Anoplistes mongolicus (Ganglbauer, 1889)

Fig. 6J, K

New records. Ömnögovi: 33 km SSE of Gurvantes soum, border post of Khoit Ovoot [ca. 42.951, 101.224]. 20.06.1967, 1 ex., leg. Tsendsuren. (MAS) .

Literature data. Ömnögovi: 100 km W from border post Ovootiin Khural [Оботын-Хурул], 22 km W from Sairiin hudag [42.901, 100.048], 1250 m a.s.l., 22– 23.06.1967, 55 exx. exp. Dr. Z. Kaszab (Heyrovský 1970: as Asias mongolicus); Ovootiin Khural, 36 km SW of Gurvantes [Гурван-Тэс] [ca. 42.958, 100.672], 09.08.1967, 7 exx. (Namhaidorzh 1972).

Dornogovi: 50 km SW of Züünbayan [ДЗун-БаЯна] , 16 km E of Tal Khongoriin hudag (well), [ур. Тал- Хонхорын-Худук] [ca. 44.104, 109.610], on Brachanthemum, 30.06.1971, 2 exx., leg. Myagmarsuren D. (Namhaidorzh 1976a) ; 10 km SSW of Sainshand [Сайн-Шанд], Mt. Tushleg-Uul [Г. Тушлэг-Ула] [ca. 44.789, 110.080], 01.07.1971, 2 exx., leg. Namhaidorzh B. (ibid) .

Remarks. Anoplistes mongolicus is a Central Asian endemic that is known from Mongolia and three northern provinces of China: Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and Shanxi (Danilevsky 2020). It was previously divided into two subspecies, however, the second one, Anoplistes amoenus Reitter, 1898, which is distributed in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (China), was recently resurrected as a valid species by Karpiński (2020). In Mongolia, A. mongolicus is widely but infrequently distributed in the southern part of the country. The largest (55 exx.) and most probably the only abundant series ever collected was beaten from saxaul shrubs in Ömnögovi aimag (22 km W from Sairiin khudag) in 1967 by Zoltán Kaszab.All individuals of this series are rather homogeneous. The literature records from Khovd aimag are, however, related to other species: that of Namhaidorzh (1976a) represents A. kaszabi (presented in this paper as a new record) and that of Heyrovský (1968) belongs to another, yet undescribed species (in prep.).

Anoplistes mongolicus is most likely ecologically associated with Haloxylon ammodendron, although the immature stages are not known to date. The species occurs in desertified regions, where, typically, saxauls are accompanied by Tamarix L. ( Tamaricaceae) shrubs (Fig. 10B) (Karpiński 2020).