Central Asia and Kazakhstan

Entomologist friends meet in Pavlodar after Kazakhstan expeditions
From left to right: Svyatoslav Knyazev, Anton Volynkin, Sergey Titov, Ilya Makhov.

I will make my contribution to Central Kazakhstan. Caught in the country 29.05, finally the weather began to set for fishing. But I want to say the year was sluggish, I was pleased with the fresh lime hawk moth and one cocoonworm (I expected to take more, but alas). Of the butterflies, almost everything that flew in the photo, the beetles are also not thick, the horned staphylinchiki were pleased.







This post was edited by OEV-30.05.2013 22: 13

Small photo report about a trip to Chimgan (Uzbekistan, Tashkent region) Beginning of May 2013


























Tulipancheg






Mountaineering camp. At this time, a mountaineering competition is held.

The forum freezes and crashes at the most inappropriate moment. And so I will lay out a little bit at a time. No one is against it? Then let's continue.








Night fishing. It was quite cool and only one shrew, a geotrupid, came in all the time. Strangely, it was cold on the night of his arrival, and none of the beetles arrived on warmer nights. Other groups included small butterflies and eardrums.








Darkling in a defensive position.


Another tulipcheck. In the flowers of k-ryh sat a lot of crunching chanterelles.





Excuse me for dinner... If I have a snack, I will continue it

Continuation...

On the previous photos was the town of Maly Chimgan. Continuation...






Locals call this mushroom white.




Kravcheky

Continuation...










Ephedra - a plant from which ephedrine is produced. Narcotic substance.

Some more photos...


Graves of dead climbers


Tourist's dinner


Night fishing again






Once these nine-story buildings were residential.

Photo of the catch...







That's it!!! Thank you for your attention!!!!! Sincerely, Coleopter.

On the previous photos was the town of Maly Chimgan. Continuation...

Scoop - Egira anatolica. At what altitude was it? Have you taken her?

Scoop - Egira anatolica. At what altitude was it? Have you taken her?

Height 1670m. I didn't take any butterflies.

Inspired by the previous report, I post a few photos from two trips (May 25-26 and June 1) to the Beldersay tract with a visit to the foot of Mount B. Chimgan and the surroundings of the Charvak reservoir.

Some background information.
Beldersay Ski Complex (Z Tien Shan, Chatkal ridge, natural boundary of the river of the same name, 80 km from Tashkent), after the snow melts and the end of the winter season (ski-snowboard-luge-polyethylene...) around the end of March, it becomes a favorite summer vacation spot for Tashkent residents. Dozens of holiday homes, dachas, various huts and trailers for the warm period become hotels for every budget. Chairlift (start: 41°30 '6.24" S, 69°58'43.31"C) rises from 1500 m to 2100 m, where you can see an impressive panorama of the valley of the Chirchik River, on which Tashkent is located, and even in July you can thoroughly cool down. The temperature in Beldersay differs from Tashkent by about 10-15 degrees in a smaller direction, which is a kind of paradise for residents languishing from the 40-degree heat.
Beldersay is famous for its forests, which were thoroughly thickened in the middle of the XX century, when thousands of apple trees were planted on the baldness formed as a result of many centuries of active economic activity. After half a century of growth, the slopes at altitudes from 1500-1700 m are solid forest thickets of natural and planted trees. Juniper, apple, almond, hawthorn, honeysuckle, barberry, maple, Turkestan mountain ash, cherry plum, rose hips sometimes create impassable thickets. Fruit crops that are not native to these areas have significantly changed the species composition of the local entomofauna. More "steppe" species disappeared, and their niches were occupied by "forest" ones. Now in the forests expanse for all sorts of raznoustyh, sometimes multiplying to a catastrophic number, because of the natural enemies of butterflies, according to my observations, there are only a few species of riders, and a couple of species of pretties. Nevertheless, in the open glades, despite the terrible overgrazing of cattle, the characteristic vegetation with its inherent fauna is preserved and fishing in Beldersay is rich in species and quantitative diversity in any warm season.



Chairlift. One-way travel time ~28 min.


On weekends, the entrances to Beldersay and Chimgan are littered with "picnicking" citizens.


