The Coleoptera of the Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada: 295 new records from Lindgren funnel traps and a checklist to species

Abstract

The Coleoptera fauna of the province of Prince Edward Island has long been one of the most poorly known jurisdictions in Canada, with fewer than half the number of species recorded in the neighbouring provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. If much of the difference in species richness was due to less intensive sampling of the province compared to other parts of Atlantic Canada it was predicted that surveys with semiochemical-baited traps would detect many previously undetected species. Lindgren funnel traps were baited with longhorn beetle pheromones and host volatiles and placed in the canopy and understory of coniferous and deciduous trees at the Valleyfield, New Harmony, Auburn, and Brookvale Demonstration Woodlots during the summers of 2018 and 2019. Two hundred and ninety-five species of Coleoptera are newly recorded from Prince Edward Island from 53 families. One of these, the Palaearctic Pityophagus ferrugineus (Linnaeus, 1760) is reported for the first time from North America and Canada. The families Lycidae, Derodontidae, Lymexylidae, Sphindidae, Cucujidae, Ripiphoridae, Salpingidae, and Nemonychidae are newly recorded for the province. A checklist of the Coleoptera of Prince Edward Island is provided.