Geo&Bio (Dec 2021)
Ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) of the Pivnichne Podillia National Nature Park (Ukraine). Part I: Cicindelinae, Omophroninae, Nebriinae, Elaphrinae, and Carabinae
Abstract
The results of a review of known data on the Carabidae fauna of the Pivnichne Podillia National Nature Park and adjacent areas in the north-west of the Podolian Upland are presented in the paper. Due to its significant physical geographic and biogeographic originality, the region of western Podillia was much attractive for naturalists of the Austria-Hungarian and Polish historical periods since the middle of XIX century. A large contribution to the research on Coleoptera in this region was made by such famous Galician naturalists as M. Nowicki, M. Lomnicki, M. Rybinski, R. Kuntze, V. Lazorko and others However, the area of the modern Pivnichne Podillia National Nature Park was investigated rather insufficiently and fragmentary, because the main attention of these former researchers was focused on more remote and frontier areas of Medobory, the Podolian Dnister region, and of the Eastern Carpathians. Therefore, direct records of Coleoptera and ground beetles in particular were reported only from a few locations. A significant number of finds of Carabidae species within the study area is given in surveys of collections of the State Museum of Natural History (SMNH, Lviv), which were collected before World War II (Rizun 1990). The present work is based on materials of analysis of references and collections, as well as on original investigations of Carabidae in the north-west of the Podolian Upland that have been carried out since 1995. It was revealed that 47 Carabidae species of subfamilia Cicindelinae (5), Omophroninae (1), Nebriinae (11), Elaphrinae (6), and Carabinae (24) occur in the territory of Pivnichne Podillia National Nature Park and adjacent areas. Of them 22 are known by recent finds, 7 are known from old references and collections, and 17 occur in adjacent areas and probably could be found within the national park as well. The record locality of one species (Calosoma sycophanta) is mistaken, but its occurrence here cannot be excluded completely. Contemporary investigations of meadow-steppe habitats of the Pivnichne Podillia National Nature Park show negative changes and a decrease in its insect fauna diversity. It is caused mainly by the decrease in areas and fragmentation of meadow-steppe habitats due to agricultural activities and artificial or spontaneous afforestation, and probably also because of unusual climatic conditions of the last few years.
Keywords
