Diacrisia metelkana (Lederer, 1861)

Titov, Sergey V. & Volynkin, Anton V., 2019, The first record of Diacrisia metelkana (Lederer, 1861) for Kazakhstan with notes on its bionomics and distribution (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Arctiini), Ecologica Montenegrina 26, pp. 96-101 : 97-99

Diacrisia metelkana (Lederer, 1861)

( Figs 1–3 )

Nemeophila metelkana Lederer, 1861 , Wiener entomologische Monatschrift 5 (5): 162, pl. 3, fig. 12 (Type locality: [ Hungary] “in Alsó- Dabas bei Felsö- Dabas in Ungarn”).

Material examined. 1 male, 18.VII.2016, NE Kazakhstan, Pavlodar Region , Uspenka District , NE shore of Osolodochnoe Lake, ruins of uninhabited village Vesely Klin, 53°16’39.92’’N 77°53’20.91’’E, 107 meters above sea level, mercury lamp, leg. S. Titov (coll. STP) ; 1 male, 15.VII.2018, NE Kazakhstan, Pavlodar Region , Zhelezinka District , Zolotaya griva, Ala-Akuly Lake 54°12’29.06’’N 76°5’49.51’’E, 98 meters above sea level, UV light trap, leg. S. Titov (coll. MCK) ; 1 male, 16.VII.2018, NE Kazakhstan, Pavlodar Region , Zhelezinka District, Temirbaysor Lake, 54°10’50.92’’N 76°9’44.25’’E, 99 meters above sea level, mercury lamp, leg. S. Titov, slide AV (coll. STP) .

Additional material examined. Series of specimens of both sexes from France, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine (Kherson Region), European Part of Russia (Rostov Region), West Siberia (Novosibirsk Region), Russian Far East (Jewish Autonomous , Khabarovsk and Primorye Regions ) and China (Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces ) (coll. MWM / ZSM) .

Bionomics

In North East Kazakhstan, D. metelkana is found in the endorheic basin of fresh and brackish lakes situated in the south-west of West Siberian Plain between the crests of Baraba and Kurubmel’ Steppes. The crests are low and narrow elevations of aeolian origin, which arose during the humid periods of the late Pleistocene- Holocene ( Osintseva 2017).

In the Uspenka District, the species is found in Baraba Steppe on the shore of lake ( Fig. 4 ) surrounded by meadows and fescue-feather grass steppes dominated by Stipa zalesskii , S. lessingiana , S. korshinskyi , Phlomoides tuberosa , Salvia stepposa , Seseli ledebourii , Medicago romanica , Peucedanum morisonii , Artemisia marschalliana , Potentilla glaucescens , Helichrysum arenarium and Centaurea marschalliana . Some depressions of this area are occupied by small local birch ( Betula pendula ) forests with shrub and herbaceous layers dominated by Salix spp. and Carex spp. respectively ( Lavrenko 1947).

In the Zhelezinka District, the species is found in Kurumbel’ Steppe, where it inhabits lake shores ( Figs 5 , 6 ) surrounded by rich grass-forb meadow steppes and steppe meadows dominated by Stipa pennata , S. tirsa , S. zalesskii , Festuca valesiaca , Elytrigia repens, Calamagrostis epigeios, Bromopsis inermis , Poa angustifolia , Phleum phleoides , Agrostis canina , Medicago falcata , Onobrychis sibirica , Phlomoides tuberosa , Salvia stepposa , Scabiosa ochroleuca , interspersed with Betula spp. and Populus tremula groves and halophilous steppes dominated by Festuca valesiaca , Stipa zalesskii , Artemisia nitrosa and Galatella subglabra . The lake shores vegetation is represented by rich emerged communities of Typha angustifolia , Phragmites australis and Scolochloa festucacea and terrestrial halophilous communities of Salicornia europaea , Artemisia nitrosa , Limonium gmelinii and Halimione verrucifera ( Lavrenko 1947) .

All three specimens were collected between 22:00 and 23:00 o’clock in light rain with a wind of 3–4 meters per second, a temperature of 20–22 °С and atmospheric pressure 738–750 mm Hg.

The host plants of the species in West Siberian Plain are unknown. In Europe, caterpillars feed mostly Caltha palustris , Euphorbia palustris and Mentha aquatica ( König 1983; Witt et al. 2011; Vig 2016).

Distribution

The species is known from France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Ukraine, European part of Russia (Rostov, Samara, Voronezh and Krasnodar Regions), North-East Caucasus (Daghestan Republic), southern part of West Siberian Plain (Novosibirsk and Omsk Regions of Russia and Pavlodar Region of Kazakhstan), Russian Far East (Jewish Autonomous, Amur, Khabarovsk and Primorye Regions), Korea, Japan, China (Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Dunbei, Nei Mongol, Hebei, Shangdong, Zhejiang and Hunan Provinces) ( Dubatolov 1985; 1996; 2004; Beshkow 1992; Dubatolov & de Vos 2010; Witt et al. 2011; Kučinić et al. 2014; Vajgand 2015; Kulak 2017; Jpmoth 2018; Sachkov 2018; Knyazev et al. 2019) ( Fig. 7 ). At present the populations from France, Belgium, Germany and Slovakia are extinct ( Kulak 2017).

Figures

Figure 4. The habitat of Diacrisia metelkana: NE Kazakhstan, Pavlodar Region, Uspenka District, NE shore of Osolodochnoe Lake, ruins of uninhabited village Vesely Klin, 53°16’39.92’’N 77°53’20.91’’E, 18.VII.2016 (photo by S.V. Titov).

Figure 5. The habitat of Diacrisia metelkana: NE Kazakhstan, Pavlodar Region, Zhelezinka District, Zolotaya griva, Ala-Akuly Lake 54°12’29.06’’N 76°5’49.51’’E, 15.VII.2018 (photo by T. Aylybayev).

Figure 6. The habitat of Diacrisia metelkana: NE Kazakhstan, Pavlodar Region, Zhelezinka District, Temirbaysor Lake, 54°10’50.92’’N 76°9’44.25’’E, 16.VII.2018 (photo by T. Aylybayev).

Figure 7. The distribution map of Diacrisia metelkana. Green spots: previously known localities; red spots: new localities in Kazakhstan.

Figures 1–3. Diacrisia metelkana. 1, male adult in nature, shore of Temirbaysor Lake, 16.VII.2018 (photo by S.V. Titov); 2, male adult, Temirbaysor Lake, 16.VII.2018 (photo by O. Belyalov); 3, male genitalia, Temirbaysor Lake, slide AV4901 Volynkin (photo by A.V. Volynkin).