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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Invasive Species and Pollinator Health » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #408443
Research Project: Biological Control of Invasive Pests in Agroecosystems and Wetland, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystems in the Far Western U.S.

Location: Invasive Species and Pollinator Health

Title: Carabidae and Tenebrionidae diversity in the Great Basin Province of California

Author
item Tonkel, Kirk
item KIRCHOFF, VERONICA - University Of Nevada
item Rector, Brian

Submitted to: Journal of Insect Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/15/2023
Publication Date: 11/16/2023
Citation: Tonkel, K.C., Kirchoff, V.S., Rector, B.G. 2023. Carabidae and Tenebrionidae diversity in the Great Basin Province of California. Journal of Insect Science. 23/1-12. https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iead106.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iead106

Interpretive Summary: Invasive plants can have important impacts on native flora and fauna. In this study, surfaceactive arthropods were collected and catalogued from transects in the high desert regions of eastern California within the Great Basin. Their DNA was also extracted and analyzed where possible. A total of 45 species of ground beetles (Carabidae) and 46 species of darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae) were recovered from six California sites within the Great Basin. DNA fingerprints were established for 65 of these 91 species. These data add to biological reference information that is essential for ecological studies of the effects of annual grass invasions in California and the Great Basin.

Technical Abstract: The high desert regions of eastern California within the Great Basin are vast areas of shrubdominated habitat heavily impacted by invasive exotic grasses and forbs. Trapping efforts within these areas provided distributional information about various surface-active arthropod taxa. Two groups with high species diversity and abundance encountered at our sites were the coleopteran families Carabidae and Tenebrionidae. Here we report trapping of 45 species of carabids and 46 species of tenebrionids, along with mitochondrial COI sequence data for 65 of these 91 species. These results build upon existing distributional information regarding these families in California and further refine our knowledge of the biodiversity of the understudied Great Basin provinces.