Subjects: Biology >> Entomology submitted time 2023-05-30 Cooperative journals: 《干旱区研究》
Abstract： To clarify the diversity and temporal dynamics of darkling beetles in Minqin temperate desert grassland, this study systematically investigated the communities of different subtypes of darkling beetles in gravelly, sandy, and saline desert grasslands in Minqin County, Gansu Province, from April to October 2021 using the pitfall trapping method. In this survey, 8492 individuals of 10 species in 8 genera were captured. The dominant species in the desert steppe in general were Microdera elegans and Sternoplax setosa setosa, which accounted for 26.57% and 25.07%, respectively, of the total individuals, whereas Eumylada potanini was an endemic species in gravelly desert grassland. The number of darkling beetles of their respective species in the three subtypes of desert grasslands peaked in July and dropped to the lowest level in October. The community abundance and Shannon-Wiener diversity index of the darkling beetles were significantly higher than those in saline desert grassland (P<0.05), and the community richness of darkling beetles was significantly higher than that of sandy desert grassland (P<0.05). The diversity of the darkling beetles was closely correlated with environmental factors: The community abundance index was significantly negatively correlated with the height of the vegetation community, soil water content, and vegetation cover (P<0.05). The abundance index of the darkling beetles was significantly positively correlated with the plant Shannon-Wiener diversity index and plant richness (P<0.05). The vegetation composition of the desert grassland is simple; therefore, the community composition of the darkling beetles is also simple. The plant diversity index and plant richness are higher in gravelly desert grasslands than in saline desert grasslands and sandy desert grasslands, so the darkling beetles are the most abundant in gravelly desert grasslands.
Subjects: Biology >> Entomology submitted time 2023-02-28
Abstract： The Cimbicidae are the physically largest members of the Hymenoptera. They are herbivorous sawflies with clubbed antennae. The previous classification maintained that this family contains four subfamilies. Two of them, the Cimbicinae and Abiinae, are richly diverse and distributed across the Holarctic. The Corynidinae are confined to the Palaearctic realm and primarily diversified around the Mediterranean and southwestern Asia, while the most morphologically primitive Pachylostictinae has a restricted distribution in South America. However, the connotation of these subfamilies and phylogenetic relationships among genera is still confusing, which limits the study of their evolutionary history and hypotheses of their particular origin. Here, we used the nuclear single-copy genes and mitochondrial genomes to trace the evolutionary history of the Cimbicidae and combine an extensive molecular dataset with phylogenetically and stratigraphically constrained fossil calibrations to deduce an evolutionary timescale for the Cimbicidae. We reveal that the Cimbicidae survived the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) extinction. After then, the lineages differentiation and the diversification of the extant genera gradually initiated in the earlier half of the Paleogene. However, the rapid diversification of the Cimbicidae was almost completed in the later half of Paleogene and the earlier half of Neogene (40–10 Myr.). This fast and almost simultaneous genus-level diversity of Cimbicidae underscores the significance of the boundary of geological historical sequence in shaping the taxonomic hierarchy of insects.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Biology >> Entomology submitted time 2020-04-19
Abstract： " "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
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