Soil Beetle Assemblages of Konkar Agricultural Fields, Sindh Province, Pakistan
Species Inventory and New Distributional Records
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67244/jai.bwo-researches.v4i3.a257Keywords:
Faunistic, Coleoptera, New records, Sindh Prov, PakistanAbstract
Beetles (Coleoptera) are among the most diverse insect groups and have important ecological roles in agricultural ecosystems, but their diversity is poorly documented in many regions of Pakistan. The diversity of crop-associated soil beetles in the Konkar area of Gadap Town, Karachi was explored in the present study during the 2025 growing season. A total of 23 species belonging to several beetle families were recorded, including predatory, phytophagous, and decomposer guilds typically associated with agricultural habitats. The collected specimens showed that the assemblage of coleopterans in the relatively small agricultural landscape of Konkar is diverse. Six species are reported for the first time from Pakistan: Chlaenius (Achlaenius) amplipennis; Diplocheila (Isorembus) transcaspia Semenov, 1891 (Carabidae); Amblyrrhinus poricollis Schoenherr, 1826 (Curculionidae); Cyaneolytta violacea Brandt & Ratzenburg, 1833 (Meloidae); Pharaphodius cf. calo Balthasar, 1971; and Rhyssemodes orientalis Mulsant & Godart, 1875 (Scarabaeidae). The discovery of these new country records suggests that the beetle fauna of Pakistan remains under-recorded and underscores the importance of faunal surveys in previously unstudied agricultural habitats. This study provides baseline data on the taxonomic composition and diversity of soil beetles in southern Pakistan and is a contribution towards future biodiversity assessments, ecological monitoring and conservation planning in agricultural ecosystems.
References
Ahmed, Z., & Lalika, H.A. (2025). Preliminary study of the darkling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) from Pakistan with new records. Entomological News, 132(5), 723-728.
Alam, I., Ahmed, M. S., Muhammad, K., Sultana, A., & Aziz, A. (2024). Diversity and distribution of scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Malakand Division, Pakistan. Journal of Population Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology, 31(9), 4530-4559.
Alonso-Zarazaga, M. A., Barrios, H., Borovec, R., Bouchard, P., Caldara, R., Colonnelli, E., Gültekin, L., Hlaváč, P., Korotyaev, B., Lyal, C. H. C., Machado, A., Meregalli, M., Pierotti, H., Ren, L., Sánchez-Ruiz, M., Sforzi, A., Silfverberg, H., Skuhrovec, J., Trýzna, M., Velázquez de Castro, A. J., & Yunakov, N. N. (2017). Cooperative catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera Curculionoidea. Monografías Electrónicas de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa, 8, 1-729.
Ball, G. E. (1959). A taxonomic study of the North American Licinini with notes on the old-world species of the genus Diplocheila Brulle. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society, 16, 312.
Bektas, S., & Tezcan, S. (2025). Investigations on biodiversity of beetles in soil layer of agricultural and non-agricultural areas captured by pitfall trap method in the campus of Edge-University (Part V) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Munis Entomology and Zoology, 20(2), 3146-3152.
Darilmaz, M., & Ahmed, Z. (2015). Aquatic Coleoptera from Pakistan: Faunistic and zoogeographical contribution (Coleoptera: Gyrinidae, Dytiscidae, Hydrophilidae). Journal of Natural History, 50(3-4), 149-162.
Genier, F., & Moretto, P. (2017). Digitonthophagus Balthasar, 1959: Taxonomy, systematics and morphological phylogeny of the genus revealing an African species complex (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae). Zootaxa, 4248(1), 110.
Harvey, J. A., Heinen, R., Armbrecht, I., Basset, Y., Baxter-Gilbert, J. H., Bezemer, T. M., ... & Chown, S. L. (2023). Climate change and insect
biodiversity: A global perspective. Trends in
Ecology & Evolution, 38(4), 345-358.
Hebert, P. D. N., & Gregory, T. R. (2022). The promise of DNA barcoding for biodiversity science. Annual Review of Entomology, 67, 417-436.
Iwan, D., & Löbl, I. (2020). Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea (Vol. 5, Revised and updated 2nd ed.). Koninklijke Brill N.V.
Kotze, D. J., Brandmayr, P., Casale, A., Dauffy-Richard, E., Dekoninck, W., Koivula, M. J., ... & Zetto, T. (2021). Forty years of carabid beetle research in Europe: A review of progress. Biological Reviews, 96(5), 2030-2057.
Kwon, T., Kim, S., Park, G., & Nam, Y. (2026). Changes in richness, abundance, and occurrence of beetles in South Korea over ten years: Identifier bias and selection of climate change indicators. Insects, 17(2), 156.
Löbl, I., & Smetana, A. (2007). Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera: Elateroidea, Derodontoidea, Bostrichoidea, Lymexyloidea, Cleroidea, Cucujoidea (Vol. 4). Apollo Books.
Löbl, I., & Löbl, D. (2016). Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea, Scirtoidea, Dascilloidea, Buprestoidea, Byrrhoidea (Vol. 3, Revised and updated ed.). Brill.
Löbl, I., & Löbl, D. (Eds.). (2017). Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera: Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga (Vol. 1, Revised and updated ed.). Brill.
Nichols, E., Spector, S., Louzada, J., Larsen, T., Amezquita, S., & Favila, M. E. (2022). Ecological functions of dung beetles: A review of their role in ecosystem services. Biological Conservation, 268, 109512
Platia, G. (2015). New species and records of Elateridae from North Pakistan, mostly collected by Guido Sabatinelli in 2011-2012 (Coleoptera). Arquivos Entomológicos, 13, 3-52.
Rainio, J., & Niemelä, J. (2021). Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as bioindicators: A review. Biodiversity and Conservation, 30(12), 3525-3548.
Segura, M. O. (2012). Coleoptera (Insecta) em sistemas aquáticos orestados: Aspectos morfológicos, comportamentais e ecológicos [Tese de doutorado, Universidade Federal do Paraná].
Tscharntke, T., Grass, I., Wanger, T. C., Westphal, C., & Batáry, P. (2021). Beyond organic farming: Harnessing biodiversity-friendly landscapes. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 36(10), 919-930.
Work, T. T., & Buddle, C. M. (2022). Pitfall trapping for arthropod diversity assessment: Standardization and
best practices. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 13(5),
-1053.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 International Journal of Agriculture Innovations and Cutting-Edge Research (HEC Recognised)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
BWO Research International
Pakistan