Recent range expansions in nonnative predatory be

Authors: P Convey R S Key R J D Key M Belchier C L Waller

Publish Date: 2010/11/02

Volume: 34, Issue: 4, Pages: 597-602

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Abstract

The humanassisted establishment of two nonnative predatory carabid beetles Merizodus soledadinus GuerinMénéville Trechisibus antarcticus Dejean on the subAntarctic island of South Georgia occurred 30–50 years ago but the distribution of these species has never been the subject of regular monitoring and was last assessed in the mid1990s Based on opportunistic collection records and directed field survey activities on South Georgia over four summer seasons between 2002/3 and 2008/9 we describe recent and important range expansions in both species on the island The new distributional ranges of both species are highly suggestive of a continuing inadvertent human role in transferring them across the obstructions presented by tidewater glaciers or higheraltitude mountain passes Both species now have the potential to spread unchecked by any other geographical obstructions across a large section of the northeast coast of the island and are likely to have considerable negative impacts on the elements of the native including endemic terrestrial invertebrate faunaPC is a member of the core BAS ‘Polar Science for Planet Earth’ research programme Survey work contributing to this publication RSK RJDK was undertaken as part of the South Atlantic Invasive Species Project SAISP coordinated by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and BugLife the Invertebrate Conservation Trust and funded by the European Commission through EDF9 We thank David Renault and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and helpful comments Figure 1 was prepared by Peter Fretwell This paper is also an output of the SCAR ‘Evolution and Biodiversity in Antarctica’ research programme

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