08 Ara 2024 Pazar
Longhorned beetle (Cerambycoidea: Cerambycidae and Vesperidae) diversity of sixteen countries in the Middle-East on the base of number of species-group taxa and endemism
Abstract : Longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycoidea) is one of the largest, most diverse, ecologically and economically important groups of beetles. The paper presents numbers and endemism rates of species-group taxa with taxonomic names and territorial distributions of longhorned beetles in sixteen countries of the Middle-East. According to the present study, Cerambycoidea of sixteen countries in the Middle-East includes a total of 1475 species-group taxa belonging to 215 genera of 69 tribes of 13 subfamilies in two families as Cerambycidae Latreille, 1802 and Vesperidae Mulsant, 1839. While Cerambycidae family is represented in all studied countries, Vesperidae family is represented only in Turkey with one endemic species. As a result, Turkey is the most diverse country by far among the countries of Middle-East. Apparently, in terms of highest number of species-group taxa, Turkey with 1036 taxa is strikingly prevailing, and Iran with 419 taxa follows it. Then, Syria with 185 taxa, Lebanon with 135 taxa, and Israel with 110 taxa make important contributions. On the contrary, Bahrain with 3 taxa, Qatar with 2 taxa, and Kuwait with one taxon have the lowest number of species-group taxa. Also, in terms of highest number of endemic species-group taxa, Turkey with 510 taxa is strikingly prevailing, and Iran with 131 taxa follows it. On the contrary, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates have no endemics. In addition, in terms of endemism rates of species-group taxa, Turkey also is far ahead among the countries of Middle-East. It is seen that approximately half (49.23 percent) of the fauna of Turkey consists of endemic taxa. Turkey is followed by the Iranian fauna, which consists of endemic taxa at a rate of about 1/3 (31.26 percent). On the contrary, Jordan with 2.86 percent has the lowest endemism. Consequently, the studied area is a remarkable and important area in terms of biodiversity on Earth. The fact that half (50%) of the Cerambycoidea fauna consists of endemic taxa is a clear proof of this.