carabidae

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of physical factors on the diversity of species of Carabidae (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in three regions of Karaj, Eshtehard, and Taleghan, Alborz province. To this end, during 2015-2016, sampling was carried out using pitfall traps and physical factors. In this regard, the elevation, slope, direction, precipitation, temperature, soil texture, grain size of soil, and percentage of vegetation were recorded in each studied station. Based on the results, in total, 329 specimens including 38 species were identified in the three studied areas. Pearson and Spearman tests were used to investigate the relationships between the species diversity index (Shannon's Diversity Index) and the studied factors. Also, the effect of habitat physical parameters on the diversity of the species of Carabidae in the studied areas was analyzed using Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). The results of the study showed that no significant relationship between the Shannon-Wiener Index and studied parameters (P<0.05). Species diversity was affected by temperature, the three parameters of altitude, soil texture, and grain size of soil, and the four parameters of direction, slope, precipitation, and vegetation percentage in Karaj, Eshtehard, and Taleghan, respectively.

The ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are powerful predators and have important role in biological control of agricultural pests. The fauna of these beneficial insects was studied in fruit orchards and rice fields of Mazandaran province during 2015-2016. In total, 22 species within 16 genera and 10 subfamilies were identified in different regions of Mazandaran. The samplings indicated that the highest species diversity was observed in Amol and Qaemshahr, and the lowest species diversity in Babolsar; also the highest population density was observed in Qaemshahr and Behshahr, and the lowest one in Babolsar and Noor regions. Among the studied species, Harpalus griseus (Panzer, 1797) had the highest distribution and Acinopus megacephalus (Rossi, 1794), Bembidion menetriesi Kolenati, 1845, Carabus roseni Reitter, 1897, Chlaenius steveni Quensel, 1806 and Calosoma maderae dsungaricum Gebler, 1833 the lowest one. Also, the highest population density was obtained for H. griseus and Harpalus fuscicornis Menetries, 1832 and the lowest one for A. megacephalus, B. menetriesi, C. steveni, Cicindela rhodoterena Tschitschherine, 1903, C. maderae dsungaricum and Zabrus spectabilis Hampe, 1852, respectively. The results indicate that Harpalus griseus and Harpalus fuscicornis are the dominant species in the most sampled regions of Mazandaran province.