Ground Beetles of Connecticut (Coleoptera: Carabidae, excluding
Cicindelini): An Annotated Checklist
William L. Krinsky and Michael K. Oliver
State Geological and Natural History Survey, Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection, Hartford
2001, 308 pp.
Price: $25.95, softcover
ISBN number: 0942081-11-0
The Carabidae (“ground beetles”) are one of the largest families of
beetles, and the largest family in the suborder Adephaga. In this
field-guide-sized book, William Krinsky and Michael Oliver treat this
diverse group for the state of Connecticut, providing information on the
presence of 362 carabid species (9 of which are reported as new records
for the state). Their work makes the carabids by far the best known
beetle family for the state of Connecticut. They did not, however,
include the Connecticut species of the carabid genus Cicindela1.
Nevertheless, the group is an enormous one; and these authors tackled a
large job, despite the small size of Connecticut.
The cover bears a nice photograph of nine of the more eye-catching
species found in the state (two of which aren’t native). The authors
should be forgiven the charge of falsely advertising the beauty of
carabids with this cover because it at least demonstrates, counter to my
own prejudices, that not all carabids are dull in appearance.
The introduction provides a brief overview of the family, including
aspects of morphology bearing on identification, biology, habitat
diversity, and the value of carabid species as indicators of
environmental change. In fact, this book is full of valuable
conservation information.
The authors make clear, when possible, both the current abundance of the
species listed and, if known, their past abundances—thus providing
information on apparent declines of species (including increases of
invasive species). As evidence of ecosystem change, they point out that
despite considerable effort, 51 carabid species have not been found in
Connecticut since 1950. Also included is a useful review of publications
on the beetle faunas of various regions of northeastern North America. A
few errors from the literature are presented and corrected, including a
list of 19 species previously reported for the state, but excluded from
the current list because neither specimens nor published records could
be found for these species. The authors state, “A new checklist is
needed to document all these developments and to stimulate the study,
collection, and conservation of beetles in the state.” I agree. This
book will be a key tool for anyone pursuing these goals.
The introduction concludes with a section describing the format of the
checklist. Making this book more valuable than many (especially older)
checklists is the inclusion of documentation on the source of each
record (museum, publication, etc.), collecting data for many species,
assessment of population status (if possible), phenology, and first and
last year of collection for the state. In fact, the authors do an
excellent job of documentation—allowing readers to determine the source
of the presented information, including the location of specimens so
that identifications can be checked if desired.
Three species are presented on every pair of pages, with a distribution
map just opposite the species’ text. This juxtaposition of text and map
adds greatly to the usability of the book and, in fact, makes it a
pleasure to use compared with similar guide-style books in which maps
are grouped together in a section separate from the text. For each
species, the higher classification down to tribe is provided at the
bottom of every page, which helps in browsing. Also easing navigation,
the genus name is repeated with the map for each species, and each
species is listed alphabetically by its epithet within its genus.
Information on the species’ distribution in North America is provided
also. All the genera are briefly described at their first appearance in
the list, including natural history information, species counts, and
other useful data.
True bionomic information, i.e., natural history–ecological information
for each species, is sparse. Most of the text considered “bionomic”
information is composed of anecdotal collecting notes indicating
microhabitats in which specimens were found (e.g., “under beach wrack,”
“along sand bar,” “sifting leaves,” “under particle board,” and my
favorite, “bit collector’s wrist, farm lane, hot evening,” etc.). Some
might consider this information trivial, but others, especially those
who are just starting a study involving carabids, may find it quite
helpful (although I don’t recommend holding one’s wrist out while
walking on farm lanes during hot evenings as a reliable method to
collect Clivina impressifrons).
A very useful feature of this book, absent from most checklists, is the
presence of color plates, with at least one color illustration for each
of the 71 genera. A minor criticism is that there are no scale bars to
indicate size, nor are there page numbers listed with the species names
for cross-referencing, but this detracts little from their obvious
usefulness. The images are of pinned specimens rather than live adults,
but they have wisely been subjected to Photoshop to have a uniform
background. Most are adequate and quite useful illustrations of the
dorsal habitus, in focus and properly exposed; although a few,
particularly the smaller specimens, and especially the image of
Polyderis laevis, are less so. However, the importance of these
illustrations cannot be understated—I am sure many users of this guide,
especially those in northeastern North America, will find these to be
some of the only photographs available anywhere for carabids of their
region.
The book remains a checklist, however, and readers should not expect to
be able to use this book alone for carabid identification work (although
it can certainly help in that endeavor, especially to the level of
genus).
Workers in regions close to (or, of course, in) Connecticut will find
this book useful in any attempt to study their own similar carabid
faunas. In addition, the illustrations and genus-level information may
be useful to anybody working with carabids, regardless of their region,
because many of the included genera are widespread or even cosmopolitan.
The format of the book is a vast improvement over the checklists of
yesteryear and can act as a template for workers in other regions to
improve their own efforts. To conclude, I recommend this book highly and
hope that more large families of beetles will receive similar attention
to bridge the gap between the primary taxonomic literature and the
non-taxonomist users who wish to appreciate their local biodiversity.
References Cited
Leonard, J. G., and R. T. Bell. 1999. Northeastern tiger beetles: a
field guide to tiger beetles of New England and eastern Canada. CRC
Press, Boca Raton, FL. 176 pp.
Sikes, D. S. 1997. The tiger beetles of Connecticut (Coleoptera:
Carabidae: Cicindela): Conservation status, Taxonomy and Natural
History. {Apr 1999}.
http://collections2.eeb.uconn.edu/collections/insects/CTBnew/ctb.htm
1This is presumably because the cicindeline
lineage has diverged substantially from its closest carabid relatives,
causing many workers to treat them as a separate group. For readers
interested in completeness, the Cicindela species for Connecticut are
covered in Leonard and Bell (1999) and Sikes (1997)
Derek S. Sikes,
Assistant Professor, Division of Zoology
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 1N4
dsikes@ucalgary.ca
American Entomologist
Vol. 51, No.2, Summer 2005 |
