Buprestid Beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from Kopetdagh and the Adjacent Regions of Southern Turkmenistan

Abstract

The buprestid fauna of the Kopetdagh Mountains and adjacent regions of South Turkmenistan is reviewed as a whole as well as separately for Southwest Turkmenistan, Bolshoi Balkhan, Maly Balkhan, West Kopetdagh, Central Kopetdagh, East Kopetdagh, the submontane plain of Kopetdagh, the area between the Tedzhen and Murgab Rivers, and the Badghyz Plateau.There are 193 buprestid species and subspecies belonging to 27 genera in the studied region; 126 species from 25 genera are found in Kopetdagh. A detailed taxonomic and biogeographic analysis of the buprestid fauna is given. The most diverse genera are Sphenoptera and Acmaeoderella (more than half of the regional buprestid fauna); their role increases in lowlands and decreases in mountains. Generic and subgeneric faunistic diversity in the lowlands is significantly lower than in the mountains; the same is true of specific diversity in the primarily mesophilous genera (Capnodis, Anthaxia, Cratomerus, and Agrilus). The most numerous biogeographic elements in both the regional and the Kopetdagh faunas are species with Turanian, Southwest Asian, Khorassan, subendemic, and endemic ranges. Widely represented are the Irano-Turanian, Hesperian-Sethian, Turkestanian, West Palearctic subboreal-subtropic, Irano-Turanian-Gobian, and East Iran-Turanian elements; Iranian and Afghanian elements also are present. The regional buprestid fauna is comprised primarily of Irano-Turanian elements of western origin with the important participation of the widely distributed (West Palearctic and Hesperian-Sethian) elements. Thus, it differs from buprestid faunas of other Middle Asian regions in which elements of eastern origin are predominant and the role of widely distributed elements decreases. Fifty-nine (46.8%) of the species are not found in Middle Asia eastward beyond Kopetdagh, whereas 67 species are found in the other parts of Middle Asia. Endemic elements (Khorassan endemics, subendemics, and narrow local endemics) include 24 species and subspecies (12.4%) of the regional fauna and 17 species and subspecies (13.5%) of the Kopetdagh fauna, demonstrating the high level of faunistic isolation. There are no endemics of supraspecific rank.KeywordsAdjacent RegionEcological GroupMountain BeltLarval Host PlantBiogeographic AnalysisThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.