Brachycaudus (Mordvilkomemor) rumexicolens (Patch, 1917)

Khruleva, Olga A. & Stekolshchikov, Andrey V., 2019, Additions to the aphid fauna of Wrangel Island due to climate change with redescription of the oviparous female of Pterocomma groenlandicum Hille Ris Lambers, 1952 (Hemiptera, Aphidoidea), Zootaxa 4615 (3), pp. 511-528 : 520

Brachycaudus (Mordvilkomemor) rumexicolens (Patch, 1917)

In this article, we follow the classification of the genus Brachycaudus of Andreev (2004). In this classification, the species rumexicolens belongs to the subgenus Moldvilkomemor Shaposhnikov, 1950. Brachycaudus rumexicolens has a worldwide distribution but is almost unknown north of the forest-tundra ( Danks 1981; Foottit & Maw 1997; Stekolshchikov 2017; Stekolshchikov & Buga 2018). Recently, the species was found in Chukotka, including its northern part near Pevek ( Stekolshchikov & Khruleva 2015). This species is here recorded on Wrangel Island for the first time. A few specimens were collected in the warmest central part of the island, in dry biotopes with early snow melting (Fig. 13), where Rumex pseudoxyria A.P. Khokhr. , the most likely plant host of this species on Wrangel Island, is quite numerous.

Material. The middle reaches of the Mamontovaya River: loamy rubbly southwest-facing dry slope of a shallow ridge with patchy herb-sedge cover (71° 10.480 N, 179° 45.580 W), 29.vi–22.vii.2015, pitfall trap, 2 apt. The upper reaches of the Neizvestnaya River: extremely dry gravel (carbonates) hill with rare lichen-forb-grass cover (71° 12.828 N, 179° 18.160 W), 25.vi–10.vii.2015, pitfall trap, 1 al.; the lower part of the flat loamy-gravelcarbonate slope of the southern exposure with a spotty cover with herbs, dryads and willow (71° 12.972 N, 179° 18.053 W), 31.vii.2015, sweeping, 1 apt.