Coleoptera, Linnaeus, 1758

Chachuła, Piotr, Melke, Andrzej, Ruta, Rafał & Szołtys, Henryk, 2021, Myxomycete-Coleoptera associations in the Polish Carpathians, Journal of Natural History 55 (27 - 28), pp. 1749-1768 : 1757-1763

Beetles ( Coleoptera )

Beetles were collected from sporocarps of slime moulds at 112 sites. A total of 674 specimens were identified to 37 species (and 3 to genus only) from 10 families ( Table 2). Most species (12) belonged to Staphylinidae ; thereafter, 11 were from Leiodidae , 4 from Latridiidae , 3 from Cerylonidae and 2 from Ciidae , with just a single species from each of the other five families. Two species are on the Polish Red List of beetles: Agathidium bescidicum (CR – critically endangered) and Liodopria serricornis (EN – endangered). The following species were new records for the PNP: Agathidium badium , A. bescidicum , A. mandibulare , A. nigripenne , A. nudum , A. seminulum , Anisotoma castanea , A. glabra , A. orbicularis , Aspidiphorus orbiculatus , Atheta diversa , Enicmus atriceps , E. rugosus , Homalota plana , Latridius hirtus , Megarthrus prosseni , Metopsia similis , Phloeostiba plana and Pteryx suturalis . Hence, the updated checklist of the beetles of the PNP now contains 1698 species.

Most of the species were collected during summer – 26 in July and 14 in August – while fewer were taken in October (9), November (6), September (4) and April (2). No beetles were found on slime mould sporocarps during the other months ( Table 2, Figure 6 ).

The largest number of individuals was of Anisotoma humeralis (173–27.15%), followed by Aspidiphorus orbiculatus (112–16.6%), Latridius hirtus (111–16.5%), Anisotoma castanea (81–12.0%), Agathidium mandibulare (57–8.5%) and Liodopria serricornis (48–7.1%) ( Figure 7 ). Fifteen or fewer individuals of the other species were collected ( Table 3). The species most frequently associated with slime moulds was Anisotoma humeralis (173 specimens in 34 samples); this was followed by Aspidiphorus orbiculatus (112/ 28), Agathidium mandibulare (57/24), Latridius hirtus (111/ 23) and Anisotoma castanea (81/ 20). The other species were caught on six or fewer occasions. Fourteen species were recorded once only as singletons.

The sample richest in beetle species was obtained on the Sokolica Mt. in July 2019 in an old fir-beech forest from a fallen beech Fagus sylvatica trunk covered with mature (stage III) sporocarps of Fuligo septica var. rufa . It contained eight species (16 individuals): Agathidium badium , Anisotoma castanea , A. humeralis , Cerylon fagi , C. histeroides , Cis castaneus , Enicmus rugosus and Latridius hirtus . Sixty-one samples contained only a single beetle species. The sample with the largest number of beetles was collected at (Continued) (Continued) the Droga Żydowska site in August 2019, in a beech-fir forest on a fallen Abies alba trunk with mature (stage III) sporocarps of Fuligo septica . This contained 46 beetles (3 species). Thirty samples contained singletons only.

Agathidium mandibulare was collected on the sporocarps of nine slime mould species: Arcyria denudata , Fuligo septica , Lycogala epidendrum , L. exiguum , Metatrichia floriformis , Stemonitis axifera , S. fusca , Trichia decipiens and Tubifera ferruginosa . Anisotoma humeralis inhabited the sporocarps of eight such species, Anisotoma castanea and Aspidiphorus orbiculatus – seven species each, Latridius hirtus and Anisotoma orbicularis – six species each, Mniophila muscorum – four species, Acrulia inflata , Cerylon histeroides and Proteinus brachypterus – three species each, Acrulia inflata , Agathidium nudum , Corticaria sp. , Enicmus rugosus , Phloeocharis subtilissima and Proteinus atomarius – two species each. Twenty-two beetle species inhabited only a single species of slime mould.

Only five beetle species were collected at 10 or more sampling sites: Anisotoma humeralis (18 sites), Aspidiphorus orbiculatus (16), Latridius hirtus (15), Anisotoma castanea (14) and Agathidium mandibulare (10). The other 32 taxa were collected at fewer than 4 sites, and 20 of them at only a single site.

The lists of beetles collected in 2018 and 2019 differ in a number of respects. In 2018, 335 individuals (49.7% of the total) from 28 species were collected, while in 2019, there were a few more individuals (339–50.3%) but significantly fewer species (18). Only 8 species (22%) were collected in both 2018 and 2019. In most cases, the species collected in just one of the two survey years were singletons. Two interesting exceptions were Anisotoma orbicularis (2018 – no specimens, 2019–15) and Enicmus rugosus (2018 – no specimens, 2019–10). All the species of Staphylinidae were collected in 2018, but just one staphylinid species was found in 2019. Some species were more common in 2018 (e.g. Agathidium mandibulare – 55 specimens in 2018, 2 in 2019), others in 2019 (e.g. Anisotoma castanea : 2018– 20 specimens, 2019–61; Latridius hirtus : 2018–31, 2019–80). Table 2 lists the beetle species collected.

The beetle fauna of the Sokolica massif was the most diverse, with 17 species collected. In addition, 10 species were collected in the Zagroński Potok valley, 9 in the Ociemny Potok valley, 8 at Poręba, 6 at Barbarzyna, and 5 at each of the following sites: Burzana, Droga Żydowska, Gródek, Ligarki and Wyrobek. Four or fewer beetle species were collected at the remaining sites.

Figures

Figure 6. Number of slime mould sporocarps with beetles in 2018 (left) and 2019 (right).

Figure 7. Percentage of beetle species in samples of slime moulds (only the samples containing beetles were analysed).