Endemics Versus Newcomers: The Ladybird Beetle (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) Fauna of Gran Canaria

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Many plants and animals that live in the Canary Islands belong to the so-called endemic species, i.e., they do not occur outside of this particular region. Several other species have a slightly wider geographical distribution, apart from the Canaries, which also includes some islands of the nearby archipelagos, such as Madeira or the Azores, or the northwestern periphery of Africa. Here, we call such species subendemics. However, the Canary Islands have recently been colonized by a substantial number of immigrants from more or less remote areas. In this paper, based on our field survey and previously published data, we analyzed the fauna of the ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae) of Gran Canaria, one of the central islands of the archipelago. Among 42 ladybird beetle species so far recorded on this island, 17 (40%) are endemics and subendemics, and 21 (50%) probably arrived in Gran Canaria relatively recently, i.e., in the 20th and 21st century. Of those newcomers, there are Australian, American, African, and European species. The nonnative ladybird species may pose a threat to the unique ladybird communities from Gran Canaria and other islands of the archipelago. ABSTRACT: Research on the fauna of beetles (Coleoptera) of the Canary Islands has a long tradition, which enables tracking changes in their species composition and arrival of new species. In this paper, we provide new faunistic data on the ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae) recorded on Gran Canaria, one of the central islands of the archipelago, and then analyze available information on the Gran Canarian ladybird fauna from geographical and historical points of view. The field survey resulted in recording 1402 ladybird individuals belonging to 30 species. Ten of these species were new to Gran Canaria and three of them, Chilocorus bipustulatus (Linnaeus), Nephus bisignatus (Boheman), and Nephus ulbrichi Fürsch, had not previously been reported to be on any of the islands of the Canarian archipelago. Tetrabrachys tinerfensis (Hodgson) is synonymized with T. deserticola (Wollaston). Our survey and literature reports allowed us to recognize 42 species of Coccinellidae so far recorded on Gran Canaria. Seventeen of them (40%) belonged to the Canarian endemic and subendemic species, and 21 (50%) were newcomers and presumed newcomers. Colonization of Gran Canaria and other islands of the archipelago by ladybird species of various origins seems to be a frequent phenomenon that may pose a threat to the unique communities of the native Canarian species.