Resumen de Escarabajos Armadura: Entre éxito evolutivo y amenaza ecológica en la Macaronesia

Isabel R. Amorim, Pedro Oromí Masoliver, Artur Serrano, Brent C. Emerson, P. A. Borges

• The islands of Macaronesia, like their famous counterparts in the Galapagos and Hawaiian archipelagos, are home to an array of species that are unique to the region, and often unique to a single island. One only needs to walk within the Macaronesian islands to easily observe the more obvious endemic plants, birds and reptiles of the region.

  However, to see the majority of the even richer invertebrate diversity of these islands requires a more physical interaction with the environment, to see species which are less frequently observed in exposed or open areas. But for those who do not mind to get a bit of soil under their fingernails, hidden treasures such as the endemic and charismatic beetles from the genus Tarphius can be found.

  Recent investigations of this typically forest dwelling group are helping us to understand how species diversity establishes over time, and the threats to this diversity due to past and ongoing many human induced pressures.

  Tarphius are but one of many evolutionary and ecological success stories among the invertebrates of Macaronesia, and serve to demonstrate what we should be both proud and concerned for the region’s special biota.