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http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/zoology/
Turkish Journal of Zoology Turk J Zool(2017) 41: 178-180©
TÜBİTAKdoi:10.3906/zoo-1601-30
Research on Alleculinae (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Alleculinae)
intugai forests of the Almaty region in Kazakhstan using window
traps
Oto NAKLÁDAL1, Vladimír NOVÁK2, Yuliya
KOLESNICHENKO1,*1Department of Forest Protection and Entomology,
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life
Sciences Prague,
Prague, Czech Republic2Nepasické Náměstí 796, Prague, Czech
Republic
* Correspondence: [email protected]
Kazakhstan is one of the largest countries in the world with an
area of 2.725 million km2, but the fauna of Alleculinae
is still poorly explored. We know members of only seven genera with
13 species (Novák and Pettersson, 2008; Kozminych, 2015). The tribe
Alleculini is represented by two species of the genus Mycetocharina
Sedilitz, 1891: Mycetocharina deserticola Semenov, 1893 and
Mycetocharina macrophthalma (Gebler, 1859). Tribe Cteniopodini
Solier, 1835 is represented by 11 species belonging to six genera.
These species are Cnecosochara filia Znojko, 1936; Cteniopinus
altaicus altaicus (Gebler, 1829); Cteniopus sulphureus (Linnaeus,
1758); Omophlina arcuata (Gebler, 1829); Omophlina corva (Solsky,
1881); Omophlina hirtipennis (Solsky, 1881); Omophlus deserticola
Kirsch, 1869; Omophlus lividipes Mulsant, 1856; Omophlus pilicollis
pilicollis (Faldermann, 1832); Steneryx dejeanii (Faldermann,
1836); and Steneryx hauseri Sedlitz, 1896. While Mycetocharina,
Cnecosochara, and Steneryx species have evening or night activity
(Ogloblin and Znojko, 1950), species of the genera Cteniopus,
Omophlina, Omophlus prefer daytime activity.
Species of the genus Mycetochara Berthold, 1827 were not found
in Kazakhstan, so Mycetochara flavipes (Fabricius, 1792) is the
first record for this genus from Kazakhstan. The species exerts
evening activity, lives under bark, in hollow trees, and in wood
infested with molds (Novák, 2014).
Tugai forests are intrazonal forest formations, which grow along
bottoms of river valleys in arid regions of Central Asia and
Kazakhstan. These forests are called intrazonal forests because
they are not separate zones (Prochorov, 1982). They belong to a
special relic type of vegetation, which preserves archaic features
of tertiary flora, and its center of origin is Central Asia
(Treshkin, 2011). The total area of Kazakhstan tugai forests is
400,000 km2, but only 150,000 km2 are covered by forests (Baizakov
et al., 2007).
The study of alleculines in the tugai forests was conducted in
the Almaty region at four localities in 2013 and at three
localities in 2014. We set 20 passive window traps (Figure 1) at
each locality at breast high of the main tree species of the tugai
forests: Fraxinus sogdiana (40 traps), Populus diversifolia (40),
P. pruinosa (20), and Elaeagnus angustifolia (40). Beetles were
trapped from the beginning of May to the end of August. Vladimir
Novák determined that all were Alleculinae beetles. The chi-square
test was performed for the analysis of recorded species of tree
species preference.
Using 140 window traps, we caught 23 specimens of alleculines
from two species. There were 16 specimens of Mycetochara flavipes
(Figure 2) and seven specimens of Steneryx dejeani. In the
following, faunistic data are presented.
Abstract: We used 140 passive flight interception window traps
for survey of alleculines in tugai forests of the Almaty region in
Kazakhstan. Traps were set on Fraxinus sogdiana (Bunge, 1854),
Populus diversifolia (Schrenk, 1842), P. pruinosa (Schrenk, 1845),
and Elaeagnus angustifolia (Linnaeus, 1753), which are the main
tree species of tugai forests. Two species of alleculines were
captured: Mycetochara flavipes (Fabricius, 1792) and Steneryx
dejeani (Faldermann, 1836). Mycetochara flavipes significantly
prefers areas of the tugai forests with dominancy of Elaeagnus
angustifolia. Faunistic data for both species are given.
Mycetochara flavipes was recorded as a new species and genus for
the territory of Kazakhstan.
