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_____________Mun. Ent. Zool. Vol. 12, No. 1, January 2017__________

NEW DATA ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY OF OXYTHYREA ALBOPICTA (MOTSCHULSKY, 1845) (COLEOPTERA, SCARABAEIDAE CETONIINAE) Marco Uliana* and Alper Polat** * Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia, S. Croce 1730, 30125 Venezia, ITALY. E-mails: [email protected]; [email protected] ** Ataturk University, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Erzurum, TURKEY. E-mails: [email protected]; [email protected] [Uliana, M. & Polat, A. 2017. New data on the distribution and ecology of Oxythyrea albopicta (Motschulsky, 1845) (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae Cetoniinae). Munis Entomology & Zoology, 12 (1): 316-322] ABSTRACT: Oxythyrea albopicta (Motschulsky, 1845) is a scattered, uncommon species widespread from Eastern Europe to the Tibetan Plateau. Authors provide a significant number of new records, mostly from eastern Turkey, including the first ones from Turmenistan and Afghanistan. All known records are summarized in two maps. In spite of its scarcity O. albopicta is observed in very different enviroments and its alleged scarcity may partly depend from unaccurate samplings and confusion with the similar and much more abundant O. cinctella. KEY WORDS: Oxythyrea albopicta, distribution, ecology, new records

Within the genus Oxythyrea, O. albopicta (Motschulsky, 1845) is one of the species with the broadest range, spanning from Eastern Europe to the westernmost spurs of the Tibetan Plateau. In spite of this extensive distribution, O. albopicta is a poorly known, uncommon species, mostly recorded from scattered findings. Known distribution has been significantly updated by the recent contribution by Tauzin (2015), who listed and mapped several localities based on directly examined specimens. The aim of this paper is to summarize published data and provide original information on distribution and ecology of this species. First records are given for Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, and several new localities are listed for North Eastern Turkey, where its presence was to date poorly documented. MATERIAL AND METHODS New records are based on specimens recently collected by authors in Eastern Turkey and on specimens coming from different sources and preserved in the following collections: AUCE: Atatürk University collection (Dept. of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture), Erzurum HNHM: Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest MHNG: Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Genève, Geneva MUCC: Marco Uliana collection, Codevigo RBINS: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Bruxelles Mapping considered all available data, including all literature records known to authors (Medvedev, 1964; Dahlgren, 1972; Mikšić, 1978, 1982; Rataj, 1988; Rozner & Rozner, 2009a,b; Tauzin & Rittner, 2012; Tauzin, 2015; Shokhin, 2016).


