Corresponding author: Yuri E. Mikhailov ( yuemikhailov@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Roman Yakovlev
© 2020 Yuri E. Mikhailov.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Mikhailov YuE (2020) Unexpected finding of rare and little known leaf beetle Chrysolina levi (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) in West Siberia. Acta Biologica Sibirica 6: 563-569. https://doi.org/10.3897/abs.6.e58639
|
The first record of rare and little known leaf beetle Chrysolina levi Okhrimenko, 1990 was registered in the Omsk region (West Siberia). Redescription of male is given because holotype was collected dead and damaged, lacking legs, antennae, head and pronotum. Position of Chrysolina levi inside subgenus Chalcoidea is discussed, its distribution area in Scythian steppe region is now considered as Taman’–Irtysh instead of Pontic.
Chrysolina levi, redescription, Omsk region, Siberia
The leaf beetle Chrysolina (Chalcoidea) levi Okhrimenko, 1990 was described from Krasnodar province based on one male and one female only. Moreover, both specimens were collected dead at the base of sagebrush plant. Female lacks legs and antennae almost entirely, male also lacks head and pronotum (
Thus, Ch. levi is the rarest species of Chrysolina described by three specimens only, including the types, and no alive male has been collected so far. Authors of the subsequent keys (
Unexpectedly, Roman and Evgeny Dudko collected one male of this species far away from Krasnodar province in 2015. The new locality in Omsk region is 2800 km eastwards and almost 10 degrees northwards from the type locality. Although a very comprehensive review of the leaf beetle fauna has been completed recently for this region (
All measurements were made using an ocular grid mounted on MBS-10 stereomicroscope. Total body length (TL) was measured from the anterior edge of pronotum to the elytral apex, body width was measured in the broadest part of elytra (EW). Redescription is based on the algorithm proposed by
Abbreviations: NOC (Nikolay Okhrimenko personal collection, Krasnodar, Russia);
RUSSIA • 1♂ (holotype), 1♀ (paratype); Krasnodar Province, Taman’ peninsula, env. of Sennoy; 45.274°N, 36.993°E; 25 Jun. 1987; B.A. Korotyaev leg.; sagebrush-cereal steppe (
RUSSIA • 1♂; Omsk region, Cherlak district, 7 km NNW Jartargul village, Sylkin lake shore; 54.448°N, 75.550°E; 26–27 Jul. 2015; R. and E. Dudko leg.; saline land (solonchak); collected at night with torch (YMC).
Body elongate-ovate, shining, finely shagreened (Fig.
Habitus of Chrysolina levi and pronota of Chalcoidea other representatives. A – Dorsal view of Ch. levi (male) B – Pronotum of Ch. marginata finitima (south of Yamal peninsula) C – Pronotum of Ch. immarginata (Kyrgyzstan, Sary-Dzhas river valley) D – Pronotum of Ch. dieckmanni (holotype). Scale 1 mm.
Head. Frontoclypeus finely and densely punctured; frontal suture slightly impressed, epicranial suture hardly visible. Last maxillary palpomere wide, almost square, straightly truncate, 1.1x longer then broad, 1.4x longer and 1.5x wider than previous palpomere. Relative length of antennomeres 1–3 as ratios 7, 3, 5. Tenth antennomere 1.6x longer than broad, eleventh antennomere – 2.1x. Orbital lines narrow, almost reaching antennal insertion.
Thorax. Pronotum transverse, almost twice (exactly 1.9x) broader than long, broadest anterior to middle; pronotal disc evenly convex, except for smooth ovate area medially covered with moderately large, dense punctures; sides slightly rounded, in basal half almost parallel-sided and noticeably converging anteriad; width between anterior angles 1.4x less than basal width. Anterior angles moderately produced, rounded triangular; basal angles obtuse, bearing one setiferous pore each; anterior edge margined, with dense setae, widely incised in bracket-shape; basal edge arcuately convex; sides swollen along entire length, lateral ridges very narrow, basally comprising only 1/7 of pronotal width; lateral impressions in basal 1/3 form deep grooves from fused coarse punctures with vertical outer border; anterior part of lateral impressions moderately deep with large and very dense but not coalescent punctures; hypomera slightly convex, with weak wrinkled impression along outer side, basal fold deep; prosternal process with deep longitudinal furrow; anterolateral portion of prosternum narrow, almost flat, with wide, slightly impressed furrow medially; prosternum 1.3x shorter than metasternum; metasternum deeply margined along anterior edge, 1.2x shorter than first ventrite; scutellum triangular, apically rounded, impunctate, 1.1x length.
Elytra. at base slightly wider than pronotum, with weak humeral callus, each elytron 2.3 times longer than wide. EL (elytral length) 4.6 mm. Primary puctures large, form rows that are paired starting with 2nd. Puncture rows partly confused, especially rows 6 and 7, row 1 confused where it goes closer to scutellar row, which consist of 9 punctures. Intervals flat, their punctation fine and sparse, with thin wrinkles, but among fine punctures there are also larger ones, almost of the same size as on pronotum. Marginal stria with large dense punctures. Sutural stria distinct at apical slope. Epipleura inclined outside, visible along entire length. Hind wings developed.
Tarsi. moderately broadened, ratio of width of fore tarsomeres 1–3 as 1.0, 1.0, 1.5. All tarsomeres with entire sole beneath.
Abdomen. Pygidium with deep longitudinal furrow at 4/5 of entire length. Ventrite 1 broadly margined on anterior edge, covered with small sparse punctures, only anterior intercoxal process covered with large wrinkled punctures. Last ventrite very slightly convex, with slightly incised apex, medially with flat impunctate area slightly depressed apically.
Aedeagus. (Fig.
Records of Chrysolina levi and boundaries of Scythian steppe region (following
Ch. levi was initially placed by
I am grateful to Dr Roman Dudko (Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Novosibirsk, Russia) for kindly sharing of collected material, to Dr Kirill Makarov (Moscow Pedagogical State University, Russia), Dr Stephan Blank and Mandy Shröter (Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, Müncheberg, Germany) for high-resolution images.