THE BEETLES (INSECTA, COLEOPTERA) IN THE ARCTIC FAUNA. COMMUNICATION 1. FAUNAL COMPOSITION

The beetles, the largest insect order, appear to be subordinate to dipterans in terms of the depth of colonization of the Arctic environment. The Coleoptera take up about 13% of the entomofauna of the tundra zone, yet in the high latitudes several of their families retain considerable levels of species diversity and play significant coenotic roles. The present communication reviews the circumpolar beetle fauna of the Arctic. Based on original data, literature sources and museum collections, with the use of extrapolations and analogies, taxonomic and ecological diversity patterns of the suborders, series and families of Coleoptera are distinguished, the latitudinal zonal distributions and northernmost range limits of the species analyzed, and their adaptations and coenotic relations characterized.