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Records were mapped via Google Earth. In the absence of original geographical coordinates, placement of toponyms on the map was searched mainly via Google Earth and Google Maps. Toponyms giving no match or leading to doubtful results were also checked against other gazetteers available on the web, in particular www.fallingrain.com. Undetailed records referring to broad areas have been discarded when the same area was covered by more detailed records, while they have been retained (but not mapped) when no records with better precision were available. Maps images are based on the relief overlay for Google Earth available at http: //ge-map-overlays.appspot.com/world-maps/maps-for-free-relief, with modified colors. RESULTS Distribution Original records are listed in table 1; records #19 and #22 are first country records for Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. All records known to authors are mapped in fig. 1 and 2, except the following ones: Georgia, Gomi (Olsoufieff, 1916; Medvedev, 1964; two toponyms with this name are present in Georgia); Armenia: Ejlar (Olsoufieff, 1916) or Eylar (Medvedev, 1964). The locality "between v. Barda and Kacharly" (W Azerbaijan, Medvedev, 1964) was approximated to Barda. In addition, there are generic records in Armenia for the Valley of the river Aras and for that of the river Arpa (Medvedev, 1964), and in Turkey, for the Nur Dağlari range (Tauzin, 2015, as “Mont Amanus”), areas not or only marginally covered by the precise records available. Records from southern Russia are considered doubtful according to their own source (Medvedev, 1964), while its presence in Montenegro, mentioned by Rataj (1988) without any further information, requires confirmation: in fact, no specimens from Montenegro were found in the collection R. Alexis (RBINS), where the ex coll. Rataj is now contained (A. Drumont, pers comm.). Ecology The documented altitudinal range spans from 600 m (Macedonia, Stip) to 2700 m (central Iran, near Khonsar), but the species is probably present also at a lower altidude, as suggested by the record “5 km NW of Viničani” (Rozner & Rozner, 2009), which addresses to an area ranging between about 150 and 450 m, and from the report by Rataj (1988), recording the species “from the lowlands to the foothills”. Adults activity spans between the beginning of April (6 April at Kaladarscht, northern Iran, (Tauzin, 2015)) and the middle of August (11 August in two localities of Erzurum province (present data), 17 august at an unknown locality (Medvedev, 1964)). In spite of its scarcity, the species does not seems stenoecious as it is observed in very different environments, including, in Turkey, natural and seminatural grasslands either in mesophilous valleys floors (Fig. 3) or in steppic plateaus (Fig. 4), and road margins and clearings within shrubby thermophilous forest (Fig. 5). In the Bekaa Valley, central Lebanon, it was observed on various flowers, including Heracleum, in a rocky, fresh and damp mountain grassland; in SW Syria on purple thistles (probably, Onopordum) in a cultivated subdesertic steppe (G. Sabatinelli, pers. comm). Adults have been observed feeding on flowers, including Asteraceae, Apiaceae, Lamiaceae, and Papilionaceae.

