Morphological variability of a population ofAnatolica eremita (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae): constancy of morphometric indices with variation of linear parameters of the body

Variation of sizes and body proportions of male and female insects reflects the ecological stability of their populations. Insect populations include small, average-sized and large individuals, which use the ecological niches of their species differently. On the example of the darkling beetle Anatolica eremita (Steven 1829), which inhabits the sandy soils of Ukraine’s steppe zone, we assessed the variation in body proportions for five groups: from the smallest, by 1.5·SD smaller than the average size, to the largest individuals, larger than average size for the population by 1.5·SD and over. It was found that A. eremita females have a smaller range of variation in morphometric characteristics compared to males. The morphometric indices of small-average and large beetles do not significantly change, i.e. average body proportions of A. eremita remain constant with variable linear sizes of the beetles. We discovered statistically significant deviation from normal distribution for 5 out of 6 considered morphometric indices, which indicates the existence of as yet uninvestigated natural processes in the studied A. eremita population, which need to be researched.