Of the Murmansk Region, Northwest Russia
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© Entomologica Fennica. 15 June 2015 Stinging wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) of the Murmansk region, Northwest Russia Juho Paukkunen & Mikhail V. Kozlov Paukkunen, J. & Kozlov, M. V. 2015: Stinging wasps, ants and bees (Hymenop- tera: Aculeata) of the Murmansk region, Northwest Russia. — Entomol. Fennica 26: 53–73. A total of 123 species of aculeate Hymenoptera are reported from the Murmansk region based on museum collections, unpublished datasets and previously pub- lished records. Collection localities are provided for each species. Erroneous or doubtful records of additional 19 species are discussed. Noteworthy findings in- clude e.g. Ammophila campestris, Bombus consobrinus, B. hyperboreus, Crabro maeklini, Dipogon vechti, Formica suecica, Gorytes neglectus, Osmia cf. dis- juncta and O. maritima. The species Ammophila campestris, Bombus veteranus, Crossocerus varus, Formica polyctena, Lindenius albilabris, Megachile analis and Osmia cf. disjuncta have their northernmost known localities in the Mur- mansk region. We estimate that approximately 100 additional aculeate species could still be found from the area. J. Paukkunen, Finnish Museum of Natural History, Zoology unit, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 17, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland; E-mail: juho.paukkunen @helsinki.fi M. V. Kozlov, Section of Ecology, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland; E-mail: [email protected] Received 24 June 2014, accepted 21 November 2014 1. Introduction The aculeates include many easily visible and economically significant taxa. The bees in partic- The order Hymenoptera has been traditionally di- ular play an essential role in the pollination of vided into three groups, according to the structure flowering plants, while social wasps and ants are and life-style of the species: the sawflies (Sym- important groups of predators. The females of phyta), the parasitic wasps (Parasitica) and the most aculeates have a poisonous sting, which aculeates (Aculeata). Of these groups only the they use to defend themselves and to incapacitate aculeates, which include the stinging wasps, ants their prey. Some species can sting humans and are and bees, are considered to be monophyletic therefore also of medical importance. Aculeates (Sharkey 2007). Usually the aculeates have been are warmth-loving insects, and the number of divided into three superfamilies, Chrysidoidea, species decreases strongly towards the north in Vespoidea and Apoidea (Aguiar et al. 2013), but Europe. However, some species are restricted to recent molecular studies have shown that the arctic region. Vespoidea is paraphyletic with respect to Apoi- The Murmansk region (or oblast) of the Rus- dea (Pilgrim et al. 2008). sian Federation is situated in northwestern Eu- 54 Paukkunen & Kozlov • ENTOMOL. FENNICA Vol. 26 rope and consists of the Kola Peninsula and some more details on collecting trips by Finnish ento- adjacent areas, most importantly Pechenga and mologists, consult Silfverberg (1988). Kuolajärvi (formerly Salla) in the west, and a No special research on the aculeate fauna of small area south of Kandalaksha bay. The region the Kola Peninsula was performed by Russian is an integral part of Fennoscandia, as it has a scientists in the pre-Soviet period. Although common geological history with other areas of some material had been collected during 1894– the physical-geographical area known as the Bal- 1915 by at least ten people, the numbers of both tic shield. The insect fauna of the region is still specimens and species (deposited in the Zoologi- poorly known compared to the rest of Fennoscan- cal Museum in St. Petersburg) were relatively dia, although detailed reviews have been pub- small. Collecting sites were mostly located near lished of Lepidoptera (Kozlov & Jalava 1994, Kola fjord and Pechenga, on the northwestern Kozlov & Kullberg 2011). Several species of coast of the peninsula. aculeate Hymenoptera have been reported in eco- As a consequence of the Tartu Peace of 1920, logical and faunistic publications (e.g. Fridolin Finland obtained the Pechenga area (Petsamo) 1936, Uvarova & Uvarov 1976, Polevoi & Hu- northwest of the Kola Peninsula, which became mala 2011). The only species list of all aculeates intensively studied during the 1920s and 1930s. of the Murmansk region (Paukkunen & Kozlov During this period, about 1,200 specimens of 2012) did not provide locality data and was pub- aculeates belonging to 50 species were collected lished in Finnish in a low-circulation book, which by nearly 30 entomologists, of which the most limits its availability to the scientific community. significant contributions were made by Wolter Hellén, Olavi Hulkkonen, Erkki Kanervo, Håkan Lindberg and Stephan Platonoff. 