ZOOGEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTIC OF THE FAUNA OF THE GEOMETRID MOTHS (LEPIDOPTERA: GEOMETRIDAE) OF AMURSKAYA OBLAST

Abstract

The paper provides a zoogeographical characteristic of the fauna of geometrid moth fauna (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) of Amurskaya Oblast (Far East of Russia) in the aspects of regional zoogeographic connections with neighboring territories and connections of local moth faunas with the main types of landscapes within the region. It has been established that the moth fauna of Amurskaya Oblast shows a clear similarity with the faunas of the southeastern part of the Far Eastern Federal District in terms of species composition and the participation of longitudinal and altitudinal-latitudinal groups of areas. Differences of the fauna of Amurskaya Oblast from other regions are due to its middle location on the south of the District and direct contact with the regions of Eastern Siberia. The fauna of Amurskaya Oblast is closest to that of Khabarovskii Krai in the species composition, and differs in a smaller proportion of species included in the Far Eastern group of areas. There are two faunal complexes of moths in Amurskaya Oblast: boreal (taiga), with a predominance of wide-area northern mid-latitude species, and nemoral, with a predominance of Far Eastern southern midand low-latitude species. Fauna of geometrid moths of Amurskaya Oblast south of ~53° N and west of the river Bureya is a transitional between boreal and nemoral, relatively clinal changing in the composition of the groups of areas in the direction of southeast – northwest. There is no distinct northern border of the transitional zone due to the high patchiness of the distribution of boreal and nemoral biocenoses. Communities of geometrid moths of nemoral forests occupy the extreme southeast of Amurskaya Oblast east of the river Bureya, which can be considered an only distinct boundary of westward distribution for many Far Eastern southern mid- and low-latitude species of geometrid moths. In the transitional zone, a meadow-forest subzone is distinguished, containing species of moths associated with the steppe and forest-steppe faunas of Central Asia and Northern China. Based on the structure of local moth faunas, the Siberian – East Asian faunal boundary in the Amurskaya Oblast appears as a wide sublatitudinal “transitional” zone, running from approximately 53° N latitude in the north to the lower reaches of the river Bureya (~50° N latitude) in the south of the region.