectrum of the communities showed that Pleistocene paleoclimatic events provided the triggering factors aff ecting the postglacial recolonization of alpine ecosystems of the Dolomites region. Most of the sampled species displayed specifi c life strategies that enabled them to thrive in this harsh setting, responding to the selective pressures imposed by ecological factors. An extensive dataset encompassing the diversity of carabid beetles in these high-altitude domains was created. Given that the studied environments are widely distributed along the Italian Eastern Alps, the dataset serves a crucial purpose as it can be used as a reference for other research campaigns conducted in similar environments. Furthermore, it could act as a temporal benchmark for future researches on insects living in extreme environments, e.g. the Dolomites, or for comparing changes in climate that may be detected by future studies in the same geographic area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beta diversity patterns along environmental gradients and underlying mechanisms constitute key research inquiries in biogeography. However, ecological processes often also influence the functional traits of biological communities, making the assessment of functional β‐diversity crucial. Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are one of the most species‐rich groups in the insect community, displaying strong habitat specificity and morphological differences. In this study, we explored the patterns of taxonomic and functional beta diversity in ground beetle communities along the altitudinal gradient of warm‐temperature forests. By partitioning beta diversity into turnover and nestedness components, we evaluated their relationship with spatial distance. Our findings indicate a decline in species and functional trait similarity with increasing elevation and geographic distance. Further analysis attributed both types of beta diversity in carabids to a combination of dispersal limitation and environmental filtering, with elevation and geographic distance emerging as significant factors. Interestingly, forest‐type variations were found to have no impact on the beta diversity of these communities. Our study reveals the impact of environmental filtering and dispersal limitation on both taxonomic and functional beta‐diversity, shedding light on carabid community assembly in localized warm‐temperature forest areas in eastern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The well-known phenomenon of attracting untypical animals to disturbed territories has been poorly investigated in the polar mountains. We studied arthropod diversity in self-healing industrial clear-cuts and burn areas in the Khibiny Mountains, Kola Polar region. Fieldworks were conducted at four sites, including a control mountain taiga forest and its three transformed variants: burnt forest, uncleared clear-cut, and twice-disturbed burnt clear-cut. Arthropods were collected using formalin traps 2–3, 5–6, and 8–9 years after industrial deforestation in 2012 and an extensive grass-roots fire in 2013. Out of 124 identified species (spiders—61; ground beetles—41; and rove beetles—22), 79 (or 64%) were collected in disturbed, primarily burned areas and were absent in control forest. We note ten species of rove beetles, nine species of ground beetles, and eight species of spiders for the first time in the well-studied arthropod fauna of the Khibiny Mts. We found that grass-root fires transform the soil vegetation covers in the polar mountain forests more powerfully in comparison with extensive deforestation and attract a greater diversity of arthropods with different preferences, enriching the fauna of the polar mountains and the Subarctic region as a whole. The attraction effect persists for, at least, a decade after the violations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carabid beetle Cnemalobus Guérin-Ménéville, 1838 inhabits high- and lowland grasslands of southern South America. The highest diversity is found in the Patagonian Steppe, where distribution patterns are associated with latitude and elevation. Northern Patagonia, a large volcanic region with a complex geoclimatic history, exhibits elevated grades of endemism. However, a great deal remains unknown regarding diversification and biogeographical patterns for most of the endemic groups. We describe new Cnemalobus species restricted to isolated volcanoes from these extra-Andean mountain systems. We assess the phylogenetic relationships by updating the phylogeny of the genus and conduct a Bayesian binary Markov chain-Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis on the resulting phylogenetic tree to discuss the biogeographical distribution patterns. We also provide a taxonomic key to all currently known species of Cnemalobus from the Patagonian Steppe. Our phylogenetic analysis supports the monophyly of the new species Cnemalobus tromen sp. nov., Cnemalobus silviae sp. nov., Cnemalobus aucamahuida sp. nov. and Cnemalobus domuyo sp. nov. grouped with C. diamante and C. nevado, referred to as the 'Extra-Andean' mountain lineage. Biogeographical analysis recognises vicariant events as the most plausible explanation for the allopatric distributions of the new species. We hypothesise that these vicariant events could be related to climatic barriers that likely promoted speciation processes by generating geographical isolation in ancestral populations. Our findings contribute significantly to the biogeographical understanding of the Patagonian volcanic region, prompting new inquiries to unravel the speciation processes of the endemic biota in extra-Andean mountain systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Body shape and size diversity and their evolutionary rates correlate with species richness at the macroevolutionary scale. However, the molecular genetic mechanisms