The distribution, zoogeography, and composition of Prince Edward Island Carabidae (Coleoptera)

Abstract

Fourteen species of Carabidae are added to Prince Edward Island’s (P.E.I.) faunal list, bringing the known fauna to 167 species. Bembidion nitidum (Kirby) and Bembidion obtusum Audinet-Serville are newly recorded for the Maritime Provinces. Six species are removed from P.E.I.’s faunal list. The history of collecting of Carabidae on P.E.I. is briefly recounted. Despite differences in land area and distance from the mainland between P.E.I., Cape Breton Island, and insular Newfoundland, their carabid faunas exhibit many similarities in size and composition. The native carabid fauna of P.E.I. comprises 49% of the species in the combined Maritime Provinces fauna, perhaps reflecting an island-related diminution of species diversity. The proportion of flightless species on P.E.I. (4.9%) is less than that in the Maritime Provinces as a whole (7.1%), an apparent indication that the Northumberland Strait has been a barrier to colonization. Twenty-seven introduced species are found on P.E.I., 26 of which can be classified as synanthropic and may have originated in dry-ballast quarries in southwestern England. Although the earliest dates of detection of many introduced species on P.E.I. are substantially later than elsewhere in the Maritimes, this reflects the paucity of early collecting. Land-management practices on P.E.I. (large-scale and early forest clearances, intensive agriculture, and the extensive use of biocides) may have had an impact on P.E.I.’s carabid fauna.

The aquatic Coleoptera of Prince Edward Island, Canada: new records and faunal composition

“…Th e proportion of Holarctic Carabidae on Prince Edward Island (10.5%) is very similar (Majka et al 2008), however, the proportion of adventive aquatic species in comparison to the overall adventive beetle fauna of Prince Edward Island (21.2%, unpublished data) is very slight.…”

“…Th is may represent an island-associated diminution, the paucity of collecting, an area effect, or a combination of all these factors. In comparison, Majka and McCorquodale (2006) found that Prince Edward Island had 39% of the native Maritime Provinces fauna of Coccinellidae, Majka and Jackman (2006) found 40% of Maritime species of Mordellidae, Majka et al (2007) found 32% of the native Maritime Cerambycidae, and Majka et al (2008) found 49% of the native Maritime Carabidae that occur on Prince Edward Island.…”

“…In an examination of the native Carabidae of insular portions of Atlantic Canada, Majka et al (2008) found that despite signifi cantly diff erent land areas, and diff erent distances to the neighbouring continental mainland, the island faunas of Prince Edward Island (with a land area of 5,660 km 2 and 13 km from the mainland) and insular Newfoundland (with a land area of 111,390 km 2 , 18 km distant from Labrador and 110 km from Cape Breton Island), are very similar (144 and 148 species respectively) despite diff erences in composition. Th e fauna of Cape Breton Island (with a land area of 10,311 km 2 and 1.5 km from the mainland) was 16% greater consisting of 170 species.…”

The spiders of Prince Edward Island: experts and citizen scientists collaborate for faunistics

“…PEI lies in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with New Brunswick to its west and south, and Nova Scotia to its east and south. Thus, unsurprisingly and similar to other species groups, the PEI spider fauna largely represents a subset of species found in those adjacent provinces (e.g., Adler et al 2005;Majka et al 2008). Many were likely able to colonize PEI when it was connected to the mainland some 10 000 years ago (Shaw et al 2002).…”

The Coleoptera of the Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada: 295 new records from Lindgren funnel traps and a checklist to species

“…Many of these publications treated the fauna of the Maritime Provinces or Atlantic Canada as a whole and provided many new records for PE . Fifty-six families were treated in these publications and are listed here in the phylogenetic order used in Bousquet et al (2013) , followed by the number of new records in parentheses for PE : Gyrinidae (5) ( Majka 2008c ), Carabidae (18) ( Majka 2005b , Majka et al 2006a , 2008b ), Haliplidae (1), Dytiscidae (6), Helophoridae (2), Hydrophilidae (12), ( Majka 2008c ), Histeridae (3) ( Majka 2008a ), Ptiliidae (3) ( Majka and Sörensson 2007 ), Leiodidae (2) ( Majka and Langor 2008 ), Silphidae (4) ( Majka 2011g ), Staphylinidae (24) ( Majka 2012b , Klimaszewski and Majka 2007 , 2008a,b, c, 2010), Eucinetidae (1) ( Majka 2010a ), Byrrhidae (4) ( Majka et al 2006b , Majka and Langor 2011b ), Eucnemidae (4) ( Majka 2007c ), Throscidae (2) ( Majka 2011b ), Elateridae (27) ( Majka and Johnson 2008 ), Lampyridae (5) ( Majka 2012a ), Dermestidae (9), Bostrichidae (5), Ptinidae (12) ( Majka 2007b ), Trogossitidae (1) ( Majka 2011c ), Cleridae (7) ( Majka 2006b ), Melyridae (1) ( Majka 2005a ), Erotylidae (2) ( Majka 2007a…”