Filippov B.Yu., Zubrii N.A. 2021. Life history of the ground beetle Diacheila polita (Faldermann, 1835) (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in Subarctic and Arctic of North Europe and West Siberia // Russian Entomol. J. Vol.30. No.4: 393–400 [in English].
N. Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Northern Dvina Emb. 23, 163000 Arkhangelsk, Russia. E-mail: fby@yandex.ru
doi: 10.15298/rusentj.30.4.03
ABSTRACT. The patterns of sex and age structure, seasonal activity of Diacheila polita under photoperiod and temperature conditions were studied in the North Europe and West Siberia within three bioclimatic zones: forest-tundra, southern tundra and typical tundra. A total of 7,963 adults and 24 larvae were collected using pitfall traps. All adults were dissected to determine their reproductive states. Adults of D. polita were active from the end of June until the beginning of September generally with one peak in August. Newly emerged and immature beetles had been catching in traps, from June or in the beginning of July. Mature adults had been registering from the end of June. At the end of August, more than 70% of the studied populations were represented by mature adults. Larvae of D. polita had been catching from the second half of July to the beginning of August in tundra. The life cycle of D. polita is described as obligate-biennial late summer iteroparous. Seasonal mature adults activity is depended on daylight hours duration but not correlated with temperature conditions. Activity of mature females was more synchronized with photoperiod conditions than of mature males. The reduction of daylight hour’s duration stimulated adult beetles to maturation and reproduction, and reaching the peak activity of individuals at the time when the daylight duration reaches 17–15 hour in typical tundra and 16–15 hour in forest-tundra and southern tundra.
KEY WORDS: Life cycle, ground beetle, photoperiod, temperature conditions, Arctic, adaptation.