underlying the morphological diversification across related species are poorly understood. In beetles, which account for one-fourth of the known species, adaptation to different trophic niches through morphological diversification appears to have contributed to species radiation. Here, we explored the key genes for the morphological divergence of the slender to stout body shape related to divergent feeding methods on large to small snails within the genus Carabus. We show that the zinc-finger transcription factor encoded by odd-paired (opa) controls morphological variation in the snail-feeding ground beetle Carabus blaptoides. Specifically, opa was identified as the gene underlying the slender to stout morphological difference between subspecies through genetic mapping and functional analysis via gene knockdown. Further analyses revealed that changes in opa cis -regulatory sequences likely contributed to the differences in body shape and size between C. blaptoides subspecies. Among opa cis -regulatory sequences, single nucleotide polymorphisms on the transcription factor binding sites may be associated with the morphological differences between C. blaptoides subspecies. opa was highly conserved in a wide range of taxa, especially in beetles. Therefore, opa may play an important role in adaptive morphological divergence in beetles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ground beetle Synuchus nitidus (Motschulsky, 1861) (Carabidae: Harpalinae: Sphodrini) is one of the most common species in the forests of South Korea, which has the potential to be utilized as an environmental indicator. Here, we characterized the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of S. nitidus, which is the first in the harpaline tribe Sphodrini. Its genome is 16,392 bp in length and composed of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes, and an A + T rich region. In addition, we reconstructed a maximum likelihood tree to elucidate the phylogenetic position of Sphodrini among the seven harpaline tribes using nucleotide sequences of the 13 PCGs. The ML tree supported a monophyletic clade of the subfamily Harpalinae and showed a close relationship between Sphodrini and Lebinii with a low bootstrap value. The complete mitogenome of S. nitidus could be helpful for molecular species identification and exploring phylogenetic relationships among carabids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although urbanisation is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, its effect on particular invertebrate groups remains ambiguous on local and landscape scales. We aimed to analyse the effect of urban grassland management on spiders (Araneae) and carabids (Coleoptera: Carabidae), as well as other local and landscape parameters. We investigated 27 grasslands of two different management intensities (‘extensive’: one to two late cuts with removal of biomass [n = 18]; ‘intensive’: three to five mulching cuts [n = 9]) in the city of Karlsruhe, Germany. Pitfall trapping and sweep netting were performed to sample carabids and spiders. Results indicate that urban grasslands in Karlsruhe are inhabited by species‐rich assemblages, including several species of conservation concern (cc). Latter remain mostly restricted to dry grassland. The number of total specimens and of those belonging to species of cc were negatively affected by intensive management. The number of specimens of species of cc further decreased with increasing humidity and in spiders, additionally, by vegetation height. Landscape factors had limited effects, and only isolation of meadows negatively influenced the species richness of carabids (total and of species of cc). Our results demonstrate that conservation of dry grasslands in urban areas is crucial for sustaining local arthropod communities. Dry urban grassland may also act as a refugium for species of cc and mitigate the global insect crisis on a local and regional scale. In conclusion, biodiversity‐friendly mowing regimes should be applied on a broader scale in urban areas and target especially dry grassland plots. In addition, increasing connectivity and permeability of the urban matrix assist the colonisation by species of cc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The niche variation hypothesis states that the population niche width expands with increasing interindividual differences in prey utilization (i.e., individual dietary specialization). The main ecological drivers forming this relationship include a) ecological opportunity, b) food limitation and exploitative competition, and c) intraguild interference. Only a limited number of empirical studies have tested the impact of these drivers on the niche variation–width relationship and focused only on vertebrates. Using molecular gut content analysis, we investigated how prey diversity (proxy for ecological opportunity), prey abundance (proxy for exploitative competition / food-limitation), and activity density of guild members (proxy for intraguild interference) affect the short-term individual dietary specialization and consequently the population niche width in local communities of 13 species of predatory beetles and spiders. The study took place in 10 spring barley fields in Sweden in 2011. We found that the niche variation and consequently the average population niche width of the species in the predator community decreased with prey abundance but increased with activity density of guild members. The results indicate that intraguild interference and exploitative competition / food limitation increased dietary variation. The increased diet variation led to the observed population diet expansion. Our results support the niche variation hypothesis and, in contrast to the traditional view, show that negative intraguild interactions may act as a diversifying force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]