Arthropod communities of insular (São Miguel Island, Azores) and mainland (Portugal) coastal grasslands

By

Calado, Hugo Renato
Soares, António
Heleno, Ruben
Borges, Paulo A. Vieira, 1965-

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025-2-24

Original Publication

Biodiversity data journal

Volume

13

Pages

1--20

Subjects

arthropods , Azores , coastal grasslands , invasive species , mainland , sweeping net

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia Pensoft Publishers [2013]-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e144915

 

Abstract

The data presented here is part of a doctoral project aimed at characterising and comparing arthropod diversity across biotic communities in coastal ecosystems. The present work provides an inventory of the arthropods recorded in two coastal grasslands ecosystems: the Portugal mainland and the Azores. Sampling was conducted on São Miguel Island (Azores Archipelago) as well as in the Sesimbra and Sines regions (Setúbal District, mainland Portugal). Thirty-one plots were set and visited four times, in spring and summer of 2022.<br> The specimens collected were sorted and catalogued into a total of 534 arthropod species and morphospecies. In total, 67 species were common to both ecosystems. A total of 13,515 specimens were counted in the two coastal grasslands. We registered three new records for the Azores (in São Miguel Island), all being exotic: Aritranis director (Thumberg, 1822) (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), Draeculacephala bradleyi, Van Duzee, 1915 (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae) and Isodontia sp. Patton, 1880 (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae). This publication demonstrates the importance of coastal grasslands as reservoirs for some potentially invasive arthropod species.