On the footsteps of Théodore Monod: biogeographical and ecological implications of an insect assemblage from the hottest spot on earth (in central Lut Desert, SE Iran)

Abstract

We present the entomological results of a geological and biological exploration in the Lutdesert, performed in 2014 by the Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and AtmosphericSciences (INIOAS) and the University of Tehran. Five localities were sampled, including theone considered as the the hottest spot on Earth. They yielded 15 insect taxa belonging to Blat-todea, Orthoptera, Coleoptera, Heteroptera, suggesting that in spite of being originally de-scribed as “abiotic” or “aphytic”, the Lut desert shelters a diverse insect fauna with someremarkable elements such as the endemic desert cockroache Leiopteroblatta monodi. Compar-ison with results obtained by Franco-Iranian expeditions in the sixties and seventies revealsseveral taxa in common, but also striking differences in the composition of the insect assem-blages, suggesting that the insect fauna in the Lut desert is potentially much more diverse thanpreviously expected.