The ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) of “Bosco Palli”, a relict Turkey oak wood in Basso Monferrato (Piedmont, Italy)

The Carabid fauna of “Bosco Palli”, a relict Turkey oak wood in the hilly area of Basso Monferrato, is described. This wood covers an area of about 50 hectares divided in two separate core areas and is almost entirely surrounded by agricultural crops. A total of 25 Carabid species were recorded, of which only 11 are present in the central core areas and 23 in the peripheral ecotone areas. There are only very few species with strict forest attitude, but a prosperous population of Carabus italicus was recorded, located in a peripheral portion of the forest on moist and swampy soil. The poorness of this fauna and the scarcity of specialized forest species may be a consequence of the limited area of the wood, its fragmentation, the total isolation in an agricultural context and the repeated coppicing carried out up to about half of the past century