Rare species of Carabidae and Cicindelidae in Dnipropetrovsk Region, Ukraine

Dnipropetrovsk Region is situated in the steppe zone of Ukraine, in conditions of insufficient moisture. Forest vegetation covers only 5.1% of the region. Over 80% of the region’s area is used for agricultural purposes. A total of 281 species of ground beetles is known for the region, of which this article gives the data on biology and distribution of 82 species that need protection: Cephalota atrata, C. besseri, C. elegans, Cicindela maritima, C. soluta, Cylindera arenaria, Leistus terminatus, Notiophilus rufipes, Calosoma sycophanta, C. denticolle, C. investigator, Carabus stscheglowi, C. clathratus, C. excellens, C. hungaricus, C. besseri, C. estreicheri, C. sibiricus, Blethisa multipunctata, Elaphrus uliginosus, Scarites terricola, Dyschirius chalceus, Dyschirius obscurus, Blemus discus, Epaphius secalis, Bembidion ephippium, B. aspericolle, Pogonus cumanus, Pogonistes convexicollis, Patrobus atrorufus, Stomis pumicatus, Pedius inquinatus, Pterostichus chamaeleon, P. elongatus, P. macer, P. melas, Taphoxenus gigas, Laemostenus terricola, Agonum impressum, A. marginatum, A. monachum, A. sexpunctatum, A. viridicupreum, Olisthopus sturmii, Synuchus vivalis, Amara chaudoiri, A. crenata, A. equestris, A. fulva, A. sabulosa, Curtonotus convexiusсulus, Anisodastylus poeciloides, Diachromus germanus, Acupalpus interstitialis, A. suturalis, Stenolophus discophorus, Daptus vittatus, Harpalus cephalotes, H. dispar, H. hirtipes, Н. laeviceps, H. luteicornis, H. melancholicus, H. steveni, H. subcylindricus, Microderes brachypus, Ophonus diffinis, Dixus eremita, Panagaeus bipustulatus, Callistus lunatus, Dinodes decipiens, Chlaenius alutaceus, Ch. festivus, Licinus cassideus, Badister dorsiger, Masoreus wetterhalli, Lebia humeralis, Demetrias imperialis, Cymindis axillaris, Polystichus connexus, Brachinus ejaculans, B. hamatus, Mastax thermarum. To formalize the data on each species, the article provides characteristics of its ecological niche: thermal preferendum, hygro-preferendum, biotopical characteristic, biogeohorizon, trophic preferences, practical significance and protection measures. The main factors of decline in diversity of the fauna of ground beetles in Dnipropetrovsk Region are arable farming, chemical treatment of agricultural land, unregulated cattle grazing, recreational loading, large scale construction in floodplain areas

Ecological-faunistic analysis of ground beetles and tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Cicindelidae) of metropolises of Ukraine