Kaufman's tulip.


Northern foothills of the Chimgan mountain range. You can drive up to the snow by SUV until the end of June.


View of the famous village of Brichmulla (Burchmullo) based on the song based on the poems of D. Sukharev performed by the Nikitins.


Bridge over the Chatkal river.






The most dangerous local plant is dictamnus (Dictamnus angustifolius or Narrow-leaved ash). Even an accidental touch of flowers to open areas of the skin causes a severe chemical burn, traces of which remain for almost a year.







Production of one day (1.06). Of course, from the whole variety, I took only what represented at least some L. interest. I generally catch butterflies exclusively on a residual basis or when ordering.


Not quite on the topic. From Turkmenistan, friends brought 2 live anthia (Anthia mannerheimi), caught in early April (!). Still lively, vigorous and almost tame. They enjoy eating butterflies, flies, and even boiled sausage... I hope to have a normal photo session in a few days.

This post was edited by Protey2-03.06.2013 12: 56

Today, by the end of the day, I took a walk not far from home, here is such a catch

Production of one day (1.06). Of course, from the whole variety, I took only what represented at least some L. interest. I generally catch butterflies exclusively on a residual basis or when ordering.

It would be interesting to take a closer look at your Glaucopsyche. Chimgan is home to two species (G. alexis, G. aeruginosa); I can't figure out which species yours belong to - the photo is not large enough to clearly identify them. I suspect that everyone is an aeruginosa.

This post was edited by Bad Den-07.06.2013 17: 34

Stanislav, you probably don't need to reply to messages with a bunch of images by duplicating them. Is it really difficult to delete photos in the response, or leave the necessary one? Or are the forum threads rubber?
Thank's!

Stanislav, you probably don't need to reply to messages with a bunch of images by duplicating them. Is it really difficult to delete photos in the response, or leave the necessary one? Or are the forum threads rubber?
Thank's!

Not always possible. It doesn't work with mobile phones.

Not always possible. It doesn't work with mobile phones.

Analogous. Yes, and sometimes it lures you to wipe these links from your computer, so that the photos are not duplicated in the response. That is why I always load it myself via the "Attach this file" button.

It would be interesting to take a closer look at your Glaucopsyche. Chimgan is home to two species (G. alexis, G. aeruginosa); I can't figure out which species yours belong to - the photo is not large enough to clearly identify them. I suspect that everyone is an aeruginosa.

Stanislav, I can't answer your question yet, because immediately after returning from a trip, the material is only labeled geographically and stored in the freezer without identification. During the fishing season, there is usually not enough time for a detailed analysis of the production, so I will try to answer in detail only after the end of it (end of November...). If there is an opportunity to work with the material earlier, I will let you know. And now-just yesterday I returned from a trip to the Nuratinsky ridge, and in a couple of weeks - the Hissar Highlands. In between - Z. Tien Shan et al. neighbourhood. In your free time, you also have to attend the service...

This post was edited by Protey2-12.06.2013 09: 53

Another outing 11.06 to the dacha, while the weather is not warm, at night around +9, next week they promise summer. Because of the cold and the animals fly sluggishly, caught from 22.00-2.00, but still took interesting butterflies, sorry for the number let down . Of the beetles, a complete zero, even the boogers did not fly
Before sunset, a light rain fell, which resulted in a beautiful phenomenon-a rainbow







This post was edited by OEV-13.06.2013 18: 08

Stanislav, I can't answer your question yet, because immediately after returning from a trip, the material is only labeled geographically and stored in the freezer without identification. During the fishing season, there is usually not enough time for a detailed analysis of the production, so I will try to answer in detail only after the end of it (end of November...). If there is an opportunity to work with the material earlier, I will let you know. And now-just yesterday I returned from a trip to the Nuratinsky ridge, and in a couple of weeks - the Hissar Highlands. In between - Z. Tien Shan et al. neighbourhood. In your free time, you also have to attend the service...

I'll wait, there's no hurry. With this wonderful genus, everything is not as simple as it seemed before. I am probably the only one who has studied all the key types of the genus from Central Asia and most of the Holarctic ones (I have also worked in American and Canadian museums). The picture is fun, many types are mixed, you need to check all the instructions.

