Inventory of the Azorean rove-beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae)

Paulo A. V. Borges1, Lucas Lamelas-López1, Volker Assing2, Michael Schülke3

1 Universidade dos Açores; ce3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental, Rua Capitão João d´Ávila, Pico da Urze, 9700-042, Angra Do Heroismo, Portugal; 2 Not Applicable, Gabelsbergerstraße 2,, 30163 Hannover, Hannover, Germany; 3 Not Applicable, Blankenfelder Straße 99, D-13127 Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Corresponding author(s): Paulo A. V. Borges (paulo.av.borges@uac.pt)Lucas Lamelas-López (lucaslamelaslopez@gmail.com)Volker AssingMichael Schülke

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Borges P A V, Lamelas-López L, Assing V, Schülke M (2022): Inventory of the Azorean rove-beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae). v1.6. Universidade dos Açores. Dataset/Samplingevent. http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=staphylinidae_occurrences_azores&v=1.6

Abstract

The data we present consists in a long-term inventory of Staphylinidae (Insecta, Coleoptera) collected from several standardized sampling campaigns and non-standardized observations, performed between 1990 and 2015 in several habitat types of eight islands of the Azores archipelago. The sampled habitats included exotic, mixed and native forests, intensive and semi-natural pasturelands, orchards, caves and lava flows.
Most of records (about 96.7%) were collected from standardized sampling campaigns, which included pitfall traps and beating transect protocols. Non-standardized records were registered from human observations from researchers, cave surveys, color traps and malaise traps. This inventory compiles all records and knowledge about Staphylinidae in Azores, and is part of a series of publications of distribution and abundance of Azorean arthropods

Keywords: Samplingevent; Arthropods, Azorean native forest, Biodiversity, Dataset, Inventory, Linnean, Wallacean and Prestonian shortfalls, Long term monitoring

Project details

Project title: Inventory of the Azorean rove-beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae)
Personnel: Paulo A. V. Borges, Clara Gaspar, François Rigal, Pedro Cardoso, Fernando Pereira, Carla Rego, Isabel Amorim, Catarina Melo, Carlos Aguiar, Genage André, Sérvio Ribeiro, Joaquín Hortal, Ana Santos
Funding: Species collecting was funded mostly by four projects:  Azorean Direcção Regional dos Recursos Florestais (Azorean Government /project 17.01-080203), FCT- project PTDC/BIA-BEC/100182/2008 – “Predicting extinctions on islands: a multi-scale assessment”,  DRCT project M112/F/014/2007 and FCT-NETBIOME –ISLANDBIODIV
grant 0003/2011. The database management was funded by by FEDER in 85% and by Azorean Public funds by 15% through Operational Program Azores 2020, under the project  AZORESBIOPORTAL –PORBIOTA (ACORES-01-0145-FEDER-000072).
Study area descriptions/descriptor: The Azores archipelago extends for 615 km and is located in the North Atlantic Ocean (37-40°N, 25-31°W), about 1600 km from Europe and 2200 km from the North America. The archipelago is formed by nine main islands and some small islets, all of them of volcanic origin. The islands are divided into three main groups: the western group (Corvo and Flores), the central group (Faial, Pico, Graciosa, São Jorge and Terceira), and the eastern group (São Miguel and Santa Maria). The climate is temperate oceanic, with regular and abundant rainfall, high levels of relative humidity, above 95% on average on native forests, and persistent winds, mainly during the winter and autumn seasons. Since Portuguese colonization in the 15th century, the landscape of the Azores was dramatically altered by replacing native forests with forest tree plantations, crops, pastures, and urban areas. Currently the native laurel forest comprises about 5% of the total surface of the archipelago and has remained only at higher elevations and in inaccessible areas of the islands.
Design description: This inventory of Staphylinidae includes records of several standardized sampling campaigns and non-standardized observations, performed between 1990 and 2015 (Gaspar et al. 2008; Borges et al. 2016). 
Most of the records (about 96.7%) were collected in standardized sampling campaigns, which included pitfall and beating protocols. Non-standardized records are based on hand-collecting and sifting, as well as cave, color and malaise traps. Additional non-standard records are based on cave, color and malaise traps, and collecting trips conducted by Andreas Kleeberg in Pico and S. Miguel in 2015 and by Volker Assing in Terceira, S. Miguel and S. Maria islands in 2013. Collected samples were sorted and subsequently identified by an expert taxonomist in laboratory

