Ecology, Biogeography, and Conservation of Checkered Beetles (Insecta: Cole?ptera: Cleridae) in Southeastern Arizona: A Geographic Information System (GIS) Study
Aspects of the ecology, biogeography, and conservation biology of 57 check ered beetle species (Insecta: Cole?ptera: Cleridae, subfamilies Tillinae and Clerinae) in southeastern Arizona were studied using commercial Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. Clerid beetles previously investigated in this region are known to be restricted to certain well defined vegetation types. For the 57 species in this study, published distribution records and label data from specimens in four major institutional collections were combined in a single database. Fifty two of the collecting sites in this database could be identified on standard topographic maps at an appropriate level of precision for use in the GIS portion of this study. The ArcView GIS software program was used to compare points representing these 52 sites with the Arizona Gap Analysis Project's digital vegetation map of Arizona. The vegetation type(s) present at each clerid collecting site was determined, and a simple habitat model was used to predict the distribution of each clerid species in southeast ern Arizona. From these predicted distributions, clerid species richness values were assigned to vegetation polygons in four mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona. A digital map of federally designated wilderness areas in Arizona was used to evaluate the conservation status of vegetation patches with high predicted clerid species richness. The conservation status of eight species of Cleridae (Cymatodera cazierorum Barr, Cymatodera horni Wolcott, Cymatodera knausi Wolcott, Cymatodera schwarzi Wolcott, Cymatodera tricolor Skinner, Priocera catalinae Cazier, Priocera chiricahuae Knull, and Enoclerus bimaculatus (Skinner) that are endemic to the "Sky Island" mountains of Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora, and Chihuahua was also assessed. In southeastern Arizona, mid elevation evergreen oak pine forests and woodlands in the Chiricahua, Huachuca, and Santa Rita Mountains were found to have highest clerid species richness, and to also provide habitat for multiple endemic clerid species. Expansion of existing wilderness areas in these mountain ranges is recom mended to conserve important areas for clerid biodiversity.