Species richness, habitat and conservation of scorpions in the Western Australian wheatbelt

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 1 decade ago

Abstract - The distribution of 12 species of scorpions overlap that of the Western Australian wheatbelt, for five species the overlap is only marginal. In the south-west, species richness increases from two on the lower south coast to seven in the central wheatbelt before declining slightly further north. Species richness data from 7 districts indicated that with adequate sampling rIchness could be calculated from distribution maps. At the level of remnant, richness varied from two to six, with a significant correlation between area and species richness. In small areas (0.05 to 2.4 ha) within a remnant, area and number of trap nights were not significantly correlated with species richness, but the number of microhabitats did show a significant positive correlation. Detailed habitat data was only available for the KeIlerberrin district. Lychas alexandrinus and Isometroides vescus were habitat generalists, whereas Cercophonius michaelseni and Urodacus armatus while using a variety of vegetation associations were dependent on microhabitat and soil type respectively. L. marmoreus and U. novaehollandiae were recorded too infrequently to assess habitat requirements. Data from this area suggested that all species can survive in small isolated remnants as small as 0.05 to 2 ha. However intensive grazing can lead to local extinction in remnants up to 7 ha. All species can survive fire, however, for C. michaelseni destruction of microhabitat eventually leads to local extinction.