Data published through GBIF: http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=staphylinidae_occurrences_azores

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Staphylinidae (Insecta, Coleoptera)
Taxonomic ranks
Family: Staphylinidae
Common names: Rove-beetles

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Azores, Portugal: the western group (Flores), the central group (Faial, Pico, Graciosa, São Jorge and Terceira), and the eastern group (São Miguel and Santa Maria).
Coordinates: 36°51'43.2''N and 39°37'22.8''N Latitude; 31°23'56.4''W and 24°53'42''W Longitude 

Temporal coverage: June 1, 1990 - September 30, 2015

Natural collections description

Parent collection identifier: Not applicable
Collection name: Entomoteca Dalberto Teixeira Pombo (DTP)
Collection identifier: DTP
Specimen preservation method: Alcohol

Methods

Method step description: Collected samples were sorted by parataxonomist and posteriorly identified by an expert taxonomist in laboratory
Study extent description: The study was conducted in several habitats of eight islands of Azores archipelago: Flores, S. Jorge, Pico, Faial, Terceira, Graciosa, S. Miguel and Sta. Maria islands. The sampled habitats include exotic, mixed, and native forests, intensive and semi-natural pastures, orchards, caves, and lava flows.
Sampling description: This inventory of Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) includes records obtained in several standardized sampling campaigns and by non-standardized methods performed between 1990 and 2015. Most of the records (96.7%) are based on standardized sampling campaigns, which included pitfall and beating protocols. The used methodology is in accordance with Borges et al. (2016) and BALA (Biodiversity of Arthropods the Laurissilva of Azores) I and II projects. Non-standardized records are based on hand-collecting and sifting, as well as cave, color and malaise traps.
Standardized sampling campaigns included pitfall traps and beating transects. Pitfall trap transect protocols were conducted with 33 cl plastic cups, partially filled with propylene glycol, in the soil (cup rim at surface level) every 5 m. Traps were protected from rain using a plastic plate, placed about 5 cm above surface level and fixed to the ground with wire. The pitfall traps remained active in the field for 14 days. Beating transects were performed by beating the canopy of woody vegetation, using a beating tray. The protocol was conducted when the vegetation was dry. A 5 m wide square was established every 15 m (total of 10 squares per transect). Two woody plant specimens of the most abundant species (up to three species when available) were sampled in each square. For each selected plant, a branch was chosen at random and a beating tray placed beneath. The tray consisted of a 1 m wide and 60 cm deep cloth inverted pyramid, with a plastic bag at the vertex. Five beatings were made using a stick for each plant individual sampled.
Quality control description: All sorted specimens were identified by a taxonomical expert

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Inventory of the Azorean rove-beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae)
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/archive.do?r=staphylinidae_occurrences_azores
Publication date of data: 2022-05-16
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2021-11-14
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Borges, P.A.V., Gaspar, C., Crespo, L., Rigal, F., Cardoso, P., Pereira, F., Rego, C., Amorim, I.R., Melo, C., Aguiar, C., André, G., Mendonça, E., Ribeiro, S.P., Hortal, J., Santos, A.M., Barcelos, L., Enghoff, H., Mahnert, V., Pita, M.T., Ribes, J., Baz, A., Sousa, A.B., Vieira, V., Wunderlich, J., Parmakelis, A., Whittaker, R.A., Quartau, J.A., Serrano, A.R.M. & Triantis, K.A. (2016). New records and detailed distribution and abundance of selected arthropod species collected between 1999 and 2011 in Azorean native forests. Biodiversity Data Journal, 4: e10948. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e10948 10.3897/BDJ.4.e10948
Gaspar, C., Borges, P.A.V. & Gaston, K.J. (2008). Diversity and distribution of arthropods in native forests of the Azores archipelago. Arquipelago Life and marine Sciences, 25: 1-30 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/249