Schwerk Axel, Jaskuła Radomir
Laboratory of Evaluation and Assessment of Natural Resources, Faculty of Horticulture, Biotechnology and Landscape Architecture, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, Warsaw, Poland.
Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland.
PeerJ. 2018 Apr 20;6:e4657. doi: 10.7717/peerj.4657. eCollection 2018.
The carabid beetle species is common in different types of forests in Poland and Europe. With respect to this species, some unclarities exist concerning the morphological feature of punctures on the elytra. has dorsal pits in the third interval of the elytra, the available identification keys, however, provide inconsistent information concerning the puncture in other intervals. During long-term studies at different study sites in Poland, the first author rarely but regularly discovered individuals with unusual dorsal puncture patterns, i.e., pits in the fifth and even in the seventh interval of the elytra. Since such rare patterns might be connected with special habitat characteristics, and thus have a potential as an indicator, the aim of the study was to test if they are connected with specific subpopulations (interaction groups), if they are related to the sex or size of the beetles, and if they are related to specific habitat conditions.
We counted the pits on the elytra, determined the sex, and measured the length of the right elytron of individuals of collected at numerous study sites located within the borders of the Regional Directory of National Forests in Piła (Western Poland) over the period 2014-2016.
Altogether, 1,058 individuals of were subjected to statistical analysis. Almost 19% of the individuals had a dorsal puncture in the fifth interval of the elytra and about 0.7% had a dorsal puncture in the seventh interval of the elytra. In 2014 and 2015, significantly more females exhibited such unusual patterns of dorsal puncture than males. Even if not statistically significant, in 2016 also relatively more females showed such a pattern. Neither males nor females of the analysed individuals with usual puncture patterns showed a significant difference in the length of the right elytron from those with unusual puncture patterns, and neither for males nor for females a significant correlation of the percentage share of the individuals with unusual puncture patterns with the age of the study sites could be detected. However, both males and females with unusual patterns had more dorsal pits than those without. Moreover, males as well as females showed in all those years a trend that the individuals with unusual patterns have more pits in the third interval of the elytra.
The results indicate that females are more likely to exhibit unusual patterns. Since individuals of with a higher number of pits on the elytra are supposed to prevail in more wet habitats, such patterns might be related to moisture conditions. The possibility of pits in the seventh interval of the elytra should be added to identification keys.
这种步甲科甲虫在波兰和欧洲的不同类型森林中很常见。关于该物种，鞘翅上小孔的形态特征存在一些不明确之处。其鞘翅第三间隙有背坑，但现有的鉴定指南对于其他间隙的小孔提供的信息并不一致。在波兰不同研究地点进行的长期研究中，第一作者偶尔但经常发现具有不寻常背孔模式的个体，即鞘翅第五间隙甚至第七间隙有坑。由于这种罕见模式可能与特殊的栖息地特征有关，因此具有作为指示物的潜力，本研究的目的是测试它们是否与特定亚种群（相互作用群体）有关，是否与甲虫的性别或大小有关，以及是否与特定的栖息地条件有关。
我们统计了鞘翅上的坑，确定了性别，并测量了2014 - 2016年期间在波兰西部皮瓦国家森林区域管理局边界内众多研究地点采集的个体的右鞘翅长度。
总共对1058个个体进行了统计分析。近19%的个体鞘翅第五间隙有背孔，约0.7%的个体鞘翅第七间隙有背孔。在2014年和2015年，表现出这种不寻常背孔模式的雌性明显多于雄性。即使在2016年没有统计学意义，但相对来说也是雌性表现出这种模式的更多。具有正常孔模式的被分析个体，无论雄性还是雌性，其右鞘翅长度与具有不寻常孔模式的个体相比均无显著差异，并且无论是雄性还是雌性，具有不寻常孔模式的个体所占百分比与研究地点的年龄均未检测到显著相关性。然而，具有不寻常模式的雄性和雌性的背坑都比没有的更多。此外，在所有这些年份中，雄性和雌性都呈现出一种趋势，即具有不寻常模式的个体在鞘翅第三间隙有更多的坑。
结果表明雌性更有可能表现出不寻常模式。由于鞘翅上有更多坑的个体在更潮湿的栖息地中占优势，这种模式可能与湿度条件有关。鞘翅第七间隙有坑的可能性应添加到鉴定指南中。
