Faunistic Composition, Ecological Properties, and Zoogeographical Composition of the Elateridae (Coleoptera) Family in the Western Black Sea Region of Turkey

The main aim of this study was to understand the faunistic composition, ecological properties, and zoogeographical composition of the family Elateridae (Coleoptera) of the Western Black Sea region of Turkey. As a result, 44 species belonging to 5 subfamilies and 19 genera were identified. After adding species reported in the literature to the analysis, the fauna in the research area consists of 6 subfamilies, 23 genera and 72 species. Most of the Elateridae fauna of the Western Black Sea region were classified in the subfamilies Elaterinae and Dendrometrinae. The genus Athous was the most species-rich genus. The species composition of the Elateridae fauna of the Western Black Sea region partially overlaps with the known Elateridae fauna of Turkey. The Western Black Sea region shares the most species with the European part of the Western Palaearctic region, including many of those in the Elateridae family, compared to other regions. Comparisons of the three geographical regions of Turkey show that fauna composition, ecological properties, and zoogeographical compositions of the Middle and Western Black Sea regions are more similar to each other than to those of the Central Anatolian region.

. A map made in CFF Rasmont 1996, 2000) with modifications that shows the regions of the species collected. Grey: Western Black Sea region; light blue: Central Anatolian region; green: Middle Black Sea region. High quality figures are available online.
Turkey is at the intersection of three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe) and three phytogeographical regions (Euro-Siberian, Irano-Turanian, and Mediterranean). It was divided into seven geographical regions (three inner regions and four coastal regions) and 21 sections of these regions at the first geography congress of Turkey in Ankara in 1941 (Atalay and Mortan 1997). The research area covered the western part of the Black Sea region, which includes the Bartın, Bolu, Düzce, Karabük, Kastamonu, and Zonguldak provinces ( Figure 1). The Western Black Sea region is the part of the Black Sea region of Turkey that contains the lower part of the river basins of the Kızılırmak and Sakarya rivers, moderately high mountain ranges, and large grooves that extend between the Küre mountains, the Ilgaz, and Aladağ-Köroğlu mountain ranges. The Küre mountains, which are composed of coastal mountain ranges, extend high above the coasts. They are disrupted by the Taşköprü-Boyabat groove and the Kastamonu plateau. The Ilgaz and Aladağ-Köroğlu mountain ranges, which have summits exceeding 2500 m a.s.l., extend to the inner part of the region. The Tosya-Ilgaz-Çerkeş-Gerede-Bolu-Düzce groove, which includes the Northern Anatolian fault, extends between the Ilgaz and Aladağlar mountain ranges. Like other parts of the Black Sea region, rainfall decreases towards the inner part of the Western Black Sea region. Annual precipitation is 500 mm in the grooves, which are deprived of rainfall. Temperatures in the inner region are higher than those of the coastal regions in summer and lower than those of the coastal regions in winter. The inner region receives more snow in the winter, and less precipitation in the summer, compared to the outer region. The Western Black Sea region is covered with rotund forests, as is the Eastern Black Sea region. There are broadleaf forests, which have dense Fagus orientalis Lipsky and Castanea sativa Mill. populations in the mountainous zones. These broadleaf forests are replaced with coniferous forests (Abies bornmülleriana Mattf. and Pinus sylvestris L.) at high altitudes. Environmental conditions change suddenly towards the inner part of region, especially on the Kastamonu plateau. Oak forests are the most common at lower altitudes, and coniferous forests are common at higher altitudes on the Kastamonu plateau. P. nigra Arnold. and a small amount of P. sylvestris L. exist in the southern and southeastern mountainous parts of the region. The Bolu-Aladağlar mountains have the richest P. sylvestris L. forests in Turkey (Atalay and Mortan 1997; Güner et al. 2012).
The studied area is located in the Euro-Siberian and Irano-Turanian phytogeographical region. The Euro-Siberian region exists largely within the Euxine province, which extends throughout most of Caucasia and the Crimea and Dobrudja mountains. This region is essentially a belt of broadleaf deciduous forests, penetrated by conifers at higher altitudes. It is most closely related (especially in the east) to the Hyrcanian province of Northern Iran and the adjacent Talysch region, but it also has similarities to the Balkans, central Europe, and even Atlantic Europe (Davis et al. 1971). The Irano-Turanian region is by far the largest of the three regions in Turkey, and apart from a few enclaves, is confined to Central and East Anatolia. Although it is a large area rich in herbaceous and suffruticose species, it is not as well understood as the Mediterranean and Euro-Siberian regions. This is largely due to the difficulties in identifying the important genera. The broad forest zone of Pinus nigra Arnold. subsp. pallasiana (Lamb.) borders Central Anatolia in the north, west, and south. This forest meets the oak scrub (especially Quercus pubescens in the north and west and Q. infectoria Oliver sensu lato and Q. cerris L. in the west and south), the most abundant type of vegetation on the periphery of the central Anatolian steppes, which is usually associated with Irano-Turanian ground-flora. This Irano-Turanian scrub is most abundant in the north and west. The Irano-Turanian flora in Turkey is closely related to that of Transcaucasia, northwestern and western Iran, and northern Iraq (Davis 1965(Davis -1988. There are some studies on the Elateridae fauna of the studied area, which were done mostly by foreign researchers. Most of these studies were limited in scope and generally consisted of descriptions of new species. Studies on Turkish Elateridae include the following: Guglielmi and Platia (1985), Platia (1989Platia ( , 2003Platia ( , 2004, Platia and Gudenzi (1996, 1999, Mertlik (2000), Kabalak and Sert (2006), Mertlik and Dušánek (2006), and Mertlik and Platia (2008).
The main aim of this research was to study the faunistic composition (distributions of species, subfamilies, and genera), ecological properties (abundance, rarity, vertical distribution, habitat preference, and seasonality) of species, and the zoogeographical composition of the Elateridae fauna, which includes the zoogeographical pattern of the research area and comparisons of fauna between the Western Black Sea region and other geographical regions of Turkey.

