AbstractThis article reports on the beetle diversity and abundance study conducted during 2009 and 2010 in three alfalfa fields located near Lozova, Ivancea and Trebujeni in the central part of the Republic of Moldova. All insects were collected using pitfall traps and sweeping techniques. In total, 843 beetle specimens were collected, representing 63 species from 49 genera and 12 families. The largest family was Curculionidae, followed by Scarabaeidae, Carabidae, Coccinellidae, Silphidae, Cerambycidae, Dermestidae, Staphylinidae, Tenebrionidae and Trogidae. Weevils (Curculionoidea) also, represented the greatest proportion in terms of number of individuals. During the present study captured beetles from all three localities were compared and Shannon indices were calculated as a measure of diversity within the habitat. The Shannon diversity index has been found maximum (1.035) in Trebujeni, moderate (1.017) in Ivancea and low (0.936) in Lozova. Five of the recorded species are known to feed on alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and cause serious damage in the Republic of Moldova: Sitona lineatus, S. inops, Hypera postica, Protapion trifolii, Subcoccinella vigintiquatuorpunctata. Of these, S. inops is thought to represent the greatest potential threat based on adult abundance at all three sites and the negative impact of this species. A significant number of beetles collected during this study are adventive species associated with forest ecosystems of the Republic of Moldova

Bacal, Svetlana

Malevanciuc, Nadejda

Moldovan, Anna

Munteanu, Natalia

Toderas, Ion

Elsevier - Publisher Connector 

Beetle Communities of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) in the Republic of Moldova 

2212-6708 © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license 
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Selection and peer review under responsibility of Asia-Pacifi c Chemical, Biological & Environmental Engineering Society
doi: 10.1016/j.apcbee.2014.01.074 
 APCBEE Procedia  8 ( 2014 )  21 – 26 
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect
 
Beetle Communities of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) in the 
Republic of Moldova 
Natalia Munteanua, Svetlana Bacalb, Anna Moldovana, Nadejda Malevanciuca and 
Ion Toderasa 
aLaboratory of Sistematycs and Molecular Phylogeny, Institute of Zoology, Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Academiei 1, Chisinau 
2028, Republic of Moldova 
bLaboratory of Entomology, Institute of Zoology, Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Academiei 1, Chisinau 2028, Republic of Moldova 
Abstract 
This article reports on the beetle diversity and abundance study conducted during 2009 and 2010 in three alfalfa fields 
located near Lozova, Ivancea and Trebujeni in the central part of the Republic of Moldova. All insects were collected 
using pitfall traps and sweeping techniques. In total, 843 beetle specimens were collected, representing 63 species from 49 
genera and 12 families. The largest family was Curculionidae, followed by Scarabaeidae, Carabidae, Coccinellidae, 
Silphidae, Cerambycidae, Dermestidae, Staphylinidae, Tenebrionidae and Trogidae. Weevils (Curculionoidea) also, 
represented the greatest proportion in terms of number of individuals. During the present study captured beetles from all 
three localities were compared and Shannon indices were calculated as a measure of diversity within the habitat. The 
Shannon diversity index has been found maximum (1.035) in Trebujeni, moderate (1.017) in Ivancea and low (0.936) in 
Lozova. Five of the recorded species are known to feed on alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and cause serious damage in the 
Republic of Moldova: Sitona lineatus, S. inops, Hypera postica, Protapion trifolii, Subcoccinella vigintiquatuorpunctata. 
Of these, S. inops is thought to represent the greatest potential threat based on adult abundance at all three sites and the 
negative impact of this species. A significant number of beetles collected during this study are adventive species 
associated with forest ecosystems of the Republic of Moldova. 
 
© 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Asia-Pacific 
Chemical, Biological & Environmental Engineering Society 
 