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DISCUSSION The distribution range of O. albopicta almost matches that of Oxythyrea cinctella, which is spanning from the southern Dinaric Alps, in Montenegro and Eastern Serbia (Mikšić 1982, Rataj 1988) to the western edge of the Tibetan Plateau in Pakistan and Xinjiang (Bezdek, 2016), slightly east of the range so far ascertained for O. albopicta. However, while O. cinctella is usually an ubiquitous species that can be observed by the hundreds in a single site, O. albopicta appears to be generally scattered in fragmented populations and mostly observed in spare specimens, as already noted by other authors (Medvedev, 1964; Tauzin, 2015). We confirm this condition in Turkey and the Levant, areas where we could directly observe the species or for which we received samples and information from colleagues. In addition, most of the records for which information on sample amount is available (40) are composed of one or few specimens (average 1.8). Notices of more abundant density can be inferred from the series of 15 specimens recorded for Stip, Macedonia (Mikšić, 1982), originally held by Institut für Pflanzenforschung in Eberswalde, four now held in Mikšić collection (Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb), and from the observations by G. Sabatinelli (pers. comm.) in two localities of the Levant: the species was observed in number in Chtaura (Lebanon, Beqaa Valley) and in southern Syria (40 Km S Damascus), in both cases about 20-30 specimens were observed with density of 2-3 specimens per flower, anyway considerably lower than the density of others Oxythyrea occurrying in the same area. It is worth mentioning that Rataj (1988) indicates the species as “very abundant”, without giving any further detail, an information that appears to be at least questionable. Most of the records are concentrated in the central part of its range, between the northern slopes of Caucasus and southern Syria, including several original records that testify its widespread presence in eastern Turkey. Only scattered records are available east and west of this area. Eastwards there is surely a relevant lack of sampling, as suggested by its broad distribution in Iran being completely unknown before the recent contribution by Tauzin (2015). On the other hand, the almost complete absence of records between the Taurus range and Macedonia is less likely to depend on poor sampling, as this area has been much better explored in the recent decades. Its presence in Macedonia, indeed, was firstly reported by Dahlgren (1972) and then by Mikšić (1978, 1982) on the same series of specimens, and subsequently confirmed by additional records (Rozner & Rozner, 2009) for the same area. As already observed by Tauzin (2015), this species is usually found mixed with much more abundant specimens of O. cinctella, an observation that we can confirm for all our field observations in Erzurum and Erzincan provinces and for the record of Tepehan (province of Malatya). This condition can be also inferred from some of the specimens from collections, namely those from Kale, Sivas and Kopeth Dagh, that we discovered unnoticed mixed among several O. cinctella. Given the mentioned dilution of O. albopicta among abundant populations of O. cinctella and the strong similarity of the two species, it is likely that O. albopicta is more widespread than what documented, although underestimated due to poor attention paid to Oxythyrea in areas where only O. cinctella is supposed to be present.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Authors wish to express their gratitude to the following friends and colleagues: Prof. Dr. E. Yıldırım (Dept. of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Atatürk University, Erzurum), for assisting activities of the authors in Turkey and allowing to obtain permits for field activity; M. Bollino, for sharing field activity in Turkey with both authors, O. Merkl (HNHM) for the loan of specimens; G. Sabatinelli (Prévessin-Moëns) for providing information about his field observation and on specimens in MHNG; I. Mihoci (Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb) for information on specimens preserved in Mikšić collection; A. Drumont (RBINS) for kind ospitality to MU and information on Rataj and Alexis collections. This research received support from the Synthesys Project http://synthesys3.myspecies.info/ which is financed by the European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7. Synthesys support allowed MU to visit RBINS. Field activity in Turkey carried out by MU in 2013 received support by WBA onlus. LITERATURE CITED Bezděk, A. 2016. Cetoniinae, pp. 367- 412. In: Löbl I. E Löbl D. (eds), Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera. Volume 3, Scarabaeoidea, Scirtoidea, Dascilloidea, Buprestoidea, Byrrhoidea. Revised and updated edition. Brill; Leiden, Boston. XXVIII+983 pp. Dahlgren, G. 1972. Zur Taxonomie der Gattungen Aethiessa, Oxythyrea, Tropinota und Musurgus (Col. Scarabaeidae). Entomologica Scandinavica, 3: 161-168. Fairmaire, L. 1866. Notice sur les Coloptérès récoltés par M. J. Lédérer sur le Bosz-Dagh (Asie Mineure). Annales de la Société entomologique de France, (Ser. 4) 6: 249-280. Medvedev, S. I. 1964. Plastinchatousye (Scarabaeidae). Podsem. Cetoniinae, Valginae. Fauna SSSR. Zhestkokrylye. Tom 10, vyp. 5. Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, Moskva, Leningrad, 375 pp. Mikšić, R. 1978. Eine weiterer Beitrag zur Kenntnis der jugoslawischen Oxythyrea-Arten. Acta Entomologica Jugoslavica, 14 (1-2): 69-71. Mikšić, R. 1982. Monographie der Cetoniinae der paläarktischen und orientalischen Region. Band III. Forstinstitut in Sarajevo, Sarajevo, 529 pp. Olsoufieff, G. 1916. Obzor bronzovok Kavkaza i sopredel'nikh stran. (Revision des Cetoines du Caucase et des pays limitrophes). Izvestia Kavkazskogo Muzeia, 10: 155-180. Rataj, K. 1988. Zlatohlávkovití. Cetonidae. V. Díl. Cetoniini druhy palearktické oblasti. Karel Rataj, Vimperk, 175 pp. Rozner, I. & Rozner, G. 2009. Additional data to the Lamellicornia fauna of Turkey (Coleoptera: Lamellicornia). Natura Somogyiensis, 15: 69-100. Rozner, I. & Rozner, G. 2009. Data to the Lamellicornia fauna of the Republic of Macedonia. Natura Somogyiensis, 15: 57-68. Shokhin, I. V. 2016. Contribution to the fauna of lamellicorn beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) of Southern Russia. Addition 1. Caucasian Entomological Bulletin, 12 (1): 75-79. Tauzin, P. & Rittner, O. 2012. Cetoniinae of the Levant: chorological general survey (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Le Coléoptériste, 15 (suppl.): 1-72. Tauzin, P. 2015. Liste synonymique des espèces paléarctiques du genre Oxythyrea Mulsant, 1842 et précision sur Oxythyrea albopicta (Motschulsky, 1845) (Coleoptera, Cetoniinae, Leucocelina). Le Coléoptériste, 18 (2): 114-124.

