The authoritative ecological journal Ecologica Montenegrina, which specializes in the publication of results on global biodiversity, presented a joint research work of entomologists from Altai State University and scientists from Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg and Ulyanovsk.
A postgraduate student of the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of Altai State University Svyatoslav Knyazev with colleagues-entomologists in the article “First discovery of Catocala helena Eversmann, 1856 (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) in Europe with notes on its distribution in Russia” described an important finding that confirms the serious climatic changes occurring on our planet.
“In recent years we have seen significant shifts in the ranges of a number of insects, deep penetration to the north of thermophilic forms, such as invasions of mantises in the Altai Territory; or the advance of European and Far Eastern species into Siberia. Another striking finding of this kind is the discovery of the Helena ribbonwort Catocala helena in Siberia. The article of my graduate student (with the participation of colleagues from Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg and Ulyanovsk) is devoted to this fact. A large, bright species of the Catocala helena butterfly was found for the first time in Western Siberia and Europe. Previously it had been found only in the east of Eurasia: from Baikal to the Pacific Ocean. Such facts are an additional argument for a significant change in the habitats of animals in the Northern Hemisphere, which is taking place right before our eyes”, – says the article scientific supervisor of the graduate student, Professor of Ecology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology Institute of Biology and Biotechnology Altai State University, Doctor of Biological Sciences Roman Viktorovich Yakovlev.
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The article, in particular, for the first time reports on new localities in the Southern Urals and Western Siberia, where scientists have recorded the appearance of the previously uninhabited Eastern Palaearctic species Catocala helena Eversmann. According to the results of studies by entomologists, the distribution of this species has expanded to more than 2500 km to the west. The article gives the general distribution of the species and their bionomics and illustrates the habitats of Catocala helena Eversmann in the South Urals.
“According to our tradition, we only publish research results in highly ranked journals – this article was also published in a Q2 Scopus journal,” Prof. Yakovlev summarizes.
