Ecologica Montenegrina 40: 68-74 (2021) This journal is available online at: www.biotaxa.org/em http://dx.doi.org/10.37828/em.2021.40.5 The first record of Catocala helena Eversmann, 1856 (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) in Europe with notes on its distribution in Russia SVYATOSLAV A. KNYAZEV1,2, PAVEL YU. GORBUNOV3, SERGEY F. MELYAKH4, SVETLANA V. NEDOSHIVINA5, NIKOLAI D. GREBENNIKOV6, ALEXEY YU. MATOV7 1Russian Entomological Society, Irtyshskaya Naberezhnaya St, 14-16, Omsk, Russia, 644042 2Altai State University, Lenina St. 61, Barnaul, Russia, 656049 E-mail: [email protected] 3Institute of Plants and Animals Ecology, 8-Marta St., 202/3, Ekaterinburg, Russia, 620144. E-mail: [email protected] 4Ural research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology, 22 Partsyezda, 50, Ekaterinburg, Russia, 620039 Email: [email protected] 5Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University, pl. 100-letiya Lenina 4, Ulyanovsk, Russia, 432700 E-mail: [email protected] 6Independent researcher, Orenburg, Karagandinskaya str., 102-18, Russia, 460036, E-mail: [email protected] 7Zoological Institute RAS, Universitetskaya Emb., 1, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034 E-mail: [email protected] Received: 11 January 2021│ Accepted by V. Pešić: 2 March 2021 │ Published online: 5 March 2021. Since 2018 we have information about the first specimen of Catocala helena Eversmann, 1856 (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) collected in Orenburg region (Russia, Southern Ural) 28.VII.2018 by N.D. Grebennikov (Orenburg City). After that we made several expeditions to different localities in the South Urals to confirm the presence of this species there. In 2019 and 2020 we collected a series of fresh specimens of Catocala helena in Orenburg Region. One specimen was collected west of the Volga in Samara Region. In addition, there was a new observation of C. helena from Novosibirsk region on iNaturalist.org. This species has previously been recorded in Russia from the Republic of Bashkortostan (Ismagilov, Krivosheev 2020), Irkutsk Region (Knyazev 2011), Transbaikalia (type locality – Kyakhta in Republic of Buryatiya), Amur, Khabarovsk and Primorye territories in the Russian Far East as well as in Mongolia, Korea, China (Kononenko 2010). Thus, new finds significantly expand the known distribution of the species for more than 2500 km to the west. Material and methods. Moths were collected and observed by the following methods: using mercury lamps in the night time (in Samara Region and Republic of Bashkortostan), on the wine baits in the night time (in Orenburg Region) and one specimen was found in day time in an apartment building (Novosibirsk). All collected specimens are deposited in the collections mentioned in the material list. The mounted specimen and adult specimen in nature were photographed by a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera with Canon 100 mm USM macro lens and Nikon D7100 with AF Micro Nikkor 105 mm 1:2.8D. Ecologica Montenegrina, 40, 2021, 68-74 KNYAZEV ET AL. Figure 1. New localities of Catocala helena in Russia (red circles) and previously known distribution (green fill with black circles). Systematics Catocala helena Eversmann, 1856 (figs. 2,3,4) Material examined. RUSSIA: Samara Region, 1 specimen, Oktyabrsk town, 53°9'49.20"N, 48°40'14.61"E, at light, VII.2020, V. Yarutkina leg. (private collection of S.V. Nedoshivina, Ulyanovsk); Orenburg Region, 1♂, Orenburg District, Pavlovka village, 51°52'1.43"N, 54°57'42.03"E, at light, 28.VII.2018, N.D. Grebennikov (private collection of N.D. Grebennikov, Orenburg, Russia); Orenburg Region, 1♂,1♀, Sol- Iletsk District, Berdyanka river valley, 51°24'57.97"N, 55°24'3.23"E, at light, 24-26.07.2019, M. Rantala leg. (private collection of M. Rantala, Helsinki, Finland); Orenburg Region, 1♂1♀, Novoorsk District, 4 km NE of Zakumachnoye village, Big Kumak river, 51°16'19.19"N 59°11'18.13"E, at light, 23-24.VII.2019, S.F. Melyakh leg. (private collection of S.F. Melyakh, Ekaterinburg, Russia), 1♂1♀, same locality, at wine traps, 27-28.VII.2020, S.A. Knyazev and P.Yu. Gorbunov leg. (private collection of S.A. Knyazev, Omsk, Russia); Orenburg Region, 2♂, Gai District, 3 km N of Beloshapka village Guberlya Mts., Guberlya river, 51°14'45.64"N, 58° 4'51.74"E, at wine traps, 28-29.VII.2020, S.A. Knyazev and P.Yu. Gorbunov leg. (private collection of S.A. Knyazev, Omsk, Russia); 1♂, Orenburg Region, Belyaevka District, 3,5 km E of Novoorlovka village, Ural river, 51°23'14.09"N, 56°36'47.88"E, at wine traps, 29-30.VII.2020, S.A. Knyazev and P.Yu. Gorbunov leg. (private collection of S.A. Knyazev, Omsk, Russia); Novosibirsk Region, Novosibirsk City, Vatutina str., 54°59'27.24"N, 82°52'55.45"E, 2.VIII.2020, I.S. Sukhov (photo, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/55131575). Bionomics. Optimal habitats for the species in Mongolian and Daurian parts of the species distribution area are dry summertime steppe creek valleys and gulleys with growing trees of Ulmus pumila (Ulmaceae) as well as sandy riverside slopes and terraces with groves of Ulmus pumila (Benedek, Balint 2013). Ulmus species were reported as the basic biotopical feature and as fodder plants (Dubatolov et al. 2004; Dubatolov, Dolgih 2009) similarly to those of a systematically close species Catocala deuteronympha Staudinger, 1861, that mostly occurs together with Catocala helena. The most numerous populations of Catocala helena were recorded in the valley of the Selenga and its large tributaries (А. Saldaitis, personal communication) in south-west Transbaikalia, where the species was originally described. Ecologica Montenegrina, 40, 2021, 68-74 69 THE FIRST RECORD OF CATOCALA HELENA IN EUROPE Figure 2. Catocala helena Eversmann, 1856, adult, Guberlya Mts., Orenburg Region, Russia (photo by S.A. Knyazev). Figure 3. Catocala helena Eversmann, 1856, adult specimen in nature Big Kumak river valley near Zakumachnoye village, Orenburg Region, Russia (photo by S.A. Knyazev). 70 KNYAZEV ET AL. Figure 4. Catocala helena Eversmann, 1856, adult specimen in nature, Guberlya Mts. (photo by P.Yu. Gorbunov). Figure 5. Habitat of Catocala helena in Orenburg Region, Guberlya Mts. (photo by S.A. Knyazev). Ecologica Montenegrina, 40, 2021, 68-74 71 THE FIRST RECORD OF CATOCALA HELENA IN EUROPE In new locations the species was found in the valleys of the rivers Volga, Ural and the tributaries of its basin– rivers Berdyanka, Guberlya, Big Kumak, further Ob` river where Ulmus laevis and U. pumila (supposedly being larval food plants there) grow. In the South Urals Catocala helena was attracted to the wine baits with the complex of the following species: Catocala deducta Eversmann, 1843, Catocala nupta (Linnaeus, 1767), Catocala orientalis Staudinger, 1877, Catocala fraxini (Linnaeus, 1758), Catocala lupina Herrich-Schäffer, 1851, Amphipyra pyramidea (Linnaeus, 1758), Amphipyra livida ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775), Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel, 1766). The flight period in different parts of the species range is from the end of July to the middle of August оr September. In the South Urals the beginning of moths flight period is recorded in the last third of July. Distribution. European part of Russia (Samara Region), South Urals (Republic of Bashkortostan, Orenburg Region), West Siberia (Novosibirsk Region), Irkutsk Region, Transbaikalia, Amur, Khabarovsk and Primorye territories in the Russian Far East, Mongolia, Korea, China (Kononenko 2010; Knyazev 2011). Discussion. We suppose that Catocala helena findings in West Siberia and in the Urals are due to fast natural expansion of the species habitat to the west at 50-55° north latitude as a result of human activity and climate change. The prerequisite for that was formed by emerged secondary habitat of Ulmus pumila in West Siberia in the form of numerous local populations of probable food plant (species of the genus Ulmus). It cannot be denied that in the South Urals there exists a local population of the species: findings in Orenburg Region have become pretty regular and numerous to make such conclusions possible. It may also be noted that on the basis of available data the presence of the species populations is possible in Saratov, Kurgan, Tyumen, Omsk Regions, Republics of Khakassia and Tyva of the Russian Federation as well as in the North Kazakhstan. In recent decades, there has been a similar expansion of some species of diurnal butterflies, such as Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758), Apatura iris (Linnaeus, 1758) and some others, to Siberia (Knyazev, Kosterin 2003; Kosterin et al. 2007; Yakovlev et al. 2014). Figure 6. Habitat of Catocala helena in Orenburg Region, river Big Kumak near Zakumachnoye village. (photo by P.Yu. Gorbunov). 72 KNYAZEV ET AL. Figure 7. Habitat of Catocala helena in Orenburg Region, river Berdyanka near Belyaevka village (photo by P.Yu. Gorbunov). Aknowledgements The authors thank Markus Rantala (Helsinki, Finland) and I.S. Sukhov (Novosibirsk, Russia) for the permission to use their observations in the paper. We also thank Aidas Saldaitis (Vilnius, Lithuania) for Catocala helena range clarification. The research of S.V. Nedoshivina was supported by RFBR and Ulyanovsk Region, project number 19-44-730010. The work of Alexey Matov was performed in the frames of the state research project АААА-А19-119020690101-6. References Benedek, B., Balint, Z. (2013) Data to the Lepidoptera fauna of Mongolia: report on a high summer trip in 2010. Folia entomologica hungarica, 74, 147-156. 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