23 Kas 2024 Cumartesi
Analysis of the insect fauna of Turkey and suggestions for future studies
Abstract :Turkey constitutes an biogeographical bridge that connects Europe, Asia and Africa. Publications on its insect fauna began almost 180 years ago. To date, no studies have summarized the data in the massive body of publications compiled on its insect diversity. The current research addressed that situation by throroughly analyzing published notes, catalogues, databases and systematic revisions and other work on the insect fauna of Turkey. This study reports that the insect fauna of Turkey as of end-2019 is composed of 33820 known species and subspecies in 562 families and 25 orders. The number of species and subspecies of the dominant orders and their percentages are given in descending order, as follows: Coleoptera (11910 / 35.22%), Hymenoptera (6641 / 19.64%), Lepidoptera (5580 / 16.50%), Diptera (3742 / 11.06%), Hemiptera (3424 / 10.13%) and Orthoptera (734 / 2.17%). For these six orders, the total number of species and subspecies is 32031, which is 94.71% of the total. The extraordinary biogeographic diversity of Turkey, which includes Mediterranean, Irano-Anatolian and Caucasian biodiversity hotspots, is reflected in the chorotype analyses which showed that Mediterranean, European and Asiatic chorotypes are prominent. Moreover, there is a high proportion of endemic species and subspecies (3785 / 11.20% of total), with the numbers and percentages varying widely across the taxa. Furthermore, the number of reported endemics has increased by 49% since 2008. The data compiled in this study highlights the urgent need for protection of the extraordinarily diverse insect fauna of Turkey and their habitats.
Insecta, endemism, fauna, insect diversity, Turkey