Ground Beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Found in the City and Surroundings of Plovdiv (Central Bulgaria)

Bulgarian carabid fauna is relatively well studied but there are still many species and regions in the country lacking enough research. The present study compiles a list of Carabidae species from the city of Plovdiv and its surroundings. The species list is completed on the basis of the available bibliographic data and material collected during field trips in the city of Plovdiv and some of the nearest villages. A total of 167 species are found. They belong to 56 genera and 25 tribes. This represents, respectively, 22% of all established for Bulgarian carabid fauna species, 44% of the genera and 68% of the tribes. Notiophilus rufipes Curtis, 1829, Bembidion atlanticum Wollaston, 1854, Bembidion dentellum (Thunberg, 1787), Bembidion azurescens Dalla Torre, 1877, Sinechostictus effluviorum Peyron, 1858, Broscus cephalotes (Linnaeus, 1785), Agonum viduum (Panzer, 1796), Stenolophus abdominalis Gené, 1836, Licinus silphoides (P. Rossi, 1790), Paradromius linearis (Olivier, 1795), genera Sinechostictus Motschulsky, 1864, Broscus Panzer, 1813 and Paradromius Fowler, 1887, and tribe Broscini are new for the Upper Thracian Lowland. The richest tribe is Harpalini containing 35% of all species. Zoogeographical analysis shows that the Mediterranean (33%) and Northern Holarctic (29%) complexes prevail. In relation to carabids' life forms, the ratio between zoophages and mixophyitophages in the region of Plovdiv is 57%: 43%, close to the characteristic for the meadow steppes from the Forest-steppe zone of Eurasia. Humidity preferences analysis shows the largest share of the mesoxerophilous carabids (36% of all species). Macropterous carabids are 67% of all species.