Biogeographia - vol. XX - 1999 (Pubblicato il 31 ottobre 1999) Biogeografia del|’Anato|ia Caraboid beetles (excl. Cicindelidae) of Anatolia, and their biogeographical significance (Coleoptera, Caraboidea)1 ACHILLE CASALE *, AUGUSTO V1GNA TAGLlANT1** *Dz;mzrtz'mento di Zaologizz eAntropologz'zz Biological, Universitiz dz’ Smmri, Via Muroni 25 — 1307100 Stzsszzri (Italy) **Dz'p¢zrrz'mem‘o di Biologizz Animale e de[[’Uomo (Zoologizz), Univemitiz di Roma “La Sapienzzz ”, Vizzle dell ’Unz'z/errz'tz‘z, 32 - _/300185 Roma (Italy) Key words: Near East, Anatolia, Coleoptera, Caraboidea, historical biogeography, ecological biogeography, new species, list of taxa. SUMMARY A synthesis is presented of the present knowledge of caraboids of Anatolia (Asia Minor of authors, i. 6., t_he Asiatic part of Turkey), based on literature and numerous specimens collected and/or examined by the authors. A preliminary annotated list of Caraboidea (excl. Cicindelidae) known so far for the area is also provided. Like other regions of the Mediterranean area, the origin and composition of the present carabid fauna and carabid associations of Anatolia are explained as a result of both historical (palaeogeographic and palaeoclimatic) events, and recent, ecological causes. A striking characteristic ofAnatolia— as a southern, Gondwanian plate migrated to the North — is that a part of it, although with geographic position, surface and borders different from the present ones, has been colonizable by ancient lineages ofcarabids during the entire Tertiary Period. Probably, the occurrence and differentiation in this area ofvarious groups ofcarabids, only marginally extended now to adjacent countries (Balkan Peninsula, Caucasus, Syrian and Iranian regions) can be attributed to the survival of some of these Oligocene—Miocene lineages, in part of Gondwanian origin. For these reasons, the total number of extant carabids, and the composition of the present carabid fauna, is the result of a long process, dated at least from the Oligocene Epoch to the present. The principal features of Anatolia, compared to the other Mediterranean peninsulas, are: i) a large surface; ii) a rectangular shape; iii) a distinctive orographic system (with three main mountain chains, the Pontic chain in the North, the Toros chain in the South, and the Caucasian and Transcaucasian slopes in the East, delimiting a high plateau and several chains and isolated massifs in the middle part); and, iv) a longitudinal position along the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea, as a bridge between Asia and Europe which made easy many migrations of floras, faunas and humans. These are the reasons, for which the biogeographic knowledge of Anatolia is so important for the understanding of the biological diversity of the entire Mediterranean area. The principal features of the Anatolian carabid fauna are a relatively low diversity of some lineages, and a rather low total number of species, compared to the surface area: about 1100 species identified so far, a number surely under—estimated, but which markedly contrasts with the more than 1300 species known so far for the Italian peninsula (much smaller in size, but affected by a more favorable position in the middle Mediterranean, and extended between Southern Europe and North Africa); and, conversely, the high diversity of some carabid lineages, including a high percentage of endemics. 1 Zoological researches in the Near East by the Universities of Rome: 191. This study was partially supported by grants from MURST 40% (University of Roma “La Sapienza”), MURST 60% (University of Sassari), Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali di Torino, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Brescia, and MURST 1999 (University of “Roma Tre”) “Variazione geografica e diversita a livello di specie, faune e zoocenosi: cause storiche ed ecologiche”.