New data on the ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) fauna of the Bakadzhik-Burgas Region in southeastern Bulgaria

Bulgarian ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) fauna is relatively well studied, and the knowledge about carabids’ ecology and distribution increased recently, but there are still many regions in the country which are not well researched. Bakadzhik-Burgas Region is one of them. It lays in southeastern Bulgaria, between the Eastern Stara Planina Mts. on the north, Sakar-Tundzha Region on the west, Strandzha Mountain on the south and the Southern Black Sea coast to the east. Carabid fauna of the region is very poorly studied, with only 31 species been reported so far. As the result of a field work conducted in the recent four years, exclusively by handpicking, this study adds novelty to those scarce data. Twenty-two out of the 23 species collected are new for the Bakadzhik-Burgas Region. These are: Acupalpus meridianus, Agonum viduum, Anchomenus dorsalis, Bembidion semipunctatum, B. lunulatum, Brachinus crepitans, Carabus wiedemanni, C. scabrosus, Chlaenius vestitus, Dixus obscurus, Gynandromorphus etruscus, Harpalus rufipes, Microlestes maurus, Nebria brevicollis, Odacantha melanura, Oxypselaphus obscurus, Paradromius  linearis,  Parophonus mendax, Pterostichus strenuus, Stenolophus skrimshiranus, S. mixtus and Trechus quadristriatus. Only Carabus coriaceus has been previously reported, more than 30 years ago. Here are also the first records of the genera Agonum, Anchomenus, Chlaenius, Dixus, Gynandromorphus, Microlestes, Nebria, Odacantha, Oxypselaphus, Parophonus, Paradromius, Pterostichus, Stenolophus and Trechus from the study region. Only few of the reported species are rare or difficult to collect, while the majority are quite common in Bulgaria, which indicates the weak exploration of the studied region. Certainly, with proper research, the species richness of carabid (and any) fauna will increase.