Fauna And Distribution Of The Darkling Beetles From Yunnan(Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea)

This dissertation deals with taxonomic and faunistic studies on the Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera) fromYunnan Province, also refers to the origin, diversity, and distribution pattern. The main results of this workare listed as follows:I. Based on the data from the original manuscript and the results of identifying tenebrionid specimensdeposited in MHBU, in total,6subfamilies,29tribes,101genera and438species (subspecies) arerecorded from Yunnan. The diagnoses of each subfamily, tribe and genus, as well as the keys tosubfamilies, tribes, genera and species are provided. The citations and information of the examinedmaterials are provided for each genus and species.During the study, two species, H.(Leprocaulus) xui Ren et Xu,2011, Augolesthus（Augolesthus）dentatus Xu et Ren,2012have been described from Yunnan; subgenus Augolesthus (A.) Motschulsky,1872, Hexarhopalus (H.) sculptilis Kaszab,1960and Necrobioides gibbicollis (Fleutiaux,1887) wererecorded from China for the first time.6genera（Cleomis Fairmaire,1893、Foochounus Pic,1921、Necrobioides Fairmaire,1882、Rhopalobates Fairmaire,1897、Tonkinius Fairmaire,1903、Phaedis Pascoe,1866）and5species（Cleomis marginicollis (Gebien,1914)、Rhopalobates villardi Fairmaire,1896、Tonkinius sculptilis sculptilis Fairmaire,1903、Heterotarsus carinula Marseul,1876、Heterotarsuspustulifer Fairmaire,1889）are newly recorded from Yunnan.Pseudoleprocaulus nom. nov., new replacement name for the genus Leprocaulinus Kaszab,1982[nec Leprocaulinus Uvarov,1940(Phasmatodea)], is proposed.II. Within this region,438tenebrionid species are recorded, of which298species are Orientalcomponents (68.0%of the total species),58species are the Palaearctic ones (13.2%). These speciesbelongs to Alleculinae (2tribes,10genera), Diaperinae (1tribe,14genera), Lagriinae (6tribes,21genera),Pimeliinae (3tribes,4genera), Stenochiinae (2tribes,23genera) and Tenebrioninae (11tribes,29genera).A comprehensive analysis was made of the distribution of29already recorded tribes and101generaof Yunnan. As a result, distribution patterns of29tribes can be classified into6types, and these of101genera can be classified into8types and7subtypes. Most of the Yunnan tenebrionid tribes and genera areof tropical elements, typical arid elements are rare and only4species of Pimeliinae are in this region.III. The tenebrionid fauna of Yunnan is the closest to that of Ethiopian realm in world zoo-geographical realm and closest to that of Indian subrealm in Oriental realm. In Indo-Chinese subrealm,it is the closest to Shichuan Province, descending of quotient of similarity (QS): Yunnan-Sichuan (0.23),Yunnan-Guangxi (0.20), Yunnan-Guizhou (0.15). And it has80species in common with Sichuan Province,70with Vietnam,53with Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,52with Myanmar,41with Laos, and36with Guizhou Province.IV. By using species statistics and GIS mapping, it shows that: as a whole, from south to north, andalso west to east, the species richness decreases with the increase of latitude and longitude, but it alsoshows greater volatility in different latitudes. The distribution is notably restricted by natural geographicallocation and special landscape.Typical Palaearctic elements distribute in the northern parts of this region, but some groups mayspread southward to Indo-China Peninsula, but usually confined to the high altitude mountains; sometypical Oriental elements may advance to the north through deep gorges, even to3375m altitude zone; ThePalaearctic and Oriental elements overlapped with each other. It is remarkable that there is a gradualtransition and strong introgression of the Oriental and Palaearctic elements in a moutain, which is of greatinterest to the studies on world biogeography.V. Within this region,438tenebrionid species are recorded, of which171species are endimic ones(possessing39%of the total species). Grid-Cluster analysis is applied to investigate patterns of endemismfor tenebrionid beetles. As a result, there are4areas of endemism: i.e. Southern Subregion of theHengduan Mountains, Middle Subregion of the Hengduan Mountains, Eastern Plateau Subregion ofYunnan, Southern Mountainous Subregion of Yunnan.VI. Referring to the biogeographical history, the origin and evolution of the tenebrionid beetles of theYunnan is analyzed and discussed. The preliminary results show that the dakling beetle fauna of Yunnanare the descendant of the tropical Tertiary tenebrionid fauna, but it has undergone profound change, sincestrongly influenced by the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Quaternary glacial, and its faunisticcomponents obviously with transitional characteristics. At last, the adaptations to arboreal life of darklingbeetles are discussed.