Pentatomidae, W.E.Leach, 1815

Vinokurov, Nikolay N. & Khruleva, Olga A., 2021, Bugs (Heteroptera) of treeless areas of Chukotka (Russia), Ecologica Montenegrina 41, pp. 15-34 : 29-32

Family Pentatomidae

Aelia frigida Kiritshenko, 1926 .

Material. ChnD: middle course of Palyavaam River , 11–25.VII.2011 ( DB), 6 ♂, 2 ♀, 1 lar .

Distribution and ecology. Phytophagous, on cereals. The species with a disjunctive range in South (Altai) and North-East Siberia, inhabits the mountain steppes on the Verkhoyansky and Chersky ridges ( Vinokurov 1979; Berman 2001; Khruleva & Vinokurov 2007). In the tundra zone of Yakutia, it was recorded on the Kular ridge ( Vinokurov et al. 1998). First record for Chukotka.

Antheminia eurynota remota (Horváth, 1907) .

Literature. Berman 2001; Berman et al. 2002.

Material. ChnD: Yanrapaakenay Hill (1 km N of Pevek), on the flower of Pulsatilla , 10–26. VI.2011 (ОKh), 14 exs. ; Pekiney Hill (1 km S of Pevek), 13–29. VI.2011 (ОKh), 4 exs. ; Pekiney Hill (7 km S of Pevek), 21. VI.2011 (ОKh), 1 ex. ; Valkumey vill. (18 km S of Pevek), 23.VII.2011 (ОKh), 1 ex. ; middle course of Palyavaam River , dry tundra, 11–25. VI.2011 ( DB), 24 exs. AD: lower course of Anadyr River (22 km above the mouth), 7.VIII.2013 (ОKh), 2 lar .

Distribution and ecology. Mountains of North-Eastern Siberia, Central Asia, Mongolia and North America. Phytophagous, on Fabaceae . In the vicinity of Pevek, it is quite numerous on a dry slopes of southern exposure with herb-sedge-dryad cover; adults were collected in pitfall traps throughout June; larvae — in mid-July. In the Anadyr River it was collected on a dry floodplain meadow.

Sciocoris microphthalmus Flor, 1860 .

Literature. Matis 1986; Berman 2001; Berman et al. 2002.

Material. ChnD: Valkumey vill. (18 km S of Pevek), 29.VII.2011 (ОKh), 1 ♀ .

Distribution and ecology. Holarctic. Phytophagous, on cereals. Species was collected near road, on wormwood.

Rhacognathus punctatus (Linnaeus, 1758) .

Material. ChnD: Valkumey vill. (18 km S of Pevek), 23.VI.2011 (ОKh), 1 ♀ .

Distribution and ecology. Transeurasian. Predator, on shrubs. First record for Chukotka. Species was collected in herb-shrub-moss tundra with Salix tschuktchorum .

Fauna composition

The list of Heteroptera contains 62 species belonging to 41 genera and 12 families. Six of them are known only from literary sources; data on the distribution of other species in the treeless areas of Chukotka are significantly supplemented. Of these, 11 species were first recorded for the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. These are Saldula fucicola ( Saldidae ), Acompocoris brevirostris ( Anthocoridae ); Apolygus lucorum , Leptopterna ferrugata , Teratocoris saundersi , Plagiognathus obscuriceps , Plagiognathus pini , Psallus anticus ( Miridae ); Kleidocerys resedae ( Lygaeidae ); Aelia frigida , Rhacognathus punctatus ( Pentatomidae ).

The studied fauna is dominated by two families — Miridae with 29 species (47 %) and Saldidae with 10 species (16 %); the remaining families are from one to four species. The biogeographic composition of the fauna has a number of features. The fauna is dominated by species with a wide Holarctic (38 species, 61 %) and Eurasian (15 species, 24 %) distribution. Only a few species are restricted to narrower ranges: Siberian-Nearctic (4 species) or East Asian (5 species). The specificity of the latitudinal structure of the fauna is the predominance of species with a limited distribution in the tundra zone, mainly with multizonal or wide boreo-montane ranges. Most of them are found in the treeless areas of Chukotka sporadically and with a small abundance.

True Arctic species (as understood by Chernov & Matveeva (2002), or "tundra species" according to Kiritshenko (1960)) are mainly represented by two families: Saldidae ( Chiloxanthus arcticus , Ch. stellatus , Calacanthia trybomi ) and Miridae ( Orthotylus artemisiae , O. bermani , Chlamydatus opacus , Ch wilkinsoni ). They have a meta-arctic or arctic-montain distribution, but are numerous and regularly found only within the tundra zone. All of them are known from different areas of the Chukchi tundra including the most severe coastal northern localities or Wrangel Island ( Kiritshenko 1960; Matis 1986; Kerzhner 1988; Marusik 1993; Khruleva 2007, 2009), but were not found either in the elfin wood subzone or in the northern taiga (Table). Thus, their distribution over the zonal gradient of Chukotka confirms a decrease in their activity outside the tundra zone. The arctic-montain Nysius ericae groenlandicus ( Lygaeidae ) has a similar distribution pattern, it is especially active in the western, most continental part of the Chukchi tundra. This group species consist about 13 % of all fauna.