Key words: Mycetochara flavipes, Tenebrionidae, Alleculinae,
Alleculini, new record
Received: 14.01.2016 Accepted/Published Online: 28.05.2016 Final
Version: 25.01.2017
Short Communication
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Mycetochara flavipes: Ashen Grove, N43 34.855, E79 19.562, 693 m
a.s.l., on Fraxinus sogdiana, 2.–20.v.2013, 1 spec.; Ashen Grove,
N43 38.815, E79 22.352, 647 m a.s.l., on Elaeagnus angustifolia,
4.–16.v.2014, 10 spec.; Ashen Grove, N43 38.933, E79 22.463, 637 m
a.s.l., on Populus diversifolia, 4.–16.v.2014, 3 spec.; Ashen
Grove, N43 40.249, E79 23.240, 619 m a.s.l., on Elaeagnus
angustifolia, 4.–16.v.2014, 2 spec.
Known distribution: Austria, Belarus, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, territory of Serbia and
Montenegro, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Caucasus as well as
from Mongolia, Southern Siberia, and Far East (Novák and
Pettersson, 2008). New genus and new species record for Kazakhstan
fauna.
Steneryx dejeani: Shelek, N43 48.298, E78 15.726, 488 m a.s.l.,
on Populus pruinosa, 25.v–7.vi 2013, 1 spec.; Bakanas, N45 03.282,
E75 17.250, 367 m a.s.l., on Populus diversifolia, 24.v–29.vi 2013,
6 spec.
Known distribution: Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan (Novák and Pettersson, 2008).
Generally, we captured a low number of alleculines in 140 traps.
Therefore, our data suggest a low abundance of both recorded
species. Mycetochara flavipes was recorded only in the area of the
Ashen Grove. These localities represent habitat with larger and
more continuous areas of tugai forests with more complex tree
species composition. On the other hand, Steneryx dejeani was found
only in Bakanas and Shelek with very sparse vegetation at both
localities (Figure 1). The landscape consists of many small
fragments of forest or single trees. Mycetochara flavipes was
strongly related to Elaeagnus angustifolia (Figure 3) in comparison
with other examined tree species (Fraxinus
Figure 1. Shelek. Window trap on stem of Populus pruinosa in
tugai forest – habitat of Steneryx dejeani occurrence. Photo by Oto
Nakládal.
Figure 2. Male of Mycetochara flavipes. Photo by Stanislav
Krejčík.
Figure 3. Ashen Grove. Tugai forest with Elaeagnus angustifolia
– typical habitat of Mycetochara flavipes occurrence. Photo by Hana
Brinkeová.
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sogdiana, Populus diversifolia, and P. pruinosa) (n = 16, χ2 =
16.90, P < 0.0001). Obvious preference for this tree species was
also significant when we tested only localities with the proven
presence of Mycetochara flavipes (here only in comparison with
Fraxinus sogdiana and Populus diversifolia) (n = 16, χ2 = 8.17, P =
0.0043). This issue could be the object of a future investigation.
The low number of captured Steneryx dejeani did not satisfy the
chi-square test assumption and therefore trees species were not
tested.
The genus Mycetochara is widely distributed in Europe, Asia,
North Africa, and North America. Borchmann (1910) identified 55
species from the world; Mader (1928) listed 41 species while Novák
and Pettersson (2008) mentioned 51 species from the Palearctic
region. Most of them belong to the subgenus Ernocharis (C. G.
Thomson, 1859). Ten species of the next subgenus, Mycetochara s.
str., are distributed in the Palearctic region (Novák and
Pettersson, 2008). Mycetochara flavipes is one of the widely
distributed species. As a result of our research, 14 species of
Alleculinae are known now for the territory of Kazakhstan.
AcknowledgmentsThe authors give special thanks to Kenneth D
MacHarg (Carrollton, Georgia, USA) for checking the English
language, Stanislav Krejčík (Ruda near Rýmařov, Czech Republic) for
the photo of Mycetochara flavipes, and Hana Brinkeová (Nové
Strašecí, Czech Republic) for the photo of the locality. We would
like to thank the Head of Charyn State National Nature Park (SNNP),
Elnur M Akhmetov, for permission to stay in the territory of the
Ashen Grove and to conduct field observations. We are grateful to
the employees of the Scientific Department of Charyn SNNP, Arsen
Nurgaliyev, Maxim Akramov, and Zhiger T Satrbayev, for their great
help in conducting the entomological field work and providing
cartographic material of survey areas. We would like to thank
Galym, the forester of Charyn SNNP, and his family for the
possibility of staying at their house and help with the field
research. This study was financially supported by the grant IGA No.
B03/15 of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, Faculty
of Forestry and Wood Sciences, and the Erasmus Mundus Action 2
CASIA Project.
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