25 Haz 2025 Çarşamba
Turkey’s striking biodiversity compared to neighboring countries based on number of species-group taxa and endemism of the longhorned beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycoidea)
Abstract : Longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycoidea) is one of the largest, most diverse, ecologically and economically important groups of beetles. The paper presents numbers and endemism rates of species-group taxa with taxonomic names and territorial distributions of longhorned beetles in Turkey and 12 neighboring countries. According to the present study, Cerambycoidea of Turkey and neighboring countries includes a total of 1863 species-group taxa belonging to 189 genera of 63 tribes of 14 subfamilies in two families as Cerambycidae Latreille, 1802 and Vesperidae Mulsant, 1839. While Cerambycidae family is represented in all studied countries, Vesperidae family is represented only in Turkey and Greece each with one species. As a result, Turkey is the most diverse country by far among its neighbors. In other words, among the countries studied, Turkey is far ahead in terms of the richness of biological diversity. Apparently, in terms of highest number of species-group taxa, Turkey with 1061 taxa is strikingly prevailing, and Greece with 476 taxa and Iran with 436 taxa follow it. On the contrary, Cyprus with 74 taxa and Iraq with 67 taxa have the lowest number of species-group taxa. Also, in terms of highest number of endemic species-group taxa, Turkey with 518 taxa is strikingly prevailing, and Greece with 145 taxa and Iran with 130 taxa follow it. On the contrary, Iraq and Romania each with 5 taxa have the lowest number of endemics. In addition, in terms of endemism rates of species-group taxa, Turkey also is far ahead among its neighbors. It is seen that approximately half (49 percent) of the fauna of Turkey consists of endemic taxa. Turkey is followed by the Iranian fauna, which consists of endemic taxa at a rate of about 1/3 (30 percent). Greece, an archipelago, and Cyprus, an island, follow with 31 percent and 26 percent, respectively. On the contrary, Bulgaria and Romania each with 2 percent have the lowest endemism. Consequently, the studied area where Turkey and neighboring countries are located is a remarkable and important area in terms of biodiversity on Earth. The fact that more than half (53 %) of the Cerambycoidea fauna consists of endemic taxa is a clear proof of this.