Hello dear forumchyane. From April 26 to May 18, I was in Tajikistan, the village of Poshkhar.I was invited there by my Tajik friend Mukhamaddi.
This is the first time I've been to this country.A lot of impressions. They welcomed me as a very honored guest. Always and everywhere I was accompanied by someone from my family, just in case.A local hunter said that they saw a bear near the village recently,and in the spring they are very hungry and can attack. So they wouldn't let me go far. The weather was unlucky,the first 6 days were rainy, the temperature at night 11 degrees,in the afternoon 22. In the village, the light was given only for 1 hour, the line was repaired. In connection with this fact, fishing is born.....damn them. In fact, it is even good that there was no light, because every evening I was invited to visit neighbors from all over the village,and you can not refuse, according to the law of hospitality.After all, I was the first Russian to visit izh selo in the last 20 years. But the nature and mountains are great, super, wow.The village is located on the border with Afghanistan, separated only by the very stormy Pyanzh River.The village is located at an altitude of 2500 m. I went fishing in the gorge,as well as on a high-altitude pasture, about 3500-3700 m. In the beginning ,due to the cold weather, there were very few insects,the main fishing was in the last 5 days. And in the last two days, the heat came and everything flew, but I had to leave.There weren't many butterflies,and the pupae were like grapes on a vine. But there's plenty of manure in the pasture. At least I caught something.

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From June 7 to 11, we traveled to the Nurata Mountains (Jizzakh, Navoi, and Samarkand regions of Uzbekistan) for entomological purposes. I bring to the attention of my colleagues some photo sketches from the trip.

Nuratinsky mountains are unique in that they are a natural limiter from the south of the Kyzylkum desert, protecting one of the few habitable territories of Uzbekistan, namely the Zeravshan River Valley with the cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, Navoi, etc. from the northern winds and desert heat.
The height of the Nurata Mountains barely exceeds 2000 m (max. 2169 m), but this does not detract from their interesting geographical and biological diversity. It is home to insects typical of desert and n/a biotopes, and at the same time typical mountain species are found. For example, the Parnassiuses. On the steppe areas grow plants characteristic of the semi-desert, and along the saev (streams) – thickets of century-old thaw.
We went up to the plateau at an altitude of about 1700 m and then moved from place to place for 4 days in order to inspect and catch various biotopes at altitudes of 1600-2000 m.
Unfortunately, this year in the local region there was an atypical spring in terms of temperature and precipitation, and by the beginning of June, the main territories had already turned green and plunged into summer peace. Nevertheless, the contrasts characteristic of Nurata are: semi-desert, wet meadows ("mochezhiny") and the riverbeds of the Sais still presented a lot of interesting finds.


Unusual lakes for our region, fed by springs. The uniqueness of the phenomenon is that the height of the plateau is 1700 m...


Acantholimon pillows.


Another atypical phenomenon is a hummocky "swamp".




Natural "petroglyphs". Lichen.






Thriving youngsters. Tadpoles.








In the sae, which can be crossed almost anywhere, marinka is lurking in abundance in every suitable hole.










Natural impressionism. Texture of drying leaves.














"Vasya was here." True, quite a long time ago... Judging by the desert tan of at least 3,000 years ago.


Eastern biota. According to various sources, the tree growing in the accessible territory of the Nuratinsky Nature Reserve is from 1500 to 2000 years old. A place of pilgrimage for tourists.

And some loot.

Pentodon, Tenebrionidae, rhinoceroses, bronzes, fireflies.

Elephants, goldfinches, leaf eaters, plates, barbels, heifers...

The Karabid.