Keywords: Coleoptera, Communities, Medicago sativa, Republic of Moldova 
 
 Corresponding author. Tel.: +373-22-24-20-09; fax: +373-22-73-12-55. 
E-mail address: munteanu_natalia_v@yahoo.com 
2013 4th International Conference on Agriculture and Animal Science (CAAS 2013)
2013 3rd International Conference on Asia Agriculture and Animal (ICAAA 2013)
© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license 
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Selection and peer review under responsibility of Asia-Pacifi c Chemical, Biological & Environmental Engineering Society
22   Natalia Munteanu et al. /  APCBEE Procedia  8 ( 2014 )  21 – 26 
1. Introduction 
Biodiversity research has become a key subject in modern ecology. Throughout the last decade, a plethora 
of studies has been conducted to elucidate the status quo and distribution of global biodiversity (Gaston, 
2000), to determine major threats (Purvis and Hector, 2000), to link biodiversity with ecosystem functioning 
and services (Loreau et al., 2013; Hooper et al., 2005; Balvanera et al., 2006), and to stop biodiversity loss by 
applying appropriate conservation measures (Perfecto et al., 2003). 
Agricultural ecosystems constitute about 75.6% of the territory of the Republic of Moldova. This leads to a 
drastic ecological disturbance and intensive exploitation of natural resources. In the agricultural sector, which 
has a significant impact upon the environment, the measures on maintaining ecological balance, including the 
preservation of insect complexes, are very important. It is known that in agrocenoses, during many years of 
using, specific communities were formed, which include species of harmful, useful and neutral insects. Useful 
insects in agricultural ecosystems must be maintained in spite of the agricultural activities, also should be 
preserved and renewed the adjacent forest shelter belts where the insects migrate after crops’ harvesting. The 
successful agriculture derives from the stability of ecosystems, where the entomofauna is a basic component. 
Thus, alfalfa crop has been selected and faunistic studies were accomplished in order to identify existing 
beetle communities. 
Alfalfa is an increasingly important pasture legume for a wide range of livestock. It provides high yield, 
forage quality and adapts to wide climatic and soil conditions (Van Keuren and Matches, 1988). At present, it 
is estimated that there are around 250,000 ha occupied by alfalfa within the region, which represents 9,9 % of 
the total arable land area. Alfalfa is attacked by a great number of insect species that cause considerable 
damage and reduce forage yield. 
Because Republic of Moldova’s agriculture depends heavily on legumes to fix atmospheric nitrogen, it is 
important to identify alfalfa insect communities. 
To our knowledge there is no published information on insect communities associated with alfalfa in the 
Republic of Moldova. To fill this void we report on a study in which insect communities were sampled in 
fields of alfalfa at three geographically separated locations in central part of the Republic of Moldova. We 
determined the species inhabiting the crop, their diversity and richness. 
2. Material and methods 
A 2-yr study was conducted during 2009 and 2010 to determine composition and distribution of beetle 
communities of alfalfa. We selected three alfalfa fields located near Lozova (47°07'58" N, 28°23'09" E), 
Ivancea (47°28'49" N, 28°85'63" E) and Trebujeni (47°18'50" N, 28°58'25" E) in the central part of the 
Republic of Moldova. Alfalfa fields were 2- to 5-yrs old, maintained according to standard agronomic 
practices including a final late-fall (October or November) harvest. No insecticides were applied to any of the 
fields for alfalfa pest control in the spring time.  
Specimen capture was carried out using sweeping techniques and pitfall traps distributed across the fields. 
Sampling took place every month, with a few exceptions due to unforeseeable circumstances. For above-
ground fauna a standard sweep net, 25 cm in diameter was used at the rate of 50 sweeps per plot. Below-
ground fauna was defined by classic pitfall traps method. The trap was made of a 700 cm3 recipient, installed 
at the soil level and filled with 4% formaldehyde solution. Recovered specimens from each plot were kept 
into a cloth bag and counted in the laboratory. 
The taxonomy of the collected beetle species dealt with below is based primarily on the works of, Alonso-
Zarazaga and Lyal (1999), Kabakov (2006), Bouchard (2011). Also, for taxonomical identification, museum 
collections of the Institute of Zoology have been used. All samples are deposited in the collection of the 
