Latest discoveries by entomologist of Altai State University

On 10 April 2017 Professor at the Department of Ecology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Doctor of Biology Roman V. Yakovlev finished his work at Zoological Museum of Moscow State University. Museum curator Andrey V. Sviridov kindly allowed ASU entomologist to process a number of materials on insects of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Collections kept at Zoological Museum of Moscow State University are considered to be the largest in Russia and contain a great number of interesting exhibits.

Roman V. Yakovlev managed to communicate with Andrey V. Sviridov, discuss some burning issues and, the most importantly, find the unique materials.

“The most significant part of my work was the discovery of a very interesting species, which is likely to be new for science. The sample is from Ekibastuz, a town in northeastern Kazakhstan. The interest of the finding lies in the fact that this is the northernmost representative of this Central Asian butterfly genus,” said Roman V. Yakovlev.

After the trip to Moscow ASU entomologist was invited by the German Foundation for Biodiversity Research to work at a number of zoological depositories in Munich (Germany). Currently, Yakovlev is processing new materials from Central Asia and China.

“I wish I had more time to study the materials on my favourite Africa and promising South America. I spent a day working on samples from Mali and Venezuela though. Most of my time is dedicated to detailed morphological analysis of Lepidoptera from Central Asia, preparation of materials for databases and molecular research. Our team is also getting ready for expeditions. We have trips to Northern Iraq, Western Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Tuva planned. We are going to participate in grand-scale topic-related conferences in Krabi (Thailand, International Congress of Myriapodology) and Novosibirsk (Russia, meeting of Russian Entomological Society),” commented Roman V. Yakovlev.