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Table 1. New records for Oxythyrea albopicta. # Locality

height date

Legit

Specim. Coll.

13.7.1996

M. Sarovec

1♂1♀

MUCC

F. Angelini

TURKEY 1

Bicakcilar, 25 Km N Sarigel [= Bıçakçılar; Sarıgöl]

-

2 Gumushane, Kale

1500

13.VI.2009

1

MUCC

3 Erzurum, Tortum, Suyatağı

1044

21.VII.2012 A. Polat

1

AUCE

4 Erzurum, Aşkale, Demirkıran 1712

11.VIII.2012 A. Polat

1♂

AUCE

5 Erzurum, Çat, Değirmenli

11.VIII.2012 A. Polat

2♂3♀

AUCE

11.VI.2012

A. Polat

2♂2♀

AUCE, MUCC

-

-

1

RBINS

-

[coll. Petrovitz]

1

MHNG

26.6

R. Petrovitz

MHNG

11.6.2013

A. Polat & M. 2 Uliana

MUCC, AUCE

10.6.2013

A. Polat & M. 3 Uliana

MUCC, AUCE

1938

6 Erzurum, Tekman, Erduran

1938

7 Sivas

-

Bosz-Dagh bei Konia [= 8 Bozdağl, near Konya]

-

9 Erzincan

-

10 Erzincan, Road to Karadag 11

Erzincan, 30 Km E of Erzincan

1450 1230

12 Tunceli, Pulumur, Dereboyu

1709

8.8.2012

M. Yuksel

1♀

AUCE

13 Elazig, SW Elazig

-

9.6

R. Petrovitz

1

MHNG

14 Malatya, 3 Km N Tepehan

1190

21.5.2010

M. Uliana

4

MUCC

15 Bitlis prov., Bitlis, Kireçtaşı

1410

25.VII.2011 A. Polat

1♂

AUCE

SYRIA 18.4.2005

N. Rahmé, A. 1 Markus, A. Kotan, A.Podlussàny

HNHM

19.5.1994

M. Kalashian

1

MUCC

-

Holzschuh

1

MHNG

9.IV.1992

V. Dolin

1

MUCC

Tien Shan, Silvestral reserve 20 1200 of Tshatkal, steppe meadow

3.6.1981

O. Merkl

2

HNHM, MUCC

East Uzbekistan, 21 Kuramynsky Mts., Kamtchyk pass

7.6.1996

N. Khot'ko

1♂1♀

MUCC

27.6.1952

J. Klapperich

1

HNHM

16 muh. Dara'a, Bosra,

850

ARMENIA Aragatsotn prov., Arai-Ler Mt., between 40°23'N 17 44°25'E and 40°24'N 44°26'E

-

IRAN 18 N Iran, Shemshak

-

TURKMENISTAN 19

Turkmenistan, Kopeth Dagh, 1000 Aj-Dere Pass UZBEKISTAN

1800

AFGHANISTAN 22 umg. Kabul

1740


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Figure 1. General distribution of Oxythyrea albopicta. Blue dots: original records. Red dots: literature records. ? = doubtful records (all from literature).

Figure 2. Details of distribution in eastern Anatolia and close areas. Blue dots: original records. Red dots: literature records. Numbers refers to entries of Table 1.

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Figure 3. Habitat of Oxythyrea albopicta at 30 km E of Erzincan (Turkey, Erzincan), 10.VI.2013.

Figure 4. Habitat of Oxythyrea albopicta near Karadağ (Turkey, Erzincan), 11.VI.2013.

Figure 5. Habitat of Oxythyrea albopicta near Tepehan (Turkey, Mardin), 21.V.2010.