The beetle fauna (Insecta, Coleoptera) of the Rawdhat Khorim National Park, Central Saudi Arabia

Journal Article

2017

Published in: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/10252/

This study was conducted as a part of a comprehensive baseline survey of insect biodiversity of Rawdhat
Khorim National Park (RKNP), Central Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). During this study a total of
262 Coleoptera species belong to 182 genera in 35 families were identified, of which 247 are named at a
species level. Fifteen species (6.0%) are apparently endemic to KSA. Thirty-eight species are new to the
known beetle fauna of KSA, including 25 species reported from the Arabian Peninsula for the first time.
The families Tenebrionidae (45 species), Scarabaeidae (34 species), and Carabidae (27 species) were the
most species rich families. About 37% of the beetle abundance was represented by species of Scarabaeidae,
especially Aphodius ictericus ghardimaouensis Balthasar. Karumia inaequalis Pic (Dascillidae) was also an
abundant species. Approximately 43.5% of beetle species collected during this study are considered very
rare taxa in RKNP. The RKNP beetle fauna shows more affinity to Sahro-Arabian (36.4%), AfrotropicalSahro-Arabian (17.4%) and Palaearctic-Sahro-Arabian (10.5%). Twenty-three species (9.3%) are considered
cosmopolitan or subcosmopolitan. The data on month of collection, method of collection, and
abundance status within RKNP, together with the distribution within KSA and the general distribution
(zoogeography) of each species are presented.

• Publication Work Type: original article
• Volume Number: 10252
• Issue Number: 653
• Magazine \ Newspaper: ZooKeys
• Pages: 1-78