Roberto Pizzolotto, Pietro Brandmayr
Dept. Biologia, Ecologia, Scienze della Terra, Università della Calabria, Italy.
Zookeys. 2018 Mar 2(740):97-108. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.740.23495. eCollection 2018.
Is it correct to look for a supposedly missing species by focusing research at the type locality? A species can be declared extinct because for an unusual amount of time it has not been seen again; however, in the frame of the climate change it is likely that a supposedly missing species is a lucky survivor not seen because it was not searched for in the correct environment. We used the strictly endemic Leistus punctatissimus Breit, 1914 (Coleoptera, Carabidae) as the case study for testing the latter hypothesis vs. the type locality approach. On the basis of past unsuccessful searches in the Dolomites (a mountain range in the eastern Alps, Italy) driven by the type locality approach, a study area was selected where climate change may have exerted environmental constraints on endemic species. Five pitfall traps were used in each of seven sample sites, at an average altitude of 2600 m a.s.l., within a high altitude alpine plateau covered by scarce patchy vegetation. Leistus punctatissimus was rediscovered, far from its type locality, after one hundred years since its first collection. It was part of a group of species well adapted to the extreme ecological factors of the alpine environments above the vegetation line. Following a biogeographical approach (i.e., the biogeographer's eye rather than the collector's eye) it was possible to find an endemic species of the alpine ecological landscape in places from where it probably had never disappeared. The supposed refugial area was a nunatak during the last glacial period, where Leistus punctatissimus found suitable habitat conditions, and from where it alternated between downward and uphill changes in its distribution range after the last glacial period, under the effect of climate change. From such a perspective, it can be concluded that the type locality may be the wrong place to look for a supposedly extinct species.
将研究重点聚焦在模式产地来寻找一种被认为已消失的物种，这种做法正确吗？一个物种可能会因为在异常长的时间内未再被发现而被宣布灭绝；然而，在气候变化的背景下，很可能一种被认为已消失的物种是幸运的幸存者，之所以没被看到是因为没有在正确的环境中进行搜寻。我们以1914年描述的严格意义上的地方特有物种Leistus punctatissimus Breit（鞘翅目，步甲科）作为案例研究，来检验后一种假设与模式产地方法。基于过去受模式产地方法驱动在多洛米蒂山脉（意大利东部阿尔卑斯山脉的一个山脉）进行的无果搜寻，选择了一个研究区域，在那里气候变化可能对地方特有物种施加了环境限制。在一个平均海拔2600米、植被稀少且呈斑块状分布的高海拔高山高原内的七个采样点，每个点使用了五个陷阱诱捕器。Leistus punctatissimus在首次采集后的一百年后，在远离其模式产地的地方被重新发现。它是一组非常适应植被线以上高山环境极端生态因子的物种之一。遵循生物地理学方法（即生物地理学家的视角而非采集者的视角），有可能在一个地方找到高山生态景观的地方特有物种，而它可能从未在那里消失过。假定的避难区域在末次冰期是一个孤峰，Leistus punctatissimus在那里找到了适宜的栖息地条件，并且在末次冰期之后，在气候变化的影响下，其分布范围在该区域内经历了向下和向上的变化。从这样的角度可以得出结论，模式产地可能并不是寻找一种被认为已灭绝物种的正确地点。