2. History of the research In the 1930s, insects of the Khibiny Moun- tains were studied by the ecologist Vladimir The first preserved samples of aculeate Hyme- Yulievich Fridolin (Fridolin 1935, 1936). In addi- noptera from the study area were probably col- tion to Fridolin, at least eight people collected lected by Johan (John) Reinhold Sahlberg in aculeate material in the Kola Peninsula prior to 1870. During a joint expedition with his fellow the Second World War. This material consists of student, Aukusti Juhana Malmberg (later Mela), approximately 200 specimens of about 13 spe- they collected at least 26 species of aculeates, as cies. Collection localities, besides the Khibiny can be estimated from the materials deposited in Mountains, included also the Kola Fjord and the Finnish Museum of Natural History. Some of Yokanga River region, Svyatoi Nos peninsula these records were published by Sahlberg (1889, and Kildin Island. 1910a, 1910b). Afew species were collected later Between the Second World War and the by Reinhold Enwald in 1880 (Enwald 1881), and breakup of the Soviet Union, collecting of by Klas Edgren in 1885. aculeate Hymenoptera in the Kola Peninsula was In 1887, more than 200 specimens of about 35 very limited, although some scattered informa- species of aculeates were collected during the tion was published by the Russian researchers Great Kola Expedition, arranged by Finnish sci- (Striganova 1973, Semenov-Tyan-Shanskiy entists (Rikkinen 1980). Collectors included Klas 1975, Uvarova & Uvarov 1976, Byzova et al. Edgren, Reinhold Enwald, Alfred Oswald Kihl- 1986). The research intensified in the 2000s, as man, Kaarlo Mainio Levander, Gustaf Nyberg can be seen from publications on ants and other and Johan Axel Palmén. Finnish biologists and Hymenoptera of the Pasvik Nature Reserve entomologists, who collected aculeates from the (Makarova 2005, Mershchiev 2006, Polevoi & Kola Peninsula prior to the Soviet revolution, in- Humala 2011), ants of the pollution-damaged fo- cluded Bertil Poppius (expeditions in 1897 and rests of the Pechenga area (Mershchiev 2009), 1899) and Justus Montell (one trip in 1899). Fi- aculeates of the Khibiny region (Anufriev et al. nally, Richard Frey and Wolter Hellen collected a 2011) and the pollinators of orchids (Blinova large number of aculeate specimens of at least 36 2010, Blinova & Mironov 2012). Also a large- species during their trip in 1913 (Frey 1915). For scale study on the environmental impacts of the ENTOMOL. FENNICA Vol. 26 • Aculeata of the Murmansk region 55 Fig. 1. Borders of the Murmansk region and its subdivision into bio- geographical provinces (modified after Urbana- vichus et al. 2008). Kk: Karelia keretina, Ks: Regio kuusamoënsis, Li: Lapponia inarensis, Lim: Lapponia iman- drae, Lm: Lapponia murmanica, Lp: Lappo- nia ponojensis, Lps: Lapponia petsamo- ënsis, Lt: Lapponia tulomensis and Lv: Lapponia varsugae. emissions of the Monchegorsk smelters, which 3.2. Collections has been continuing since the 1990s, has included the collection of large amounts of material on ants The study is largely based on the collections of and bees (Kozlov 1997, Kozlov et al. 2009). the Finnish Museum of Natural History, Univer- sity of Helsinki (MZH, 1483 specimens of 107 species), the Zoological Museum of the Univer- 3. Material and methods sity of Turku (ZMTu, 624 specimens of 18 spe- cies) and the Zoological Institute of the Russian 3.1. Study area Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg (ZISP, ap- proximately 950 specimens of 28 species, ex- The Murmansk region has an area of 144,900 km2 cluding ants which were not studied). The collec- and forms a part of the greater Lapland region that tions of MZH and ZMTu were studied and re- spans over four countries. Historically, it has also vised by JP, and information from the collections been referred to as Russian Lapland (Lapponia of ZISP was collected by MK. The identifications rossica, Lr). The region lies almost completely of most specimens in ZISP were not controlled north of the Arctic Circle and includes the entire during the recording of the label data, so their reli- Kola Peninsula. The area is generally hilly, with ability was assessed subsequently based on the the Khibiny Mountains (altitude 1,201 m) form- commonness and ease of identification of the spe- ing the highest point of the region. The climate is cies. mild due to the proximity of the sea and the Gulf In addition to the museum collections, we Stream. The typical vegetation is northern taiga used three unpublished ecological data sets col- forest, dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies lected by MK and his co-workers. The first set of (L.) Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), samples was collected with yellow colour traps which are replaced by mountain birch (Betula (i.e. so-called Russell traps) from 12 sites (located pubescens ssp. czerepanovii (N.I.Orlova) 1–47 km from Monchegorsk) in 2000 and com- Hämet-Ahti) near the northern tree limit. The prised 2,282 aculeates of 17 species, identified by northernmost parts of the Kola Peninsula are cov- Guy Söderman. The second set, collected using ered by tundra. The study area includes nine bio- the same methods from ten sites in 2010, was geographical provinces, six of which are located identified by JP and contained 394 individuals of entirely in the Murmansk region (Fig. 1). 11 species. Bumblebees comprised approxi- 56 Paukkunen & Kozlov • ENTOMOL.