A comparison of species richness of the true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) among four desert types in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Kazakh insect fauna and biodiversity, especially in arid regions, are largely unknown. We identified species rich (252 species) Heteroptera assemblages associated with four desert types: sandy, solonchak (salt), clay and stony desert. The sandy desert was most species rich (153), followed by the solonchak desert (101), and clay desert (73). The stony desert was the poorest species (61). We found significant differences (P=0.05) in Jaccard similarity between pairs of Heteroptera assemblages among all four desert types. However, excluding ubiquitous generalist species, sandy desert Heteroptera assemblages were statistically similar (p=0.05) to both the clay desert and to solonchak desert assemblages. Species limited to only one desert type (habitat specialists) were the most common but were unevenly distributed: sandy and solonchak deserts had the highest proportion of habitat specialist species (50 and 54%), while the clay and stony deserts had the lowest (32 and 33%). There were relatively few habitat generalist species (38), but they were nearly half of the Heteroptera of the species-poor stony and clay deserts. Soil characteristics (permeability and texture), and vegetation diversity, abundance and structure may be responsible for the patterns of Heteroptera species distribution among the desert types. The presence of a species rich assemblage of Heteroptera, with a large proportion of habitat specialized species, suggests that Kazakh deserts may support high levels of arthropod diversity and endemism, potentially useful as an indicator for total insect diversity. Key words: Kazakhstan, Heteroptera, insect conservation, diversity, sandy desert, clay desert, salt desert, stony desert.