Fauna of some families of Coleoptera (Insecta) in the Republic of Mordovia (Russia).

Background: Biodiversity conservation is an important goal of most ecosystem management efforts. Therefore, proper monitoring of biodiversity requires constant attention. Coleoptera should be monitored as an essential part of the overall biodiversity. Special monitoring is needed for families that are active as predators (e.g. Coccinellidae) or are saproxylic species (e.g. Elateridae and Cerambycidae). The aim of the research is to describe the fauna of seven families of Coleoptera (Elateridae, Drilidae, Lycidae, Lampyridae, Cantharidae, Coccinellidae and Cerambycidae) of the Republic of Mordovia (the centre of the European part of Russia). The results are based on faunistic research, the main part of which was carried out in April-October 2007-2023 and on material from museum collections. The collecting was made using several different methods (by hand, light trapping, on different lures, into pitfall traps etc.). GPS coordinates are given for each faunistic record. New information: The dataset contains information on seven species new to the region: Malthodesflavoguttatus Kiesenwetter, 1852, Malthodesminimus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Cantharidae); Scymnusrubromaculatus (Goeze, 1777) (Coccinellidae); Anoploderarufipesventralis Heyden, 1886, Tragosomadepsarium (Linnaeus, 1767), Xylotrechusarvicola (Olivier, 1795) and Xylotrechusibex (Gebler, 1825) (Cerambycidae).

Spider fauna (Arachnida, Araneae) in Mordovia State Nature Reserve and National Park "Smolny" (Russia).

Background: Ecosystems in protected areas are richer in animal and plant species diversity ("biodiversity hotspots") due to more stringent conservation conditions. Of particular importance is scientific research and monitoring of this diversity in such areas. The aim of this study is to describe a set of data on Araneae occurrence in two protected areas: Mordovia State Nature Reserve and National Park "Smolny". New information: About 29,000 individuals are identified to the species level. In total, 342 species were recorded for both PAs. The greatest species diversity was recorded in the families Linyphiidae (109 species; 32%), Lycosidae (38 species; 11%) Gnaphosidae (28 species; 8%), Araneidae (25 species; 7%), Salticidae (24 species; 7%), Thomisidae (23 species; 7%) and Theridiidae (22 species; 6% from total species diversity). The five species most abundant in the lower stratum (litter and moss layer) of biocenoses were Diplocephaluspicinus, Micronetaviaria, Tenuiphantestenebricola, Diplostylaconcolor and Abacoproecessaltuum and the five species most abundant in the vegetative stratum (herb, shrub and tree stems and canopy) were Linyphiatriangularis, Enoplognathaovata, Evarchafalcata, Misumenavatia and Evarchaarcuata. The dataset contains information on the occurrence of seven rare species (Centromerusnurgush, Centromeruspersimilis, Diplocephalusdentatus, Entelecaraflavipes, Metapanamomopskaestneri, Pelecopsisradicicola and Porrhommamicrocavense), three species (Agalenatearedii, Neosconaadianta, Thanatusoblongiusculus) that entered here from the steppe zone and two synanthropic species (Steatodacastanea, Tegenariadomestica).

Ground beetle fauna (Coleoptera, Carabidae) of Mordovia State Nature Reserve (Russia).

BACKGROUND: Protected areas are organised in different climatic zones, which usually include typical ecosystems characteristic of certain climatic zones. In most cases, protected areas are biodiversity hotspots. These areas are benchmarks in terms of nature conservation and to determine their biological diversity is becoming an important task. It is important to investigate the carabid family of protected areas within the framework of understanding the overall biological diversity of these systems. In addition, ground beetles, as one of the largest groups of ground-based inhabitants, are indicators of the state of ecosystems and serve as markers of their well-being. NEW INFORMATION: We present 2,969 new occurrence records comprising 226 species of Carabidae, belonging to eight subfamilies, from the Mordovia State Nature Reserve (central Russia). Ten species are listed for the first time for the Mordovia State Nature Reserve fauna after previous research: Cicindelamaritima, Bembidionstriatum, Dyschiriusangustatus, Dyschiriusarenosus, Notiophilusaestuans, Bembidionargenteolum, Bembidionvelox, Bradycelluscaucasicus, Cymindisangularis and Syntomustruncatellus, five of which were first recorded for the Republic of Mordovia (Egorov et al. 2020). Previously, this information was not published anywhere and we wanted to make it available to everyone by embedding it in the global database on biodiversity (GBIF).