Ground Beetles of the Tribe Carabini (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in the Main Megapolises of Ukraine

Abstract

We analysed the structure of the communities of the ground beetles of the tribe Carabini (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in urban environments on the examples of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Donetsk and Lviv. The ground beetles of this tribe in the five researched megapolises are represented by 24 species of the Calosoma and Carabus genera. The cities each have from 9 (Kharkiv, Donetsk) — 11 (Kyiv) to 14–15 (Dnipro, Lviv) registered species. Only three species (Carabus granulatus, C. cancellatus, C. convexus) turned out to be present in all the studied cities, where they were relatively abundant, and six (Calosoma auropunctatum, C. inquisitor, Carabus coriaceus, C. marginalis, С. nemoralis, C. scabriusculus) were recorded reasonably frequently in most of the cities. In the parks of Kyiv and Lviv (south forest zone), forest (Carabus coriaceus, C. convexus, C. nemoralis) and polytopic species (C. сancellatus) were dominant, while the inhabitants of open biotopes (С. granulatus, C. excellens, C. scabriusculus) were uncommon. In Kharkiv (forest-steppe zone), the common species were both polytopic (Сarabus granulatus, C. cancellatus) and forest (C. marginalis). In Donetsk and Dnipro (steppe zone), some steppe elements (Carabus estreicheri, C. perrini, C. sibiricus) occurred, but the dominant species were habitat generalist (С. granulatus) and certain forest species (C. convexus). At the same time, almost half the recorded species of the tribe were registered as rare or accidental elements in the cities studied, though typical for the natural biocenoses of the geographic region surrounding those cities. A short ecological characteristic of all species of tribe in urbocenoses is given.

Staphylinids (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) of Ukrainian metropolises

“…In Kharkiv the records were obtained from city parks, Kharkiv Forest Park, plantations in the central part of the city (Pushkinskaia street, the territory of the Scientific and Research Center of Forestry and Agro-Forest Melioration named after H. N. Vysotsky), plantations in the peripheral parts of the city (territory of the Botanical Garden of the H. S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogic University and partly the housing complex Saltovka), gardens of private houses on the outskirts of Kharkiv (Oleksiivka). Their characteristic is completely presented in studies published earlier (Fedyay et al, 2018;Komaromi et al, 2018;Putchkov et al, 2019). In Dnipro the insects were collected in the territories of some of the city's parks (Park named after 40 Years of the Liberation of Dnipropetrovsk, Yuri Gagarin Park, Volodia Dubinin Park), Botanical Garden of the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, and in the ravines located within the city (Tunnelna, Aeroportovska Ravines), in the areas of the city`s periphery -in the woodland along the Pobeda Embankment, and forests around the city (Voloske village, Dniprovsko-Orilsky Nature Reserve).…”

“…Nonetheless, in general the staphylinids in urban cenoses of Ukraine are studied somewhat better than for example lamellicorn beetles (Scarabaeidoidea) and clown beetles (Histeridae) (Putchkov et al, 2017(Putchkov et al, , 2018. Furthermore, the comparative analysis of the fauna in different cities of Ukraine is available only for some ground beetles (Putchkov et al, 2019), and is completely absent for other species of beetles. Therefore, better understanding of the peculiarities of formation of the staphylinid fauna in the conditions of a metropolis requires not only in-depth analysis of ecologic-faunistic structure of communities of this group of beetles within one city, but also comparative surveys of the family in several localities.…”

Applying plant disturbance indicators to reveal the hemeroby of soil macrofauna species

“…Hemeroby has a complex nature and a variety of mechanisms to affect ecosystems. Urbanization is a form of environmental disturbance (Rebele, 1994;Putchkov et al, 2019). Along the rural-urban gradient the number and the density of human inhabitants increases (Montalvo et al, 2019).…”

Peculiarities of the development and seasonal dynamics of the activity of epigean beetles of the Polyphaga suborder (Coleoptera) in fields of winter wheat in the conditions of Southern Ukraine

“…Despite the interest continuously shown over 50 years in the entomofauna of agrocenoses, the patterns of seasonal dynamics and development of many coleopterans remains very unevenly studied in Ukraine and elsewhere. Within the group of epigean beetles, the bulk of attention has been paid to one of the largest representatives of this groupground beetles (Carabidae), which have been the focus in most ecologicalfaunistic studies related to the Coleoptera fauna of agrocenoses (Putchkov, 2018;Putchkov et al, 2019). Not much less studied than the ground beetles are rove beetles (Staphylinidae), described in many publications both in general and regarding certain aspects of changes in their abundance in agrocenoses (Soboleva-Dokuchaeva et al, 2002;Guseva & Koval, 2011, 2015Frank & Reichhart, 2004;Cloyd & Herrick, 2018;Guseva, 2019).…”