Climate-induced seasonal activity and flight period of cerambycid beetles in the Zselic forests, Hungary

Abstract

The longhorn beetle fauna (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) was studied in the Zselic region (Somogy county) in Hungary in seven consecutive years (2009-2015). In total 2,931 specimens were observed and the presence of 83 species was identified during the sampling period. The most abundant species were: Plagionotus arcuatus (Linnaeus, 1758) (pi = 10.542); Cerambyx scopoli Fussli, 1775 (pi = 8.359), Dorcadion aethiops (Scopoli, 1763) (pi = 6.653) and Strangalia melanura (Redtenbacher, 1867) (pi = 6.209). According to our examinations, individual meteorological factors, particularly temperature, directly influenced the dispersal and the activity of longhorn beetles (P = 0.038) as well as the species richness (P = 0.047), as did weather systems formation and movement of air masses, cold and warm fronts. It is also shown that the activity of the insects is influenced by daily weather conditions. The activity of arthropods was higher during warm, dry days and less pronounced during cold, wet ones coupled with high air pressure values. A conspicuous relationship was observable between the appearance of cerambycid beetles and their time period. According to the results of Principal Coordinate Analysis four major groups can be distinguished: Early-flight, late spring-flight, summer-flight and late-flight species.