Diversity Patterns of Carabids in the Alps and the Apennines

Abstract

Carabid beetles are widespread in all terrestrial environments of the world and it is thought that they originated from the tropics (Erwin 1979). They have complex evolutionary pathways; taxon-specific cul-de-sacs have been found in tropical forest canopies, in the tundra and in the mountains, where carabids are an important part of the animal diversity (Holdhaus 1954; Mani 1968). Their ability to colonise isolated environments is well documented (Darlington 1943; Lindroth 1949;Den Boer 1977; Den Boer et al. 1980). Carabid assemblages have been studied by several authors in European mountains; most importantly, in the Alps (Franz 1943,1950; Janetschek 1949; Schmölzer 1962; Amiet 1967; Christandl-Peskoller and Janetschek 1976; Lang 1975; De Zordo 1979a,b; Chemini and Werth 1982; Focarile from 1973, 1975a,b, 1976a,b; Brandmayr and Zetto Brandmayr 1988). However, little is known about their biogeography, a fundamental of insect conservation, in the Mediterranean (Balletto and Casale 1991). In other European mountain chains, studies on carabids in the alpine zone are few, with the exception of Norway and Finnish Lapland (Forsskáhl 1972)