23 Natalia Munteanu et al. /  APCBEE Procedia  8 ( 2014 )  21 – 26 
Entomological Museum, Institute of Zoology, Academy of Sciences of Moldova. 
Various methods are available for analyzing the richness and diversity of samples (Magurran, 1988). For 
measurement of species’ richness Margalef index was used. To assess the diversity, we used the Shannon 
index. The value of Shannon index usually falls between 1.50 and 3.50 and increases when many species are 
present and the individuals across these species are more evenly spread (Hayek and Buzas, 1997). Diversity of 
non-random collections was estimated using Brillouin index. Biodiversity of habitats was quantified using 
Simpson's diversity index. Also the Pielou’s index was used for calculating the evenness of species. Sample 
based rarefaction and other methods for evaluation of the community composition were considered using the 
statistic software Biodiversity Pro version 2 (Neil McAleece et al., 1997). 
3. Results and Discussions 
Altogether for the three different surveys, a total number of 843 beetles, stored to 63 species, are 
considered in this analysis. The largest family proved to be Curculionidae, which includes 22 species from 12 
genera, followed by Scarabaeidae, with 12 species from 5 genera, Carabidae with 9 species and 5 genera, 
Coccinellidae and Silphidae both represented by 5 species from 4 genera and Cerambycidae - by 2 species 
belonging to one genus. Families Dermestidae, Staphylinidae, Tenebrionidae and Trogidae had only by one 
species each. Of all collected beetles, weevils (Curculionoidea) represented the greatest proportion in terms of 
number of individuals (428 specimens), followed by Tenebrionidae family with 188 specimens, Coccinellidae 
and Scarabaeidae (46 specimens), Cerambycidae (40), Silphidae (18), Carabidae and Dermestidae (14), 
Trogidae (12) and Staphylinidae (1). Furthermore, from the total number of sampled beetles 26 species were 
recorded only from Trebujeni: Anchomenus dorsale (Pontopp.), Amara familiaris (Duft.), Ophonus rufibarbis 
(F.), Harpalus distinguendus (Duft.), H. tardus (Pnz.), Nicrophorus vespilloides Hbst., Tanathophilus rugosus 
(L.), Silpha carinata Hbst., S. obscura L., Phosphuga atrata (L.), Trox sabulosus (L.), Lethrus apterus 
(Laxm.), Aphodius fossor (L.), A. luridus (F.), A. rufipes (L.), A. sticticus (Pnz.), Onthophagus verticicornis 
Lch., O. coenobita (Hbst.), O. fracticornis Prslr., O. vacca (L.), O. ovatus (L.), Cetonia aurata (L.), Opatrum 
sabulosum (L.), Dorcadion tauricum Waltl., Sitona callosus Gyll. and Tychius quinquepunctatus (L.). Other 
16 species were collected from Lozova: Subcoccinella vigintiquatuorpunctata (L.), Hippodamia 
tredecimpunctata (L.), Coccinula quatuordecimpustulata (L.), Propylaea quatuordecimpunctata L., 
Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata (L.), Gastrophysa polygoni (L.), Altica oleracea (L.), Psylliodes attenuata 
(Koch), Oxystoma pomonae (F.), Otiorhynchus multipunctatus (F.), O. ovatus (L.), Liophloeus lentus Germ., 
Cyphocleonus dealbatus (Gmln.), Larinus obtusus Gyll., Lixus pulverulentus (Scop.) and Rhinoncus 
pericarpius (L.). Five species were found only in Ivancea: Amara ingenua Duft., Curtonotus aulica Pnz., 
Harpalus atratus Latr., Atheta inquinula (Grav.), Dorcadion fulvum (Scop.). Species found in all three 
localities include Hemitrichapion reflexum (Gyll.), Tanymecus dilaticollis Gyll., Sitona macularius (Marsh.), 
S. lineatus (L.), S. inops Gyll., Lixus fasciculatus Boh. and Hypera postica (Gyll.). Species found in two of 
the three localities: Protapion apricans (Hbst.), Tanymecus palliatus (F.) (Lozova, Ivancea); Harpalus rufipes 
DeG., Pentodon idiota (Hbst.), Dermestes laniarius Ill. (Ivancea, Trebujeni); Coccinella septempunctata (L.), 
Protapion trifolii (L.), Sitona hispidulus Germ., Sitona humeralis Steph. (Lozova, Trebujeni). 
The rank-abundance plots show (Fig. 1 (a)) that three species were dominant (relative abundance >10%) 
when considering the total capture list (Opatrum sabulosum (188 specimens), Sitona inops (156) and S. 
lineatus (101)). Analyzing localities in particular, Sitona lineatus and S. inops were dominant, with 101 
specimens each, in Lozova. Dermestes laniarius (10), Sitona macularius and S. inops (by 9) were dominant in 
Ivancea. Two species, Opatrum sabulosum (188) and Sitona inops (55) were dominant in Trebujeni. 
During the present study collected beetles from all three localities were compared and Shannon indices 
were calculated as a measure of diversity within the habitat. The Shannon diversity index has been found 
