A darkling beetle population in West Texas during the 1997–1998 El Niño

We examined the abundance and distribution of Eleodes extricata (Tenebrionidae) in a semi-arid region of West Texas. During the 2-year study, climatic conditions were extreme but opposite, with 1997 being unusually wet and mild, and 1998 being unusually dry and hot. These conditions were associated with striking differences in the population structure of the beetles. Under identical pitfall-sampling efforts, we captured 1562 and 671 individuals in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Capture rates were lowest in grassland, and highest in sand shinnery oak, and within the latter, they were lowest in blowouts, intermediate along the edges of blowouts, and highest under vegetative cover. Sex ratios were consistently female-biased, and the degree of bias increased from spring through fall in both years. These increases were more pronounced in 1998, with the sex ratios of early and late sampling periods differing by over four-fold, from 1·15 to 5·00. Females were heavier than males, and the dry masses of both sexes increased from spring though fall in both years. As with sex ratios, these increases were more pronounced in 1998. Only the largest beetles survived the drought, illustrating how extreme conditions can exert especially strong directional selection, and affect sex ratios in populations with sexual size dimorphism.