Zur Bestimmung von Cicindela hybrida LINNÉ 1758 (Coleoptera, Cicindelidae)

In Nordwestdeutschland kommen Tiere des Sandlaufkäfers Cicindela hybrida vor, die eine ausgedehntere Behaarung der Stirn aufweisen als andere Vertreter dieser Art. Auch die Form der Mittelbinde auf den Flügeldecken erinnert manchmal sehr an Cicindela maritima. In tabellarischer Form werden Unterscheidungsmerkmale für nordwestdeutsche Käfer beider Arten angegeben.In Northwest-Germany certain specimens of the tiger-beetle Cicindela hybrida are found, which show greater portions of hair on their frons. Also the shape of the middle-stripe on the wing-covers often resembles Cicindela maritima. In table-form the differences for northwest- German tiger-beetles of these two species are given

Xylobionte Käferfauna alter Eichen, die von dem gefährdeten Bockkäfer Cerambyx cerdo besiedelt sind (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

In our present-day landscape in Central Europe major parts of the xylobiontic especially of the saproxylic beetle fauna belong to the group of endangered species assemblages (Speight 1989, Geiser 1994). Oaks, in Central Europe mainly Quercus robur and Q. petraea, are well known for their large number of associated insect species and harbour the highest beetle diversity, especially for dead wood inhabiting species, of all broadleaved tree species in this region (e.g. Palm 1959). A characteristic species associated with oaks in its life-cycle is the endangered Great Capricorn Cerambyx cerdo. C. cerdo is one of the protected species explicitly named in the Habitats Directive of the European Union with the goal of maintaining existing populations and establishing long-term survival (Council of the European Communities 1992). The last remaining colonised areas of this longhorn beetle in Central Europe are well known for the enormous number of very rare xylobiontic beetle species. Thus, we are interested in the following research questions: 1) Are there typical species associated with C. cerdo? 2) If so, what kind of relationship do these associated species have to C. cerdo from a nature conservation point of view?Der Große Eichenbock (Cerambyx cerdo Linnaeus, 1758) hat in Mitteleuropa in den letzten 100 Jahren einen dramatischen Rückgang in der Zahl der Vorkommen und in den Populationsgrößen erfahren. Als Frischholzbesiedler von Eichen beeinflusst die Art durch larvale Fraßtätigkeit die physiologischen Eigenschaften dieser Bäume sowie deren Beschaffenheit als Habitat für andere Organismen. Wir haben die Auswirkungen dieser Veränderungen auf die Zusammensetzung der holzbewohnenden Käferfauna bei verschiedenen taxonomischen und funktionalen Gruppen untersucht. Dabei vergleichen wir die mit Lufteklektoren erzielten Fänge an 10 besiedelten und 10 unbesiedelten Eichen aus einem Untersuchungsgebiet in Niedersachsen. Insbesondere viele seltene Bewohner von Baumhöhlen und Holzmulm profitieren von der Anwesenheit dieser Bockkäferart und den dadurch entstehenden Mikrohabitaten. Besiedelte Bäume beherbergen auch signifikant mehr Arten der Roten Liste. Wir diskutieren die Eigenschaft von C. cerdo als Substratbereiter sowie die davon partizipierenden Arten. Freilich lässt nur ein Teil des Artenspektrums engere Zusammenhänge mit Besiedlung durch den Großen Eichenbock erkennen. Allerdings gehören auch Arten mit loser Beziehung zu Cerambyx cerdo über weite Strecken einer hochgradig bedrohten Käfergemeinschaft alternder Eichen an. Vor diesem Hintergrund sehen wir die unverzichtbare Rolle des Großen Eichenbockes in von Eichen geprägten Ökosystemen, wenn es um die Erhaltung der Artenvielfalt holzbewohnender Insekten geht

The Sphodrina of the southern Levant (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Sphodrini)

Here we present a synthesis on the current knowledge of sphodrine carabids of the southern Levant (Israel, areas under Palestinian control, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt east of Suez Channel: Sinai). A key for the identification of genera, subgenera and species is provided. Two new species are described: Taphoxenus (Lychnifugus) ziegleri sp. n. is described from Jordan (Type locality: Madaba), close to T. (L.) meridionalis Casale, 1988 (valid species), but markedly distinct for several characters both in external features and male genitalia. Laemostenus (Laemostenus) sinaiticus sp. n. is described from southern Sinai (Type locality: St. Catharina Monastery). This species belongs to the L. quadricollis species group (in the sense of Casale, 1988), and is close to L. aegyptiacus Schatzmayr, 1936. An updated key for the identification of the species of this group known so far in that area, which includes both epigean and subterranean species, is provided. The diagnostic features of all species newly described are illustrated, and their possible relationships are discussed. Furthermore, the features of male genitalia of Laemostenus (Laemostenus) aegyptiacus Schatzmayr, 1936 and Laemostenus (Laemostenus) libanensis (Piochard de la Brûlerie, 1876) are illustrated for the first time. The latter, known so far from the remains of the holotype specimen, is redescribed from material recently sampled in Lebanon

Predator diversity and abundance provide little support for the enemies hypothesis in forests of high tree diversity

