Additional data on the tumbling flower beetles of the genus Mordellistena (Coleoptera: Mordellidae) of the fauna of Belarus

Abstract

The article provides label data for 19 species of tumbling flower beetles of the genus Mordellistena: M. thuringiaca Ermisch, 1963; M. pygmaeola Ermisch, 1956; M. pseudopumila Ermisch, 1963; M. multicicatrix Kangas, 1986; M. secreta Horák, 1983; M. luteipalpis Schilsky, 1895; M. perroudi Mulsant, 1856; M. austriaca Schilsky, 1899; M. kraatzi Emery, 1876; M. brevicauda (Bohemann, 1849); M. tarsata Mulsant, 1856; M. parvula (Gyllenhal, 1827); M. connata Ermisch, 1969; M. falsoparvula Ermisch, 1956; M. pseudoparvula Ermisch, 1956; M. weisei Schilsky, 1895; M. bicoloripilosa Ermisch, 1967; M. acuticollis Schilsky, 1895; M. nanula Ermisch, 1967. The tumbling flower beetles were collected in all 6 regions of Belarus in the period 2014—2023. A total of 186 specimens of tumbling flower beetles were examined, the largest number of which belongs to M. thuringiaca. M. austriaca is recorded for the first time for the fauna of Belarus. Consequently, the total number of species of tumbling flower beetles in the fauna of Belarus currently amounts to 45. The chorological analysis showed that the range of M. austriaca should be designated as European-Asia Minor-Kazakh subboreal-subtropical one. Data on the ecology of M. austriaca known from literary sources are given. The gut contents of two collected specimens of M. austriaca (male and female) were analyzed. It was established that adults of M. austriaca found on the territory of the Drogichinsky district of the Brest region (Belarus) fed, first of all, on pollen of Apiaceae. However, fragments of hyphomycetes were also found in their gut contents. M. kraatzi, M. luteipalpis и M. perroudi are noted as species, observed distribution in Belarus of which may be related to climate change