Impact of Land Reclamation on the Diversity of Darkling Beetles, (Tenebrionidae) in Arid Ecosystem of El-Kharga, New Valley Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

The present study aimed to assess the impact of land reclamation on the distribution, diversity and monthly occurrence of darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae) in El-Kharga, New Valley Governorate, Egypt. Beetles were sampled with pitfall traps over a 6-month, from September 2015 to February 2016. Four different reclaimed sites were selected site I, site II, site III and site IV. The totals of 4725 collected beetles belong to 7 species; Akis elevata Solier , Prionotheca coronata Olivier, Mesostena angustata Fabricius, Trachyderma hispida (Forskal), Akis reflexa Fabricius , Pimelia arabica Klug and Scaurus puncticollis Solier. The abundance of recorded beetles differed significantly in the four studied sites. The highest density of total beetles was recorded at long period reclaimed site; the site I (1.68±1.7 individual/day*trap). P. coronata recorded the highest density (1.85±1.66 individual/day*trap) among the seven collected species. Results indicated monthly variations in the density of the beetles in the studied sites. A. elevata, P. coronata, M. angustata and S. puncticollis showed a significant increase in October. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that the abundance and diversity of beetles mostly related to soil pH followed by wind velocity and relative humidity. The results indicate that land reclamation led to variations in the community of tenebrionids.