Materials and Methods
Elateridae specimens were collected between May and July of 2005-2009 in the Bartın, Bolu, Düzce, Karabük, Kastamonu, and Zonguldak provinces. The coordinates of the localities were recorded using GPS. The data on the localities are given in the annotated checklist below. Species' identities were determined using established keys (Gurjeva 1984;Platia 1994Platia , 2003Platia and Gudenzi 1998Laibner 2000). Specimens were deposited in the Hacettepe University Zoology Museum. In the Material Examined section, the collector's name is listed at the end as 'col.'.
Specimens were collected from ground herbaceous plants of the forest by an insect net (Fhp-In), herbaceous plants near streams by an insect net (Hps-In), herbaceous plants near fields and roads by an insect net (Hpfr-In), decaying trees (Populus spp. and Salix spp.) by an aspirator (Dt-As), trees and bushes by a Japanese umbrella (Tb-Ju), and under stones near streams by an aspirator (Uss-As). After finishing the fieldwork, the specimens were put in collections and the species' identities were determined. The number of specimens, the habitat/method of collection, the month of collection, the altitude of collection, the distribution in other regions of Turkey, and the zoogeographical region are given for collected species (Table 1). The province of collection, month of collection, distribution in other re-gions of Turkey, and zoogeographical distribution are also given for species reported in the literature (Table 2)   Zoogeographical region definitions were taken from Cate (2007), and the zoogeographical statuses of species in Asia were classified within four sub-regions (Middle East, Middle Asia, Siberia, and Far East). As a result, the species were sorted as those endemic to Turkey (ETr), species found in the European part of the Western Palaearctic (Ewp) region, species found in the Eastern and Western Siberian parts of Russia (Sb), Middle Eastern species (including those from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, the Arabian peninsula, the Sinai peninsula, and Cyprus) (Me), Middle Asian species (including those from Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tadzhikistan) (Ma), Far Eastern Asian (Far Eastern Territory of Russian) species (Fe), North African (Na) species, Palaearctic species (Pa), Holarctic species (Ho), Australian species (Aust), and Nearctic species (Nea) ( Table 1). Zoogeographical distributions of species are as reported in Platia (1994), Penev and Alekseev (1996), Cate (2007), and Mertlik and Platia (2008). A map of the studied area was made in CFF Rasmont 1996, 2000). The numbers of collected males and females could not be given because of difficulties arising from separating male and female specimens.
The faunistic composition, ecological properties, and zoogeographical composition of the Western Black Sea region are compared with those from the Central Anatolian region and the Middle Black Sea region ( Figure 1).

Faunistic composition of the Western Black Sea region
Species of the subfamilies Elaterinae (27 species, 37.5%) and Dendrometrinae (25 species, 34.7%) comprise most of the studied area's Elateridae fauna. The numbers of species in the subfamilies Cardiophorinae, Negastriinae, Agrypninae, and Melanotinae are shown in Figure 2. The number of species in the genera are shown in Figure 3.
Distributions of species, according to their genera, are compared with the Elateridae fauna of Turkey in Table 3. The distributions of species in each genus show that the Elateridae fauna found in this study partially overlap with the Elateridae fauna of Turkey.

