Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 86. (Budapest 1994)

Gyulai, P. ; Ronkay, L.: A new Amphipoea Billberg, 1820 species from West Siberia (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae)

1989), or bifid (e.g. A. fucosa (FREYER, 1830), A. lucens (FREYER, 1845), A. szabokyi GYULAI & RONKAY, 1991, A. burrowsi (CHAPMAN, 1912), A. ussuriensis (PETERSEN, 1914) with short or very short, often curved costal extension and much longer and stronger ventral arms. The new species belongs to the fucosa-group, representing an ancient stage in the line of evolution of Amphipoea which shows the trend of dyssymmetrization of the bifid harpe. Distribution. The species is known from only the type locality, the southern, dry zone of the West Siberian steppe belt. The habitats are closed or less open, dry short-grass steppes and dry Artemisia steppes appearing in an irregular, mosaic-like pattern together with the higher, more dense vegetation of the deeper depressions and the lake-shores and some smaller groves of Betula and Populus tremula; the soil substrate of the area is saline variegated by sandy patches. Remarks. The southern steppe region is surprisingly rich in Amphipoea taxa: the new species was found sympatrically and syntopically with A. fucosa, A. lucens, A. asiatica (BURROWS, 1911), A. ochreola (STAUDINGER, 1882) and a single, unidentified Amphipoea specimen (see Figs 11-15). The majority of the Noctuidae fauna of this late summer period consists of species typical of the steppe belt and the Central Asian semi-arid territories, the rate of the more hygrophilous (and more or less widespread, euryoecic) noctuids is relatively low, connecting mostly to the littoral and riparian vegetation. The characteristic, faunistically interesting species, found in mid-August 1990, are as follows: Agrotis trifurca EvERSMANN, 1837, Euxoa basigramma (STAUDINGER, 1870), E. déserta (STAUDINGER, 1870), Nyssocnemis eversmanni (LEDERER, 1853), Hadena picturata (ALPHERAKY, 1882), Discestra stigmosa (CHRISTOPH, 1887), Chortodes brevilinea (FENN, 1864), Luperina zollikoferi (FREYER, 1836), Oncocnemis nigricula (EVERSMANN, 1847), O. senica senica (EVERSMANN, 1857), Cucullia splendida (STOLL, 1782), C. xeranthemi BOISDUVAL, 1840, C. biomata FISCHER DE WALDHEIM, 1840, (larvae of C. scopariae DORFMEISTER, 1853 and C. absinthii (LINNAEUS, 1761)), Euchalcia consona (FABRICIUS, 1787), Catocala puerpera (GlORNA, 1791), C. neonympha (ESPER, 1805), etc. In spite of this richness, the more humid northern steppe and forest steppe belts lose most of the species listed above and only a few of them were seldom observed about 100-150 km northwards from the Karasuk steppe (E. basigramma, N. eversmanni, C. brevilinea, C. puerpera). They were substituted by more widespread Siberian and Euro-Siberian taxa, inhabiting the closed, tall-grass steppes and forest steppes in Siberia and often penetrating into the rather moist lowland and hilly northern ranges of Central and East Europe, southern Scandinavia and some parts of the Atlantic Coast along the birch-pine belt at the southern edge of the taiga (e.g. Euxoa lidia adumbrata (EVERSMANN, 1842), E. cursoria (HUFNAGEL, 1766), Cryptocala chardinyi (BOISDUVAL, 1829), Mythimna velutina (EVERSMANN, 1846), Staurophora celsia (LINNAEUS, 1758), Celaena haworthii (CURTIS, 1829), Apamea oblonga (HAWORTH, 1809), Hydraecia amurensis STAUDINGER, 1892, Polychtysia esmeralda (OBERTHÜR, 1880), Autograplta mandarina (FREYER, 1845), Catocala pacta (LINNAEUS, 1758), C. adultéra MENETRIES, 1856, etc.). The "Amphipoea fauna" of the ranges north of the dry steppe belt was found as really poor, only the two Transpalaearctic species, A. fucosa and A. lucens were observed crossing the tall-grass steppe, forest-steppe and broad-leaved taiga belts. The individual numbers of A. fucosa were more or less constant in all the collecting sites of these zones while A. lucens was abundant at the transitional zone of the forest steppe and the closed Betula-Pinus forests. * * * Acknowledgements -We would like to express our thanks to V. V. DUBATOLOV, V. A. PÉKIN, V. S. MORDKOVICH and G. S. ZOLOTARENKO (Biological Institute, Novosibirsk) and V. SHYLO (Karasuk Research Station) for their kind help during the field work in Siberia and the studies on the material of the Zoological Museum, Biological Institute, Novosibirsk. We arc also indebted to D. STÜNING (Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Kijienig, Bonn), W. MEY (Museum für Naturkunde, Humboldt Universität, Berlin) and M. HONEY (The Natural History Museum, London) for the opportunity of studies on type materials of Amphipoea species. The research was supported by the Hungarian National Scientific Research Fund (OTKA No. 3181).