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The beetle fauna of Dominica, Lesser Antilles (Insecta: Coleoptera) : diversity and distribution
(2006)
The beetle fauna of the island of Dominica is summarized. It is presently known to contain 269 genera, and 361 species (in 42 families), of which 347 are named at a species level. Of these, 62 species are endemic to the island. The other naturally occurring species number 262, and another 23 species are of such wide distribution that they have probably been accidentally introduced and distributed, at least in part, by human activities. Undoubtedly, the actual numbers of species on Dominica are many times higher than now reported. This highlights the poor level of knowledge of the beetles of Dominica and the Lesser Antilles in general. Of the species known to occur elsewhere, the largest numbers are shared with neighboring Guadeloupe (201), and then with
South America (126), Puerto Rico (113), Cuba (107), and Mexico-Central America (108). The Antillean island chain probably represents the main avenue of natural overwater dispersal via intermediate stepping-stone islands. The distributional patterns of the species shared with Dominica and elsewhere in the Caribbean suggest stages in a dynamic taxon cycle of species origin, range expansion, distribution contraction, and re-speciation.
The following genera of Leiodini (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Leiodinae) of the continental United States and Canada are reviewed: Cyrtusa Erichson, with two species; Isoplastus Horn, with two species (one new); Liocyrtusa Daffner, with three species; Lionothus Brown, with five species (three new), and Zeadolopus Broun, with four species (all genera are in the “Cyrtusa genus group”) and Ecarinosphaerula Hatch, with one named species (in the “Leiodes genus group”). The new species are Isoplastus floridanus Peck and Cook of Florida; Lionothus bidentatus Peck and Cook of Texas and Oklahoma, Lionothus exiguus Peck and Cook of Florida and Texas, and Lionothus parvoculus Peck and Cook of Arizona and New Mexico. Bionomic data on the species are given, and complete known distributions are mapped.
A review of the genus Anogdus LeConte (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Leiodinae: Leiodini) of North America finds 16 species. Ten of these were previously described and there are no new synonyms. Six are named as new species: A. alachua n. sp., of Florida; A. cochise, n. sp., of Arizona; A. huachuca n. sp., of Arizona; A. rileyi n. sp, of Texas; A. texanus n. sp., of Texas and Oklahoma; and A. tridens n. sp, of Arkansas, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. A key is provided to aid identification of the species.
The Guadeloupe Archipelago, the French overseas Département de Guadeloupe, is a geographically associated group of islands and a natural biogeographic unit. The islands have been available for terrestrial colonization since the late Tertiary. From the viewpoint of beetle systematics and biodiversity, this is the most important set of islands of the Lesser Antilles because more species have been described or recorded from Guadeloupe than any other island or group in the Lesser Antilles. We present a summary of the 1338 beetle species recorded in the literature from the archipelago, in 60 families, and 719 genera. The families with the largest numbers of species are Curculionidae (420), Staphylinidae (153), Chrysomelidae (75), Cerambycidae (69), Scarabaeidae (64), and Tenebrionidae (59). Four hundred eighty two species are known only from one or more islands of the Guadeloupe group and likely speciated there. Guadeloupe is the type locality for an additional 59 species. At least 61 species have been accidentally introduced by human activities. A total of 261 species are known only from the Lesser Antilles including Guadeloupe. The remaining species are naturally more widespread in the Lesser Antilles, or the West Indies, and elsewhere in the New World. The actual number of species on the Guadeloupe Archipelago is estimated to be around 1850 or more species.
The Caribbean Islands (or the West Indies) are recognized as one of the leading global biodiversity hot
spots. This is based on data on species, genus, and family diversity for vascular plants and non-marine vertebrates. This
paper presents data on genus level endemicity for the most speciose (but less well publicised) group of terrestrial
animals: the beetles, with 205 genera (in 25 families) now recognized as being endemic (restricted) to the West Indies.
The predominant families with endemic genera are Cerambycidae (41), Chrysomelidae (28), Curculionidae (26), and
Staphylinidae (25). This high level of beetle generic endemicity can be extrapolated to suggest that a total of about
700 genera of all insects could be endemic to the West Indies. This far surpasses the total of 269 endemic genera of all
plants and non-marine vertebrates, and reinforces the biodiversity richness of the insect fauna of the West Indies.