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

• Published in: Boreas
• Main Author: Bøcher, Jens Jensenius
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; Jameson Land; East Greenland; Thule
• Online Access: https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/interglacial-insects-and-their-possible-survival-in-greenland-during-the-last-glacial-stage(e0bb5ef5-acd2-463a-b2b0-a8f9670bb52c).html; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2012.00251.x

Sediments from the last interglacial (Eemian) in Jameson Land, East Greenland, and the Thule area, NW Greenland, have revealed a number of insect fragments of both arctic and more or less warmth-demanding species. Altogether, the interglacial fauna of Coleoptera (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 High Arctic might be glacial survivors. It is, however, still puzzling why well-adapted arctic beetle species such as Amara alpina and Isochnus arcticus did not survive the last glacial stage in Greenland. 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 Coleoptera, 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 Nysius groenlandicus, which was widespread during the Eemian, was found soon after the last deglaciation, and is now almost omnipresent in Greenland.