24   Natalia Munteanu et al. /  APCBEE Procedia  8 ( 2014 )  21 – 26 
maximum (1.035) in Trebujeni, moderate (1.017) in Ivancea and low (0.936) in Lozova (Table 1.). Berger-
Parker, Brillouin and Fisher indices revealed almost the same order. The Simpson’s index showed the highest 
value (0.129) for Lozova, medium value (0.134) for Ivancea and the lowest value (0.203) for Trebujeni. The 
Margalef index and Pielou’s evenness, highlight Ivancea with the highest value (37.079 and 0.827), followed 
by Lozova (24.467; 0.664) and Trebujeni (23.334; 0.646). 
Table 1. Ecological indices of the alfalfa beetle communities for three study sites. Numbers of species and individuals are given as 
integers. Data for total investigation period. 
Index Lozova Ivancea Trebujeni 
Total species S 29 17 40 
Total individuals N 342 47 454 
Shannon (H' (Log)) 0.936 1.017 1.035 
Simpson’s Diversity O 0.129 0.134 0.203 
Pielou’s evenness J' 0.664 0.827 0.646 
Margalef D Base 10 24.467 37.079 23.334 
Berger-Parker (d) 0.295 0.213 0.414 
Brillouin 2.033 1.947 2.251 
Fisher 7.565 9.565 10.575 
Rarefaction curves for three alfalfa beetle communities are shown in Fig. 1 (b). Expected number of 
species has been plotted against number of individuals. This plot provides a measure of species diversity. 
Stepper curve indicated that Ivancea habitat is slightly more diverse than Trebujeni and much more than 
Lozova. All three curves are rising and do not yet reach a flat progression, which means that the beetle 
community has not been recorded completely. 
This study is the first to investigate the fauna of beetle families from alfalfa, which is an ecologically and 
economically important culture. The study was designed to obtain information about alfalfa beetles 
biodiversity at both above- and below-ground fauna. Almost an equal amount of beetle species was captured 
using pitfall traps and sweep netting methods (32 and 31 respectively). The revealed beetle community was 
mainly composed by phytophagous (50.7 %), followed by predators (25.3 %), coprophagous (14.2 %), 
necrophagous (6.3 %), saprophagous and micophagous (by 1.5 %). Using pitfall traps four species of 
phytophagous ground beetles were collected that otherwise would not have been reported. Among these are 
species Opatrum sabulosum, Dorcadion tauricum, Lethrus apterus and Pentodon idiota which usually injure 
plants at ground level. A significant proportion of the sampled beetle fauna (76.2 % of species and 53.38 % of 
specimens collected) are adventive species often associated with forest ecosystems. 
In total, five species were recorded as dominant in at least one site, the dominant species composition 
varied from site to site and only Sitona inops was dominant for all three sites. As mentioned above, Opatrum 
sabulosum was the most abundant species during our study. It was dominant in Trebujeni; the significant 
dominance of this species was undoubtedly one of the reasons why the Pielou’s evenness value was 
consistently lower in Trebujeni alfalfa pasture. 
Among the beetles that are known to cause serious damages to alfalfa in the Republic of Moldova, three 
species Sitona lineatus, S. inops and Hypera postica were recorded from all three sites, Subcoccinella 
vigintiquatuorpunctata was found in Lozova, Protapion trifolii was present in Lozova and Trebujeni. The 
number of specimens collected is not alarming at present especially for last two species, but a careful 
monitoring of adult activity may be required. 
25 Natalia Munteanu et al. /  APCBEE Procedia  8 ( 2014 )  21 – 26 
 
 
Fig. 1. (a) Species abundance curves for alfalfa beetle cenoses of all three habitats Lozova, Ivancea and Trebujeni; (b) Rarefaction curves 
for alfalfa beetle communities of three habitats Lozova, Ivancea and Trebujeni. Data for total investigation period. 
It is very important to know the status of predatory populations in agricultural ecosystems and to increase 
their potential as biological control agents. Soil processing of the agricultural crops has strong influences on 
insect complexes, during this period they find refuge to the edge of fields and adjacent forest belts. 
26   Natalia Munteanu et al. /  APCBEE Procedia  8 ( 2014 )  21 – 26 
Acknowledgements 
This work was funded by the research project № 10.820.04.16, co-funded by Academy of Sciences of 
Moldova and National Authority for Scientific Research of Romania, also by financial support of Percy 
Sladen Memorial Fund, The Linnean Society of London. 
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Beetle Communities of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) in the Republic of Moldova

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