Ground beetles and tiger beetles are the most noticible representatives of predatory invertebrates often used in bioidentificational studies. This article provides quantitative and ecological characteristics of Caraboidea in five metroplises of Ukraine (Dnipro, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Lviv). In total, in these cities, 237 species of Caraboidea were recorded, belonging to 63 genera and two families – Carabidae (231 species, 61 genera) and Cicindelidae (6 species, 2 genera). By abundance of Carabidae in megapolises, 33 species were identified to abundant. Eudominants were represented by three species: Harpalus rufipes, Pterostichus melanarius and P. оblongopunctatus, dominants – five: Amara aenea, Anchomenus dorsalis, Calathus fuscipes, Harpalus distinguendus and Poecilus versicolor. Subdominants were 25 species: Amara similata, Asaphidion flavipes, Badister bullatus, Bembidion lampros, B. properans, Broscus cephalotes, Calathus ambiguus, C. melanocephalus, Carabus cancellatus, C. coriaceus, C. granulatus, Cylindera germanica, Harpalus affinis, H. anxius, H. griseus, H. latus, H. tardus, Limodromus assimilis, Microlestes minutulus, Nebria brevicollis, Notiophilus palustris, Poecilus cupreus, Pterostichus niger, P. ovoideus and P. strenuus. In the studied cities, 53 species are rare, 151 species were identified to the group of accidental species. For separate cities, number of eudominants ranged from 4 (Donetsk, Kyiv) to 6–8 (Kharkiv, Lviv). Ten species discovered: Amara famelica, A. majuscula, Anisodactylus nemorivagus, Asaphidion pallipes, Badister lacertosus, Blemus discus, Harpalus laeviceps, Limodromus krynickii, Pterostichus minor and Tachyta nana were new for the Steppe zone of Ukraine. Chlaenius aeneocephalus and Brachinus brevicollis were recorded for the first time in the Right Bank of the northern subzone of the steppe zone, and Stenolophus abdominalis mentioned earlier for the far south of Ukraine was for the first time reported for the northern Steppe. Microlestes nеgrita was new for the Forest Steppe, and Masoreus wetterhalli and Syntomus foveatus, known earlier for the forest zone and the south of the steppe zone, were for the first time reported for its northern subzone. The levels of faunistic similarity of Caraboidea for different metropolises ranged within 0.20–0.60 for all species and 0.32–0.90 for abundant species. Most similar were carabidofaunas of Kharkiv and Dnipro (similarity index of Jaccard equaled 0.58–0.87), slightly lower in Dnipro and Kyiv (0.50–0.72). Lowest parameters were seen for Lviv compared with the other cities (0.20–0.32). According to the species composition, the most numerous were meadow (119) and forest elements (59 species). To the polytopic group, 25 species are identified, 23 to the steppe group, and 11 species to the litoral group. In numbers in all the metropolises, the polytopic group dominated, among which abundant species comprised almost half. Within the forest group in Dnipro, Donetsk and Kharkiv, 4–6 abundant species were recorded, whereas in Kyiv and Lviv their number was 14–17 species. Within the meadow group, common species were represented by 4–11 species, and in the steppe and litoral groups such species were absent. In relation to moisture, eudominants were mesophiles (165 species), including 31 abundant species. According to the trophic specialization, zoophages dominated (146 species), including 24 abundant species. Among zoophytophages, 60 species (seven abundant) were recorded. Phytozoophages were represented by 30 species (two abundant). According to mechanical composition of soil, the more diverse groups were observed to be made up species preferring loamy and clay-loamy soils (85 species each), but to the abundant species from these groups, 6 and 10 species respectively were identified. The group of ground beetles with non-manifested preferences to mechanical composition of soil was represented by 41 species, though by number of abundant (17 species), the group was dominant. To inhabitants of heavy loamy, sandy and sabulous soils, 4, 6 and 16 species correspondingly were identified, and no abundant species were observed. At the level of abundant species, the ecological structure was more similar than shown by the analysis of all the species of ground beetles. Hypothetically, typical representatives of carabid beetles of Ukrainian metropolises could be considered polytopic or meadow (to a lesser extent forest) mesophile zoophages or zoophytophages which prefer loam-clayey soils without preference to one or the other type of soil

Ecological and faunistic survey of the true bugs of the infraorder Pentatomomorpha (Hemiptera) in the urban cenoses of Kharkiv City (Ukraine)

A total of 63 species of true bugs in 53 genera and 11 families of the infraorder Pentatomomorpha was recorded from the city of Kharkiv. For one species, Carpocoris purpureipennis (Pentatomidae), we obtained the first record from Left-Bank Ukraine. Formerly, this species was known from Western and Central Ukraine only. Four species of the family Lygaeidae (Nysius ericae, Perithrechus geniculatus, P. gracilicornis, Taphropeltus contractus) are new to Kharkiv Region. The families Lygaeidae (23 species of 19 genera, 38.3% of the total collected bugs), Pentatomidae (16 species of 14 genera, 26.7%), Rhopalidae (7 species of 5 genera, 11.7%), and Coreidae (6 species of 6 genera, about 3%) were the most rich in species and individual numbers. The families of Berytidae, Cydnidae and Scutelleridae were represented by two species each (3.3% out of the total collected bugs). Six species (Myrmus miriformis, Lygaeus equestris, Scolopostethus pictus, Aelia acuminata, Graphosoma lineatum, and Pyrrhocoris apterus) were abundant, eight species common, 14 species rare, and 32 species belonged to occasional elements of the urban cenoses. The true bug species composition and individual abundance were the highest in the suburban meadows and large city parks (44 and 27 species, respectively). By contrast, only seven species were registered in the green areas of the city centre (lawns, public gardens). Faunal similarity (Jaccard / Chekanovsky-Sørensen indices) of the true bug assemblages was the lowest when comparing public gardens of the city centre with the habitats of the suburbs and city parks (0.04–0.06 / 0.07–0.12), and the highest between the meadows and urban parks with glades and grassy vegetation under low recreational pressure (0.52 / 0.68). Jaccard similarity indices for the other six pairs of compared urban cenoses were low (0.1‒0.42). The average Pentatomomorpha similarity in different urban cenoses was also low (Jaccard index 0.27, Chekanovsky-Sørensen index 0.39). The essential faunal differences can be explained by both the low number of most Pentatomomorpha species and their ecological peculiarities. The proportions of various ecological groups of bugs in different urban cenoses were analyzed and discussed. Major differences were observed in the species habitat distributions while the lesser differences concerned trophic groups and hygropreferences of most species. Hortobiont and herpetohortobiont polyphytophagous species dominated all the habitats