Entomologist of Altai State University discovered two new genera of tropical butterflies

In the existing volume of various groups of animals (more than two million biological species), there are almost no completely blind spots left, but they still exist. These completely unknown groups include the small family of colorful tropical butterflies Metarbelidae.

Despite the fact that some members of the Metarbelidae family are dangerous pests of valuable wood species in Africa and Southeast Asia, such as cocoa, citrus fruits, mango, rambutan, cassava, the taxonomy and distribution of this family of butterflies are still practically not studied.

So, if the German entomologist Ingo Lehmann has been actively involved in the study of metarbelid fauna of Africa in recent years, 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 has begun to study the biodiversity of tropical regions of Asia, which has not yet been systematized at all.

Thanks to RFBR grant 18-04-00440, Roman Yakovlev visited a number of large museums, in particular the British Museum of Natural History in London, the Paris Museum of Natural History, entomological collections in Germany, where he studied all the available materials on the group. Also important were the works in museums in Belgium, Holland, Austria, Sweden, India, carried out earlier by Roman Yakovlev and his colleague from the Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University named after I.N. Ulyanova, Doctor of Biological Sciences Professor Vadim Zolotukhin. In Russian institutions, metarbelids are practically not represented.

The result of the scientists' work was the publication of the first part of the revision of the Metarbelidae of the Asian fauna in the authoritative scientific publication Ecologica Montenegrina (Yakovlev RV, Zolotuhin VV 2020. Revision of the family Metarbelidae (Lepidoptera) of the Oriental Region. I. Introduction and genera Encaumaptera Hampsara 1893, Orgy gengy genra Encaumaptera Hampsona 1893. nov., and Hollowarbela gen.nov.// 38: 84-101).

This article provides well-known data on the history of study, biology and morphology of representatives of the family, as well as describes two new genera and four new species for science from Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar, provides detailed images of all considered species, maps of their distribution.

“The study of the biota and ecology of the tropical regions of the globe is now one of the important priorities of modern biological science, just like the study of the world's oceans and vulnerable cenoses of the Arctic. It should be understood that 90% of all biodiversity, including thousands of economically important representatives of flora and fauna, is concentrated in tropical regions. Unfortunately, historically, the share of Russian scientists in the study of the richest biotopes in the tropics has been small. The palm here belongs to researchers from Europe and the USA. It is very pleasant that in recent decades Russian biologists have had the opportunity to conduct high-quality research in Africa, Southeast Asia and America,” emphasizes RomanYakovlev.

In total, according to the scientist of Altai State University, 34 species of metarbelids are now known in the tropics of Asia, but the total biodiversity of the group is estimated at 60-70 species, which will become clear only after a complete revision of the family.