Biodiversity patterns of cavernicolous ground-beetles and their conservation  status in the Azores, with the description of a new species: Trechus isabelae n. sp. (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Trechinae)

PAULO A.V. BORGES; PEDRO OROMÍ; ARTUR R.M. SERRANO; ISABEL R. AMORIM; FERNANDO PEREIRA

doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1478.1.2

Issue: Vol. 1478 No. 1: 21 May. 2007

Type: Articles

Published: 2007-05-21

DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1478.1.2

Page range: 21–31

Abstract views: 66

PDF downloaded: 26

**Biodiversity patterns of cavernicolous ground-beetles and their conservation status in the Azores, with the description of a new species: Trechus isabelae n. sp. (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Trechinae)**

PAULO A.V. BORGES⁺⁻
PEDRO OROMÍ⁺⁻
ARTUR R.M. SERRANO⁺⁻
ISABEL R. AMORIM⁺⁻
FERNANDO PEREIRA⁺⁻

Universidade dos Açores, Dep. Ciências Agrárias, CITA-A, Terra-Chã, 9700–851 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal GESPEA- Grupo de Estudo do Património Espeleológico dos Açores. Edifício Matos Souto, Piedade, 9930 Lajes do Pico, Pico, Açores, Portugal

Departamento de Biología Animal (Zoología), Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Islas Canarias, Spain

Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa (DZA), Centro de Biologia Ambiental, R. Ernesto de Vasconcelos, Ed. C2, 3º Piso, Campo Grande, P-1749–016 Lisboa, Portugal

Universidade dos Açores, Dep. Ciências Agrárias, CITA-A, Terra-Chã, 9700–851 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal UCLA University of California, Los Angeles, Dep. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 621 Charles E. Young Dr. So., Box 951606, Los Angeles, CA 90095–1606, USA

Universidade dos Açores, Dep. Ciências Agrárias, CITA-A, Terra-Chã, 9700–851 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal GESPEA- Grupo de Estudo do Património Espeleológico dos Açores. Edifício Matos Souto, Piedade, 9930 Lajes do Pico, Pico, Açores, Portugal

Coleoptera Cave beetles Trechus Thalassophilus taxonomy ecology conservation Azores

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Abstract

Diversity patterns of cave and epigean Trechinae (Coleoptera, Carabidae) from the Azores (Portugal) are reported based on recently standardized sampling protocols in different habitats of this geologically young and isolated volcanic archipelago. A total of 10 species are studied, including Trechus isabelae n. sp., collected in a volcanic pit on São Jorge, one of the nine islands of the Azores. This new Trechus species represents the eighth species of Trechinae described from the underground environment of the Azores. An identification key for the Azorean species of Trechus is provided along with additional information per species on their distribution and conservation status in the archipelago. Possible reasons for the different degrees of adaptation to the conditions of the underground environment exhibited by Trechinae are also discussed.

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