Thermal habitat and life history of two congeneric species of darkling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) on Tenerife (Canary Islands)

Temporal and spatial patterns of tenebrionid beetle diversity in NW Patagonia, Argentina

“…Temperature variables such as mean monthly range and annual mean are thought to be positively related to abundance and density of tenebrionid beetles (Botes et al, 2007;de los Santos et al, 2002;de los Santos et al, 2006;Koivula et al, 1999;Mazía et al, 2006;Sinclair and Chown, 2005;Stapp, 1997). Similarly, humidity is involved in water balance and larval development, which in turn can affect tenebrionid communities (de los Santos et al, 2002;de los Santos et al, 2006;Krasnov et al, 1996). However, the environmental variables in our study did not show a clear latitudinal variation, which might explain the lack of correlation between species composition and the environmental gradient.…”

“…We expected to find an environmental gradient effect on beetle assemblages (de los Santos et al, 2006;Koivula et al, 1999;Mazía et al, 2006;Sinclair and Chown, 2005;Stapp, 1997), but there was little correlation between the measured environmental variables and the spatial ordination of species. Temperature variables such as mean monthly range and annual mean are thought to be positively related to abundance and density of tenebrionid beetles (Botes et al, 2007;de los Santos et al, 2002;de los Santos et al, 2006;Koivula et al, 1999;Mazía et al, 2006;Sinclair and Chown, 2005;Stapp, 1997). Similarly, humidity is involved in water balance and larval development, which in turn can affect tenebrionid communities (de los Santos et al, 2002;de los Santos et al, 2006;Krasnov et al, 1996).…”

Environmental niche of the smut lizard population on a sandy coastal ecosystem of Southeastern Tenerife (Canary Islands)

“…Juveniles prefer the sandy niche and adults the rocky lava niche, next to sandy fringe. The development of an assemblage of psammophilous insect species in the sand fringe (de los Santos et al. 2002b, 2006) contributes to the increase in lizard population size.…”

“…The dispersion of the individuals (in/output population) and the behavioral changes (activity/inactivity) most notably can increase the estimates of population size as well as their variability. Hence, we should also look at the insect‐juvenile lizard assemblage niche‐relationships in search of the co‐occurrence with certain pre‐imago stages of the insect life cycles (de los Santos et al. 2006).…”

“…The study of the population size variability should consider several factors that influence the interpretation of the obtained estimates (Xia & Boonstra 1992). We explored the influence of the substrate on the spatial population‐size variability by means of environment availability to support the incubation of lizard eggs (Bons 1972; Heatwole 1977) or by means of the food availability, especially psammophilous insects, which may play a role in the insectivore juveniles distribution patterns (de los Santos et al. 2000, 2002b, 2006).…”