The beetle fauna (Coleoptera) of the Chatham Islands with additional species, corrections, and updated taxonomic, biological and distributional information to end 2002

Abstract

Records are given for 318 species of beetles known from the Chatham Islands, however, at least four of these records are doubtful. For each species the following data are given: whether the species is a Chatham Is endemic, also found in mainland New Zealand, or introduced from outside New Zealand; a reference to the first record of the species in the Chatham Is; other names used for Chatham Is records; collecting methods and habitat; distribution outside the Chatham Is. For the 281 species represented by specimens in the Entomology Research Museum, Lincoln University, the following additional information is listed in abbreviated form: distribution on the different islands of the Chathams group, abundance in LUNZ and months of collection. A list of the species mistakenly reported from the Chatham Is is also given. A brief history of studies of the Chatham Is beetle fauna is provided. The size of the known fauna on the different islands of the Chathams group does not follow the usual species area relationships, probably due to predation, disturbance, forest clearance, and lack of collecting effort, on the larger islands. The small outer islands of the group are shown to be important sanctuaries for many larger flightless species and are minor areas of endemism.Taxonomic notes are provided for a number of Chatham Island species.