Beetles (Coleoptera) from the burrows of the great gerbil Rhombomys opimus (Lichtenstein, 1823) (Mammalia: Muridae) in the southern Turkmenistan

Abstract

The study is the first attempt to generalize the data on the burrow biocenoses of the great gerbil (Rhombomys opimus (Lichtenstein, 1823)) in the region of persistent plague epizootics in the lowland part of the Karakum Desert (Southern Turkmenistan). The material was collected in May, November, and December of 1987–1988 using trapping cylinders in residential and non-residential colonies of the great gerbil. Coleoptera made up about 40% of the species composition of invertebrates; their share of the total abundance was 19%. The beetle fauna of the studied burrows was represented by fifteen species belonging to seven families (another four taxa from the Staphylinidae family were identified down to the genus level). Atheta flagellicornis G. Benick, 1967 was the most abundant species, common species were Sepedophilus rufulus (Hochhuth, 1849), Aleochara jacobsoni Kirshenblat, 1935 (Staphylinidae), and large zoophagous Eremosphodrus dvorshaki Casale et Vereschagina, 1986 (Carabidae). The photographs of Atheta flagellicornis (Staphylinidae) and Bradyus pygmaeus (Fischer von Waldheim, 1821) (Tenebrionidae) are provided for the first time.

Keywords

• nidicolous beetles
• karakum desert
• beetles
• mammals
• rodents