Do We Know Beetles? Lessons from New Records of Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) for Nova Scotia

Abstract

The long-horned beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) are taxonomically relatively well known in North America and can potentially serve as an important forest biomonitoring tool. For such a tool to work accurate distributional data are required. We compared the status of cerambycids for Nova Scotia based on specimens in collections with two recent compilations that include distributional information, one for Canada and one for northeastern North America. We found major discrepancies. The two compilations reported a total of 55 species, while 87 species were in the collections examined. An accurate and up to date inventory is essential. This is underscored by the recent concern for the “invasion” of the Brown Spruce Long-horn Beetle, Tetropium fuscum, in Nova Scotia that was first collected more than 10 years ago, but misidentified. Both regional and national collections need to be supported to ensure effective strategies for conservation and forest management.