Cryptocephalus ochroleucus Fairmaire, 1859 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae): A New Leaf-Beetle Species for the Lithuanian Fauna

Abstract

A chrysomelid species, Cryptocephalus (Burlinius) ochroleucus Fairmaire, 1859 is reported for the first time from Lithuania. A single specimen of this species was collected in Juodkrante, Curronian Spit (SW Lithuania). The species is also new for the Eastern Baltic region and Fennoscandia. General information on distribution and bionomy of the species is given.

Full text

Cryptocephalus ochroleucus Fairmaire, 1859 (Coleoptera:
Chrysomelidae): A New Leaf-Beetle Species for the
Lithuanian Fauna
Andris BUKEJS1 Romas FERENCA2
1Institute of Systematic Biology, Daugavpils University, Vienības 13, LV-5401 Daugavpils,
LATVIA, e-mail: carabidae@inbox.lv
2Kaunas Tadas Ivanauskas zoological museum, Laisves al. 106, LT-44253 Kaunas,
LITHUANIA, email: entomol@zoomuziejus.lt
2Nature Research Centre, Institute of Ecology, Akademijos 2, LT-08412 Vilnius, LITHUANIA
e-mail: agagutta@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
A chrysomelid species, Cryptocephalus (Burlinius) ochroleucus Fairmaire, 1859 is reported for the rst
time from Lithuania. A single specimen of this species was collected in Juodkrantė, Curronian Spit (SW
Lithuania). The species is also new for the Eastern Baltic region and Fennoscandia. General information
on distribution and bionomy of the species is given.
Key words: Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Cryptocephalus ochroleucus, Lithuania, rst record.
INTRODUCTION
The genus Cryptocephalus Geoffroy, 1762 is a cosmopolitan taxon with more than
1500 species (Warchałowski, 1999). There are 398 species known in the Palearctic
region (Lopatin and Dovgailo, 2002). At present, 83 species are reported in eastern
Europe (Bieńkowski, 2004). Of these, 40 species are known in the eastern Baltic region
(Silfverberg, 2004). A total of 42 species of Cryptocephalus have been reported from
Belarus (Lopatin and Nesterova, 2005), 28 species from Estonia (Silfverberg, 2004),
31 species from Latvia (Bukejs, 2010), 29 species from the Kaliningrad region (W
Russia) (Alekseev, 2003; Bukejs and Alekseev, 2009; Alekseev and Bukejs in press)
and 30 species from St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region (NW Russia) (Romantsov,
2007). Finally, the Lithuanian fauna comprises 38 species of Cryptocephalus (Pileckis and
Monsevičius, 1997; Silfverberg 2004; Bukejs and Barševskis, 2008), and the aim of the
current study is to contribute to the faunal knowledge of this group in Lithuania reporting
Cryptocephalus (Burlinius) ochroleucus Fairmaire, 1859 for the rst time in this country.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The examined material is deposited in the collection of Kaunas Tadas Ivanauskas
Zoological Museum (KZM, Kaunas, Lithuania).
J. Entomol. Res. Soc., 13(3): 49-51, 2011 ISSN:1302-0250

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BUKEJS, A., FERENCA, R.
The identication keys in Bieńkowski (2004) and Warchałowski (1999, 2003) have
been used to determine the available specimen. Photographs were taken using a
Zeiss SteREO Discovery V12 stereomicroscope and an AxioCam digital camera.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
During the study of the Baltic leaf-beetle fauna, Cryptocephalus (Burlinius)
ochroleucus Fairmaire, 1859 was registered for the rst time for Lithuania, as well
as for the eastern Baltic region and Fennoscandia. This record has expanded the list
of Chrysomelidae of the Lithuanian fauna, which currently is known to comprise 39
species of the genus Cryptocephalus.
Material examined: Lithuania, Curronian Spit, Juodkrantė, 55o32`46.7``N 21o07`15.2``E, 25.VIII.1995
(1♀, leg. E. Gaidienė).
Morphology: This small species (2.3-2.7 mm) is characterized by a pronotum
distinctly punctuate (Fig. 2) unlike most species in the subgenus. The body is entirely
yellow above, except for the posterior margin of pronotum and the anterior margin
of elytra usually with a black very narrow marginal ridge. The underside is pale, light
brownish in darker coloured specimens. Aedeagus (Fig. 3). Body length is 2.3-2.7
mm (Warchałowski, 2003). Habitus (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1-3. Cryptocephalus ochroleucus: (1) habitus, dorsal view, (2) pronotum, dorsal view, (3) aedeagus,
dorsal, ventral and lateral views (Fig. 3 after Warchałowski 1999, other original).
Distribution: The species has been reported from Bulgaria, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Ukraine (Lopatin et al.,
2010; Petitpierre, 2000; Warchałowski, 1999). Moreover, the subspecies abellatus
Schöller, 2009 was described from Iran. In Poland it is a very rare species and known
mainly from south-western part of country (Warchałowski pers. comm. 2011). Thus,
the record of Cr. ochroleucus from Lithuania extends its distribution range.
Bionomy and host plant: It is stenotopic, arboricol, phyllophagous species (Koch,
1992). This species is ologophag and feeds on Populus and Salix (Bieńkowski, 2004;
Koch, 1992).

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Cryptocephalus ochroleucus Fairmaire, 1859 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are sincerely grateful to Andrzej Warchałowski (Wrocław, Poland) for
helpful comments.
The research by Andris Bukejs has been done within the framework of the project
of European Social Fund (No 2009/0206/1DP/1.1.1.2.0/09/APIA/VIAA/010)
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Received: April 06, 2011 Accepted: September 04, 2011

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