The response of coleoptera to gross thermal changes during the Mid Weichselian interstadial

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Abstract
Summary Remains of coleoptera are frequently found in the organic silts that accumulated in ancient lakes. Fragments from Quaternary deposits can often be matched precisely with species that are living today contra to the opinion of several earlier authors. Today the coleoptera are often very abundant and specifically very diverse, and being highly mobile and often very selective in their habitat preferences, they provide a potentially valuable and sensitive tool in the interpretation of palaeoclimates and ecologies. This contribution discusses the climatic implications of coleopteran assemblages from the interstadial period in the middle of the Last (Weichselian, Wisconsin) Glaciation, that lasted from at least 42,000 years ago to at least 30,000 years ago. Faunas from ten sites in the English midlands are considered which illustrate a considerable fluctuation in the thermal environment of the time and a considerably greater degree of continentality of climate than is experienced in the British Isles today.

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