Vesti Altai: about 20 species of beetles, spiders, butterflies and 1 species of plants were named in honor of the professor of Altai State University

21 April 2021 Department of Information and Media Communications
The news program Vesti Altai showed Elena Samarina's material about the scientist-entomologist, of whom there are only two in the world. This is Professor of the Department of Ecology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology of the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of Altai State University, Doctor of Biological Sciences Roman Yakovlev.

Elena Samarina, journalism student at Altai State University:

What do you see first in this picture? No, this is not a psychological test. This is the question that one biology professor asks his students. And in the picture there is an image of the genitals of a butterfly. Nature has decreed that with a general similarity, for example, a huge number of various Lepidoptera, the key to the lock will fit only for representatives of one species, and this greatly helps scientists in classification.

Roman Yakovlev is that professor. He discovered 400 new species and specializes in the study of woodworm butterflies. These are moths, their caterpillars live in tree trunks, hence the name comes from. Woodworms are studied by only two entomologists in the world, and one of them is a Barnaul scientist. Roman, in search of new species, has traveled to 35 countries of the world in Africa, Latin America, and Europe.

Roman Yakovlev, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the flagship Altai State University:

I worked in Mongolia for 15 years, and I think that I know western Mongolia and Mongolian Altai very well. Actually, we were pioneers there in terms of insect research, and discovered a lot of new species of insects there.

In total, the collection of Roman Yakovlev contains more than 100 thousand copies. Actually, entomologists help farmers develop means of pest control, forensic experts - to determine the time of death of the victim, archaeologists - to date antiquities and reconstruct the picture of the world of past eras. The butterfly can also tell about how the climate is changing.

Today, scientists record the expansion of the habitat of some species, Siberia is no longer that harsh for them. The butterflies began to move from south to north, from the far west to the east, from the far east to the west.

The Professor also has his own taxa. In honor of Roman Yakovlev, about 20 new species of beetles, spiders and butterflies, and even one type of plant, are named. And the biologist himself, giving names to his discoveries, preferred the classics. Russian classics.

Artem Naydenov, student of the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology, Altai State University:

We discovered 17 new species, that is, previously generally unknown, and, after consulting, we decided to name these 17 new species in honor of Russian writers.

For example, this is Lermontov, and here is Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and this is Alexander Pushkin. All of them are now flitting through the rainforests of South America. With the help of butterflies, scientists want to popularize Russian names and art where they know nothing about them.

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