Description of a Highly Modified Endemic Ground Beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) from the Oceanic Island of Malpelo, Colombia †

Pierre Moret, Anderson Arenas-Clavijo, Mateo López-Victoria

Producción: Contribución a una revistaArtículorevisión exhaustiva

Resumen

The oceanic island of Malpelo, 380 km west of the Colombian mainland, stands out from other islands of the Tropical Eastern Pacific by its harsh environment and depauperate flora and fauna, thus imposing strong selective pressure on the small number of invertebrates that inhabit it. The endemic taxon described here, Dyscolus (Cacothrix) malpelensis, n. subgen., n. sp. (Carabidae, Platynini), is a remarkable example of adaptation to this unique ecosystem. The modifications of its body shape, including a tight coaptation of elytra and pronotum, might be a response to strong environmental constraints, from predation by lizards and land crabs to the absence of deep soil that forces the beetle to seek shelter in caves and rock crevices.

Idioma originalInglés
Páginas (desde-hasta)496-508
Número de páginas13
PublicaciónTaxonomy
Volumen3
N.º4
DOI
EstadoPublicada - dic. 2023
Publicado de forma externa

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