In addition to the Arctic species, the fauna contains species (mainly with hypoarctic-boreal-montain range), which are numerous in the Hypoarctic landscapes: northern taiga and forest-tundra, less often southern tundra (9 species, about 15 % of fauna). There are Leptopterna ferrugata , Teratocoris saundersi , T. viridis , Dacota hesperia , Psallus betuleti , Ps. aethiops ( Miridae ) and Acalypta elegans ( Tingidae ). This group, apparently, also includes Teloleuca bifasciata ( Saldidae ) and Orthotylus discolor ( Miridae ) that Kiritshenko (1960) called "tundra species". All of them are found much more locally in the Chukchi tundra than the Arctic species.

The peculiarity of the fauna determines the presence of a relict extrazonal steppe complex. These species live in the mountain steppes of the Yana, Indigirka, and upper Kolyma rivers basins. They make up 11 % of the fauna, among them species with a disjunctive distribution predominate. These are Aelia frigida , Phimodera laevilinea , Orthotylus lenensis and Antheminia eurynota remota . Other species are widely distributed in the Eurasian steppes — Nabis nigrovittatus , Psallus anticus , Stictopleurus sericeus . In Chukotka, most of them are limited to the driest and warmest stations. It is significant that even in the northern part of Chukotka (vicinity of Pevek) three species of this group are collected, of which A. eu. remota is even quite numerous.

Table 1. Aradus frigidus Iu 6 * – – Aradus lugubris Chn А 2 B 4 Nysius ericae groenlandicus Wr 13, Chn 2,4, Iu 6 А – Kleidocerys resedae – А – Trapezonotus desertus Chn, Iu 6 * А 7 B 4 Coriomerus scabricornis Chn – B 4 Stictopleurus crassicornis Chn – B 4 Stictopleurus sericeus Chn, Iu 6 * – – Phimodera laevilinea Iu 7 А 7 – Aelia frigida Chn – – Antheminia eurynota remota Chn, Iu 7 А 7 – Sciocoris microphthalmus Chn А 7 B 4 Rhacognathus punctatus Chn – –

Abbreviatins of Districts: Wr — Wrangel Island (included in Iultinsky District); Chn — Chaunsky, Iu — Iultinsky, Chk — Chukotsky, P — Providensky; A — Anadyrsky; B — Bilibinsky. * Species known from the Iultinsky District only from the Bolshaya Osinovaya River. Species first recorded in the District are highlighted. Literary sources: 1 Kiritshenko 1926; 2 Kiritshenko 1960; 3 Kerzhner 1981; 4 Matis 1986; 5 Kerzhner 1988; 6 Marusik 1993; 7 Berman et al. 2002; 8 Vinokurov 2005a; 9 Vinokurov 2005b; 10 Vinokurov 2009; 11 Vinokurov 2014; 12 Khruleva 2007; 13 Khruleva 2009.

Some features of Heteroptera distribution in the studied areas of Chukotka

As a result of the research, the number of species known from the treeless landscapes of Chukotka has increased significantly. This is especially true for the elfin wood subzone, whose fauna was least studied. The number of species known from this subzone has been increased from 10 to 32 (Table), and the species richness of the local fauna (the lower course of the Anadyr River) was 26 species.

The fauna of bugs of the Chukchi tundra previously included 39 species. Most of them were found in the Western region of Chukotka with a continental climate; 23 species were collected only here and 14 of them at one locality — on the Bolshaya Osinovaya (or Left Telekai) River (Table), in the place of growth of the floodplain forest Chosenia arbutifolia , known as Telekai Grove. The intermountain valley, where it is located, has a unique microclimate and, apparently, serves as a refuge for most bug species that live here. However, in 2011, many species previously found only in this area (8 out of 14) were collected in the north of the Chaunsky Bay, as well as 11 more still unknown from the Chukchi tundra. Prior to this, the largest number of species in this region (19) was known from the vicinity of Ustʼ- Chaun, a subzone of the southern hypoarctic tundra ( Matis 1986; Kerzhner 1988). In 2011, 32 species were collected in the vicinity of Pevek, located in the more northern subzone. Matis (1986) had previously collected only six species here. Such differences in species richness may be associated not only by a more detailed survey of the territory, but also by the marked warming of the Arctic climate in the last two decades. This could have caused an increase in the abundance of previously rare species, which allowed them to be collected in the area.

In any case, the new data indicate that the species richness of Heteroptera in the Chukchi tundra is higher than previously assumed. Their total number increased from 39 to 51, and for open tundra landscapes — from 25 to 46. This growth was mainly due to the addition of various "southern" species, collected, as before, mainly in the Western region of Chukchi tundra. Thus, in contrast to the fairly uniform distribution of Arctic species, most of the rest is quite strictly limited here to areas with a continental climate.

Сonclusion

The new material on bugs, collected mainly in the period 2011–2015, made it possible to significantly supplement the data on the Heteroptera of Chukotka. The list of species has been expanded, as well as information about their distribution in treeless areas of this region. For the first time, one of the local fauna of the elfin wood subzone has been studied in detail, and information about the tundra fauna of bugs has been significantly updated. Some features of the distribution of species within the Chukotka are revealed. Species with a predominantly Arctic distribution are mostly restricted to the tundra zone, which confirms the narrowness of their ecological optimum. In addition, the new data indicate a much higher saturation of the tundra fauna of Chukotka with widespread miltizonal and boreal species than previously thought. But if most Arctic species in their distribution within the Chukchi tundra do not show a connection with climate change along the continental-oceanic gradient, then almost all "southern" ones are limited to its western part with the most continental climate.