Interglacial insects and their possible survival in Greenland during the last glacial stage

• Published in: Boreas
• Main Author: Böcher, Jens
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2012
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; Mara
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2012.00251.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1502-3885.2012.00251.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2012.00251.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2012.00251.x

Sediments from the last interglacial ( E emian) in J ameson L and, East G reenland, and the T hule area, NW G reenland, have revealed a number of insect fragments of both arctic and more or less warmth‐demanding species. Altogether, the interglacial fauna of C oleoptera (beetles) indicates boreal conditions. Undoubtedly, a large fraction of the insect fauna succumbed when the mild Eemian climate cooled drastically during the last glacial stage. However, a group of hardy species now found far north into the H igh A rctic might be glacial survivors. It is, however, still puzzling why well‐adapted arctic beetle species such as A mara alpina and I sochnus arcticus did not survive the last glacial stage in G reenland. Two factors that have not been sufficiently considered when discussing survival contra extinction are the importance of microclimate and the number of sun‐hours during the Arctic summer. Even among the C oleoptera, which as a group fares quite badly in the Arctic, there might be survivors, at least among those found both during the interglacial and as fossils during the early Holocene. First of all, glacial survival applies to the seed bug N ysius groenlandicus , which was widespread during the Eemian, was found soon after the last deglaciation, and is now almost omnipresent in G reenland.