Ecological properties of the Elateridae fauna of the Western Black Sea region of Turkey
In total, 614 specimens were collected. Quasimus minutissimus (295 specimens) was the most abundant species. Adrastus montanus, Agrypnus crenicollis, Ampedus (Ampedus)  elegantulus, A. (A.) pomorum, A, (A.) rufipennis, Athous (Athous) haemorrhoidalis,  A. (Haplathous) marginicollis, A. (Orthathous) daccordii, Cardiophorus (Cardiophorus) anticus, C. (C.) vestigialis, Denticollis parallelicollis, Dicronychus cinereus, Lacon punctatus, Nothodes parvulus, Peripontius terminatus, and Pseudocrepidophorus flavescens were the rarest species, which were represented with one specimen each. More frequently collected species may have dense populations, and less frequently collected species may have sparse populations in nature. On the other hand, there are three additional possibilities for these results. Species may have been collected on dates with abnormally low or high density populations, the habitat chosen for collection may have had an abnormal population density, and certain species may have been collected more or less frequently by particular collecting methods.
Variable numbers of species were collected from various habitats using different collecting methods (Table 1 and Figure 4). More than half of the species were collected from forest habitats. This result parallels that of the wealth of the Western Black Sea forest area and draws attention to the importance of protecting the forests in the studied area. Using additional collection methods (light trap, window trap, pitfall trap, etc.) in future studies may yield information about habitat preferences and the activity periods (nocturnal species, diurnal species, etc.) of Elateridae species in the research area.
Species distributions by collection month are given in Table 1 and Figure 5.
Species were collected from various altitudes. An evaluation of the vertical distributions of species was made in terms of seven vertical 250 m intervals (A to G) from 0 to 1674 m a.s.l. as shown in Table 1. The results showed differences in the vertical distributions of species. In addition, the collection frequencies of species from each interval were different. The most diverse range was the D interval, with 21 species, and it was followed by the F interval (15 species), the A and E intervals (14 species each), the C interval (10 species), the B interval (8 species), and the G interval (4 species) ( Figure 6). Agriotes proximus, which was the most widely distributed species, was present in all intervals. Quasimus minutissimus, which was the second most widely distributed species, was present in all vertical intervals except G.

Zoogeographical composition of the Elateridae fauna of the Western Black Sea region of Turkey
According to the literature, 17 species are endemic to Turkey. The rest of the species are also distributed in the European part of the Western Palaearctic (51 species), the Middle East (27 species), Middle Asia (19 species), Siberia (10 species), North Africa (8 species), the Far East (3 species), the Neotropic (2 species), the Holarctic (2 species), the Palaearctic (1 species), the Nearctic (1 species), and Australia (1 species). Therefore, the fauna of Turkey have important relationships with the fauna of Europe, North Africa, and Asia. The studied area shares the most species (51 species) with the European part of the Western Palaearctic, which is probably due to their similar floristic and climatic features. Asia (the Far East, Middle Asia, the Middle East, Journal of Insect Science | www.insectscience.org 13 and Siberia) comes after the European part of the Western Palaearctic with 35 species shared with Turkey. According to Penev and Alekseev (1996) and Cate (2007), some recorded species are distributed in the Australian, Nearctic, Neotropic, Palaearctic (Cardiophorus vestigialis), and Holarctic (Agriotes sputator and Agrypnus murinus) regions as well as the whole Palaearctic region except for North Africa (Agriotes lineatus). According to Cate (2007), comparisons between the fauna of the studied area and those of the Western Palaearctic countries and territories show that the studied area shares the most species with Greece (47 species Figure 8). These results indicate that the studied area shares most of its species with the Central Anatolian region, likely due to its geographical proximity.

Comparisons with the Central Anatolian and the Middle Black Sea regions
The results of the faunistic composition, ecological properties, and zoogeographical composition of the Western Black Sea region were compared with previous studies conducted in the Central Anatolian region   Sea region has the highest number of endemic species among these three regions. There are some additional differences between these regions. The Central Anatolian region shares the highest number of species with the Mediterranean region, whereas the Middle and Western Black Sea regions share the highest number of species with the Central Anatolian region. This may seem contradictory; however, this could be explained by the different faunistic structures of these regions. Comparisons of the three regions show that the faunistic structures, ecological properties, and zoogeographical compositions of the Middle and Western Black Sea regions are more similar to each other than to those of the Central Anatolian region. Similar geographical, climatic, and floristic properties of the Middle and Western Black Sea regions are likely the main reasons for the faunistic, ecological and zoogeographical similarities.
Turkey has rich Elateridae fauna, and many new species were reported recently. In addition, there is a lack of comprehensive studies in different geographical regions of Turkey. Future studies, including descriptions of new species of other geographical regions of Turkey, can extend the results of this research. Table 3. Comparison of the number of species in each genus of Elateridae between the Western Black Sea region and other regions of Turkey.