The tiger beetles (Coleoptera, Cicindelidae) of the southern Levant and adjacent territories: from cybertaxonomy to conservation biology.

Thorsten Assmann,Fares Khoury,Jörn Buse,Tamar Marcus,Ittai Renan,Pascale Zumstein,Ariel-Leib-Leonid Friedman,Constantin Schmidt,Estève Boutaud,Claudia Drees,Eylon Orbach,Jörg Gebert

doi:10.3897/zookeys.734.21989

Abstract

The tiger beetles of the southern Levant (Egypt: Sinai, Israel, Jordan) and adjacent regions of the neighboring countries Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are reviewed in terms of species taxonomy, ecological and distributional traits and conservation biology. An illustrated dichotomous identification key from the species of this region is provided. Based on the classical identification key, we developed a digital identification application for smartphones and tablets. The species status of Calomera aulicoides (J.R. Sahlberg, 1913) is (re-) established (stat. rest.) as this taxon can be found sympatrically and parapatrically together with Calomera littoralis winkleri (Mandl, 1934). Morphological character states are discussed to identify Cicindela javetii Chaudoir, 1861 and C. herbacea Klug, 1832. Calomera aphrodisia (Baudi di Selve, 1864) is recorded for the first time from Israel. The presence of Calomera aulica (Dejean, 1831) and Grammognatha euphratica (Dejean, 1822) is confirmed by new records. At least five taxa are threatened or extinct in Israel. For one of these species, Israel has a national responsibility for the conservation as the main part of the distribution range is within this country.Availability: The application TIGER BEETLE ID for Android devices can be freely downloaded at https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.734.21989.suppl1. See also disclaimer of warranties.

Highlights

As tiger beetles are often colorful and diurnal, they have attracted the attention of academics, citizen scientists, and nature-lovers
In the southern Levant, both littoralis winkleri and aulicoides occur. They live in sympatry in the north of Israel (in the Hula Valley: see records for C. littoralis winkleri published by Matalin and Chikatunov 2016, and own records of C. aulicoides from Nahal Guvta (= Wadi al-Hashabi, in some maps indicated as Wadi Guyta; close to the Banias, CAL), while further southwest they are parapatric with a distance of about 20 km (Tamra – Eilabun) between populations
We present two formats of the same key which enables the identification of the tiger beetles of Egypt, western Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and northern Saudi Arabia

Summary

Introduction

As tiger beetles are often colorful and diurnal, they have attracted the attention of academics, citizen scientists, and nature-lovers. After the recently published excellent study of the Israeli tiger beetles with an identification key (Matalin and Chikatunov 2016), there are still some open questions and topics:. To meet the need of many enthusiasts and laypersons, for example in Facebook groups which discuss entomology, we present a field guide for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets (cf Farnsworth et al 2013). Figures depicting both morphological details and the habitus are provided to bolster the identification skills of the general public. (4) as claimed by both taxonomists and conservationists (e.g. Golding and Timberlake 2003), we incorporate in this taxonomic study comprehensive information about habitat preferences and first assessments to identify threatened species of the tiger beetles of the southern Levant

Material and methods

Results

E CE – – – No – E – X X X – No – – – CE – CE

Discussion