2024 Ecosystem Transformation 7 (2), 208-222

Beetles (Coleoptera) from the burrows of the red-tailed gerbil Meriones libycus Lichtenstein, 1823 (Mammalia: Muridae) in the south-western Turkmenistan

Sazhnev A.S.  , Ermakov N.M., Kondratyev E.N.

Specific microbiocenoses are formed in the burrows of gerbils (Mammalia: Muridae). In these biocenoses, invertebrates are associated with the gerbils and the burrow/nest through trophic, topical, phoretic and fensive relationships. The burrows of gerbils perform a stabilizing function (environmental conditioning, microclimatic conditions) in arid areas and provide a place for the development of many invertebrates, e.g. beetles, whose numerical proportion in gerbil burrows is 10–20% and up to 40% of species diversity. In the unique material from the Western Kopet Dag (collected in the burrows of Meriones libycus in the spring of 1982 using trapping cylinders), 36 species of Coleoptera from 9 families were identified (another 3 taxa were identified to genus level). Zabrus morio klapperichi (geochortobiont phytophage of the family Carabidae) dominated in the burrows of the red-tailed gerbil in the foothills of the Western Kopet Dag. This species probably uses the burrows as a daytime hiding place or when searching for seeds, which gerbils can store in burrows. Nidicolous beetles included Coprofilus dimidiatipennis (Staphylinidae), Cholevinus pallidus (Leiodidae), Pholioxenus phoenix (Histeridae), Onthophagus psychopompus (for the first time for Turkmenistan) and O. vlasovi (Scarabaeidae), Attagenus duplex (Dermestidae), Cryptophagus cf. quadrimaculatus (Cryptophagidae) and Netuschilia hauseri (Tenebrionidae). Photographs of Netuschilia hauseri, Reitterohelops steinbergi (Tenebrionidae) and Aphthona mohri (Chrysomelidae) are provided for the first time.

A. S. Sazhnev
I.D. Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters, Russian Academy of Sciences, senior research scientist
Borok 109, Nekouz District, Yaroslavl Region, 152742 Russia

PhD in Biology
sazh@list.ru

N. M. Ermakov
Russian Research Anti-Plague Institute “Microbe”
ul. Universitetskaya 46, Saratov, 410005 Russia


E. N. Kondratyev
Russian Research Anti-Plague Institute “Microbe”
ul. Universitetskaya 46, Saratov, 410005 Russia

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