Page 118 - Наукові записки ДПМ. Т 35/2019

112 Заморока А.М., Глеба В.М.

Results and discussion

A. leucaspis previously was known only from the Pontic Steppe Region in Ukraine, which
includes both Crimea Peninsula and Ukrainian Mainland. It is very common species in this
region. A. leucaspis widely distributed along Black Sea coast form Danube Delta on the West
to Crimea Peninsula and along coast of Sea of Azov on the East. It also spread deep into
mainland to the middle basin of the Dnipro River and Donetsk Ridge [5, 6, 25, 51]. According
to our own data and published sources [5, 6, 51], A. leucaspis is common in Crimea from
Mediterranean scrub on the South Coast to the mountain steppes (yayla) up to 1,500 m above
sea and to typical steppes on the North of the peninsula. It inhabits a wide range of grassy
biotopes including patches of natural or seminatural vegetation as well as ruderal vegetation.
It was believed that in Western Ukraine, A. leucaspis is absent due to inappropriate
climatic conditions [5, 49, 51]. This species was never found in the any of the macroregions
of Western Ukraine e.g. Ukrainian Part of Pannonian Plane, East Carpathian Mountains,
Western Podillya Eminence, Volyn Eminence, Western Polissya [35, 49, 50, 51]. It should
be noted that Jan Roubal in his Catalogue of Coleoptera of Slovakia and Zakarpattya Ukraine
pointed out on the presence of A. leucaspis only in South-Western Slovakia in Danube Valley
[35].
Our record of A. leucaspis in Zakarpattya Region is the first in Western Ukraine (Fig. 2).
The insect was spotted on the southern slope of hill situated East from village Muzhieve
(Berehove District). The locality represents patches of xerophilous ruderal and secondary
natural vegetation including grasses and shrubs on the different stages of succession in the
abandoned limestone quarry (Fig. 1B).

Fig. 1. Adult male of Agapanthiola leucaspis on Galium aparine (A), and the habitat (B)
where the species was spotted. Photo credits: (A) Vasyl Hleba, (B) Leonid Pokrytiuk.

The nature of the appearance of A. leucaspis in Zakarpattya Region of Ukraine is still
opened. In the one hand, the several refugia of the natural steppe and xerophilous scrubland
vegetation located in Tysa River Valley, where A. leucaspis could preserved from warm and
dry Atlantic Time (5-7 ka BP). In the other hand, the recent records of A. leucaspis far outside
of its previously known areal (for instance, Bohemia in Czech Republic [34]; Kyiv Region