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Habitat specialization, distribution range size and body size drive extinction risk in carabid beetles

The worldwide biodiversity crisis is ongoing. To slow down, or even halt future species loss it is important to identify potential drivers of extinction risk. Species traits can help to understand the underlying process of extinction risk. In a comprehensive study on 464 carabid beetle species, we used ordinal logistic regression to analyze the relationship of species traits to extinction risk in Central Europe, taking phylogenetic relatedness into account. To consider varying trait responses in different habitat types, we also tested models for species groups associated with different habitat types (forest, open, riparian and wetland). Our results identified three traits of particular importance as predictors for high extinction risk: (1) high habitat specialization, (2) small distribution range size (which is not considered in the categorization of the German Red List), and (3) large body size. Furthermore, large macropterous species showed high extinction risk. Overall, species associated with mountainous, coastal and open habitats generally revealed a high risk of extinction, while most forest species showed a low extinction risk. However, forest species with predatory feeding behavior were threatened, as were wetland species that reproduce in autumn. Phylogenetic relatedness had no influence on how species traits predict carabid beetle extinction risk. In the light of these results, management and recovery plans for species which exhibit characteristic traits strongly associated with extinction risks, as well as the conservation and restoration of mountain, coastal and open habitats, have to be prioritized.Peer reviewe

Predator Diversity and Abundance Provide Little Support for the Enemies Hypothesis in Forests of High Tree Diversity

Predatory arthropods can exert strong top-down control on ecosystem functions. However, despite extensive theory and experimental manipulations of predator diversity, our knowledge about relationships between plant and predator diversity - and thus information on the relevance of experimental findings - for species-rich, natural ecosystems is limited. We studied activity abundance and species richness of epigeic spiders in a highly diverse forest ecosystem in subtropical China across 27 forest stands which formed a gradient in tree diversity of 25-69 species per plot. The enemies hypothesis predicts higher predator abundance and diversity, and concomitantly more effective top-down control of food webs, with increasing plant diversity. However, in our study, activity abundance and observed species richness of spiders decreased with increasing tree species richness. There was only a weak, non-significant relationship with tree richness when spider richness was rarefied, i.e. corrected for different total abundances of spiders. Only foraging guild richness (i.e. the diversity of hunting modes) of spiders was positively related to tree species richness. Plant species richness in the herb layer had no significant effects on spiders. Our results thus provide little support for the enemies hypothesis - derived from studies in less diverse ecosystems - of a positive relationship between predator and plant diversity. Our findings for an important group of generalist predators question whether stronger top-down control of food webs can be expected in the more plant diverse stands of our forest ecosystem. Biotic interactions could play important roles in mediating the observed relationships between spider and plant diversity, but further testing is required for a more detailed mechanistic understanding. Our findings have implications for evaluating the way in which theoretical predictions and experimental findings of functional predator effects apply to species-rich forest ecosystems, in which trophic interactions are often considered to be of crucial importance for the maintenance of high plant diversity

Tree phylogenetic diversity structures multitrophic communities

1. Plant diversity begets diversity at other trophic levels. While species richness is the most commonly used measure for plant diversity, the number of evolutionary lineages (i.e. phylogenetic diversity) could theoretically have a stronger influence on the community structure of co-occurring organisms. However, this prediction has only rarely been tested in complex real-world ecosystems. 2. Using a comprehensive multitrophic dataset of arthropods and fungi from a species-rich subtropical forest, we tested whether tree species richness or tree phylogenetic diversity relates to the diversity and composition of organisms. 3. We show that tree phylogenetic diversity but not tree species richness determines arthropod and fungi community composition across trophic levels and increases the diversity of predatory arthropods but decreases herbivorous arthropod diver- sity. The effect of tree phylogenetic diversity was not mediated by changed abun- dances of associated organisms, indicating that evolutionarily more diverse plant communities increase niche opportunities (resource diversity) but not necessarily niche amplitudes (resource amount). 4. Our findings suggest that plant evolutionary relatedness structures multitrophic communities in the studied species-rich forests and possibly other ecosystems at large. As global change non-randomly threatens phylogenetically distinct plant species, far-reaching consequences on associated communities are expected

Multitrophic diversity in a biodiverse forest is highly nonlinear across spatial scales

Date of Acceptance: 10/11/2015 Acknowledgements We thank the administration of the Gutianshan National Nature Reserve and members of the BEF-China consortium for support, the many people involved in the plant and arthropod censuses, and T. Fang, S. Chen, T. Li, M. Ohl and C.-D. Zhu for help with species identification. G. Seidler kindly calculated forest cover and T. Scholten and P. Kühn provided soil data. The study was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG FOR 891/1, 891/2), the Sino-German Centre for Research Promotion (GZ 524, 592, 698, 699, 785 and 1020) and the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC 30710103907 and 30930005).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Designing forest biodiversity experiments : general considerations illustrated by a new large experiment in subtropical China

Funded by German Research Foundation. Grant Number: DFG FOR 891/1 and 2 National Natural Science Foundation of China. Grant Numbers: NSFC 30710103907, 30930005, 31170457 , 31210103910 Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Sino-German Centre for Research Promotion in BeijingPeer reviewedPublisher PD