Ecologica Montenegrina 32: 53-55 (2020) This journal is available online at: www.biotaxa.org/em http://dx.doi.org/10.37828/em.2020.32.9

Cossidae () of the Caspian Sea northern islands

ROMAN V. YAKOVLEV

Altai State University, South Siberian Botanical garden, Lenina pr. 61, RF-656049, Barnaul, Russia. National Research Tomsk State University, Laboratory of Biodiversity and Ecology, Lenina pr. 36, 634050 Tomsk, Russia. E-mail: [email protected]

Received: 6 June 2020│ Accepted by V. Pešić: 2 July 2020 │ Published online: 5 July 2020.

The entomofauna of northern islands in the Caspian Sea until now remained very poorly studied. In the complex research in three islands of north-western part of the sea (belonging to the territory of Russia and the Daghestan Republic) and in the group of islands Tyulen’i (Kulaly Isl., , Mangystau Region), performed by entomologists of Daghestan university, large materials were collected on a number of groups. These specimens are still partially processed, in particular, Noctuidae s.l. (Abdurakhmanov et al. 2013). The materials were collected in the following locations (Figure 1) during the time periods:

Figure 1. Map of collecting localities: 1 – Nordovyi Isl.; 2 – Tyulenij Isl.; 3 – Chechen’ Isl.; 4 – Kulaly Isl.

Ecologica Montenegrina, 32, 2020, 53-55

COSSIDAE OF THE CASPIAN SEA NORTHERN ISLANDS

Russia, Daghestan Republic: Nordovyi Island – (44º28’35”N и 47º00’00”E; 10−15 June 2010); Tyulenij Isl. (44°29′ N, 47°31′ E; 21−25 June 2011); Chechen’ Isl. (43°58′47″ N. 47°41′13″ E; 17−21 June 2011; 21−31 May 2012) Kazakhstan, Mangystau Region: Kulaly Isl. (44°52′30″ N, 50°20′36″ E; 17−21 June 2013).

In most islands belonging to the territory of Russia continuous monodominant thickets are presented (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. (Poaceae). Sometimes the dominant plant communities are species of the family Cyperaceae (Bolboschoenus, Juncus, Schoenus) with inclusions of hydrophilic plants such as Puccinellia gigantea (Grossh.) Grossh., Alopecurus arundinaceus Poir., Calamagrostis pseudophragmites (Haller f.) Koeler (Poaceae). In more elevated parts of the islands, semi-desert vegetation formed by halophyte groups is developed Halocnemum strobilaum (Pall.) M.Bieb., Kalidium foliatum (Pall.) Moq., Suaeda confuse Iljin (Chenopodiaceae), Halostachys caspica (Pall.) C. A. Mey. ex Hohen., Solicornia europea L. (Amaranthaceae), Frankenia hirsuta L. (Frankeniaceae), etc. Wide territories are occupied with communities dominating by Alhagi pseudalhagi (M.Bieb.) Desv. ex B.Keller & Shap. (Fabaceae) and Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. (Poaceae). Wormwood communities are also noted, occupying about 75-80% of the territory of the “western” island in the Tyulenij group, consisting of Artemisia austriaca Jacq., A. taurica Willd. and A. arenaria DC. (Asteraceae) including Poa bulbosa L. (Poaceae), annual plants of Poaceae, Brassicaceae, Boraginaceae, Asteraceae, Ranunculaceae and other families. Vegetation of the island Chechen’ is slightly different and represents a sand desert with Artemisia austriaca Jacq. (Asteraceae), Salsola ericoides M. Bieb. (Chenopodiaceae), Tamarix hohenackeri Bunge, T. meyeri Boiss. (Tamaricaceae). There are no published data on the fauna and flora of Kulaly Island, the vegetation of the island is semi-desert. The average temperature of January in the Tyulenij Isl. in 1977−1999 was 1,2º, of July – 25,7º, the precipitation – 200 mm.

Materials and methods

Cossidae were collected using light traps. All specimens are deposited in the collection of the Zoological Institute (Russia, Sankt-Petersburg).

Results

During the research, over 200 specimens of five Cossidae species have been collected (Tab. 1).

Table 1. Distribution of Cossidae in the Islands of Northern part of Caspian Sea.

Species Islands Russian Federation Kazakhstan Tyulenij Chechen’ Nordovyi Kulaly caestrum (Hübner, 1804) 16 males, 14 3 males - - females Deserticossus volgensis (Christoph, 1893) 7 males 2 males - 29 males 1 female Deserticossus arenicola (Staudinger, 1879) - - - 2 males castaneae (Hübner, 1790) 37 males, 18 1 male 18 males, 3 1 female females females Phragmataecia albida Erschoff, 1874 1 male - - 57 males, 2 female

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YAKOVLEV

Two of the five found species ( and ) have wide West Palaearctic ranges, Deserticossus arenicola and Phragmataecia albida are widely distributed in Turan, Deserticossus volgensis is an endemic of the South Volga and Western Kazakhstan (Yakovlev et al. 2015; Yakovlev & Witt 2016, 2017).

Acknowledgments The author is grateful to Anna Ustjuzhanina (Tomsk) for the help in translation of the paper. The author is indebted to Dr. Sergey Sinev and Dr. Alexey Matov (Sankt-Petersburg) for their kind assistance provided during studying the type material of the Zoological Institute (Sankt-Petersburg). I also expresses my gratitude to †Prof. G.M. Abdurakhmanov (Makhachkala) for his kind permission to process the interesting material collected by his scientific group.

References

Abdurakhmanov, G.M., Abdurakhmanov, A.G., Kurbanova, N.S. & Melikova, N.M. (2013) Noctuidae (Lepidoptera) of Tyulenij, Chechen’ and Nordovyi Islands of North-Western Caspian Sea (composition, ecological and biological characteristics, zoogeography). Makhachkala: Eco-Press, 166 pp. (in Russian) Yakovlev, R.V., Poltavsky, A.N., Ilyina, E.V., Shchurov, V.I. & Witt, Th. (2015) Cossidae (Lepidoptera) of the Russian with the description of a new species. Zootaxa, 4044 (2), 270–288. DOI:10.11646/zootaxa.4044.2.5 Yakovlev, R.V. & Witt, Th.J. (2016) A world catalogue of Phragmataecia (Lepidoptera: Cossidae), with a new species from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Zootaxa, 4085 (4), 589–600. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4085.4.8 Yakovlev, R.V. & Witt, Th.J. (2017) Three new species and one new subspecies of Deserticossus Yakovlev, 2006 (Lepidoptera: Cossidae) from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, with world catalogue of the genus. Zootaxa, 4269 (3), 379–395. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4269.3.3

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