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LATE QUATERNARY HISTORY OF THE NORTHERN BEETLE FAUNA OF NORTH AMERICA: A SYNTHESIS OF FOSSIL AND DISTRIBUTIONAL EVIDENCE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Donald P. Schwert  and
Allan C. Ashworth
Donald P. Schwert
Affiliation:
Geology Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, USA 58105
Allan C. Ashworth
Affiliation:
Geology Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, USA 58105
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Abstract

Fossils from sites of Late Quaternary age in North America provide tangible evidence of temporal changes in the character of the northern beetle fauna. Based on a synthesis of the fossil data with analyses of the present distributions for northern species, a rudimentary model is proposed to explain the recent history of the fauna of the arctic and the boreal forest.An open-ground beetle fauna of arctic–subarctic affinities had become established along the southern margin of the Laurentide ice sheet in the midcontinent by 20 500 years before present (yr B.P.). Climatic warming decimated this fauna throughout lowland areas at some time between 16 700 and 15 300 yr B.P.; small populations of some arctic–subarctic species, however, survived within either alpine habitats of the Cordillera and Appalachians or specialized environments associated with stagnant ice.Populations of the same arctic–subarctic beetle species existed within the ice-free Alaska–Yukon refugium throughout the late Wisconsinan. During the Holocene, this region served as the principal centre-of-origin for the dispersal of the arctic–subarctic beetle fauna.The beetle fauna of the boreal forest was also displaced southward by Late Wisconsinan glaciation. By 15 300 yr B.P., however, this fauna had largely replaced the arctic–subarctic beetle fauna along the ice margin of the midcontinent. Evidence provided by fossils from a series of sites demonstrates that beetle species of the boreal forest dispersed northward into Canada as the ice front receded.

Résumé

Des fossiles provenant de sites datant de la fin du Quaternaire en Amérique du Nord fournissent des preuves tangibles des changements de la nature de la faune coléoptérienne au cours du temps. A l'aide d'une synthèse des données fossiles analysant la distribution actuelle des espèces nordiques, un modèle simple est proposé pour expliquer l'histoire récente de la faune de l'arctique et de la forêt boréale.Une faune coléoptérienne de sol dénudé avec des affinitées arctiques–subarctiques s'était établie le long de la bordure sud de la calotte glaciaire Laurentide au milieu du continent autour de 20 500 ans B.P. Le réchauffement climatique a décimé cette faune dans les terres basses quelque part entre 16 700 et 15 300 B.P.; de petites populations de certaines espèces arctiques–subarctiques ont cependant survécu dans des milieux alpins de la Cordillère ou des Appalaches, ou dans des milieux particuliers avec glace stagnante.Des populations des mêmes espèces coléoptériennes arctiques–subarctiques ont persisté dans le refuge de l'Alaska–Yukon durant toute la dernière partie du Wisconsinien. Au cours de l'Holocène, cette région a servi de foyer principal de dispersion des coléoptères arctiques–subarctiques.La faune coléoptérienne de la forêt boréale a aussi été déplacée au sud par la glaciation de la fin du Wisconsinien. Autour de 15 300 B.P. cependant, cette faune avait remplacé la faune coléoptérienne arctique–subarctique le long de la bordure glaciaire du milieu du continent. Des preuves fossiles provenant de plusieurs sites démontrent que des espèces de coléoptères de la forêt boréale se sont avancées vers le nord au Canada avec le retrait du front glaciaire.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada , Volume 120 , Supplement S144 , 1988 , pp. 93 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1988

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