This post was edited by Protey2-17.06.2013 14: 44

Hello everyone, I managed to catch a couple of days, here is the result of night and day fishing, I was very pleased with the dead eater Necrodes littoralis and the female rhinoceros that flew to the light As well as the first time the frachnik Lixus (s. str.) paraplecticus was mown, it's a pity one










This post was edited by OEV-20.06.2013 22: 03

Hello everyone, I managed to catch a couple of days, here is the result of night and day fishing, I was very pleased with the dead eater Necrodes littoralis and the female rhinoceros that flew to the light As well as the first time the frachnik Lixus (s. str.) paraplecticus was mown, it's a pity one

Yes, L. paraplecticus is also an infrequent animal... very infrequent

tikhiusy cool, yellowish such

Yes, L. paraplecticus is also an infrequent animal... very infrequent

tihiusy cool, yellowish such

Yes, Ilya mowed down where there is no water, probably stray, for the center of Kazakhstan was not given like on Baitenov. Tihiusy nice, sorry photos are not so hot.

Yes, Ilya mowed down where there is no water, probably stray, for the center of Kazakhstan was not given like on Baitenov. Tihiusy nice, sorry photos are not so hot.

yes, you can not determine them from the photo, you need to tear

Yes, L. paraplecticus is also an infrequent animal... very infrequent

Ilya, why not??? On the Upper Volga, it is common. Just now we need to look at the water umbrella plants-omezhnik and porucheynik. Often on porucheynik. And it happens that the beetles sit on small parts of the plant sticking out of the water. I found them at a distance from the shore to a depth of more than a meter...

Ilya, why not??? On the Upper Volga, it is common. Just now we need to look at the water umbrella plants-omezhnik and porucheynik. Often on porucheynik. And it happens that the beetles sit on small parts of the plant sticking out of the water. I found them at a distance from the shore to a depth of more than a meter...

It's rare here. In the Ulyanovsk region, it is listed in the Red Book (category 2!). They write that the species is sensitive to the purity of water, and we have a solid sewer system here. I caught it once in Al. - Gai district, on the border with Kazakhstan

It's rare here. In the Ulyanovsk region, it is listed in the Red Book (category 2!). They write that the species is sensitive to the purity of water, and we have a solid sewer system here. I caught it once in the Al. - Gai district, on the border with Kazakhstan

I think that sensitivity to water purity is a complete mess, because in YAO I fished in a small river flowing through country cooperatives and turned at that time into a chain of dirty almost standing barrels. Most likely, it is on the southern border of your range, or a forage plant (s)

Hello everyone Another trip to the surrounding steppes, the heat is about +30, part of the steppe is starting to dry up, that's what we managed to collect







This post was edited by OEV - 23.06.2013 14: 01

Hello everyone Another trip to the surrounding steppes, the heat is about +30, part of the steppe is starting to dry up, that's what we managed to collect

oops, a couple of Sternuchopsis karelini

Oops, a couple of Sternuchopsis karelini

Ilya put it together for you , I have a view of it in my collection. They are not infrequently found on the bindweed.

This post was edited by OEV - 23.06.2013 15: 24

Ilya put it together for you , I have a view of it in my collection. They are not infrequently found on the bindweed.

Thanks! I have it in the collection from Uzbekistan, but it is very shabby, but I want a whole one) It's a pity we have such vodyatsya

Thanks! I have it in my collection from Uzbekistan, but it's very shabby, but I want a whole one) It's a pity we have such things

From Kyrgyzstan there should still be

There should still be some from Kyrgyzstan

from Kyrgyzstan, I just got it wrong

Today we returned from a trip to Tajikistan. The report will be prepared within one to two weeks.

http://www.rhopalocera.com/taj2013.html

Excellent report , great camera capabilities , but not for Everyone Tajikistan was so romantic this year . The fate of some of our comrades from the Pamirs remains questionable? Nothing was said about the weather, and it made a significant contribution to the flight of lepidoptera this year. The weather in the Pamirs was so capricious that in the morning, until 9 o'clock in the morning, it was possible to walk and climb the mountain without a jacket, but in the afternoon the descent was possible only dressed. The cold wind could blow out the warmth to the bones, and the envelopes that fit insects were turned inside out even if they were unfolded near the body from the opposite side of the wind. Thus, this year the purchase of elite varieties of Parnassus was negligible, and if someone managed to collect something, then the total hunting of the authorities completely reduced to zero almost all hopes for trophies.
I managed to slip out of the Pamir territory with few losses before July 27. After searching two posts, I informed Murghab ( our general guide) about the magic list for checking some tourists. There were both Russians and foreigners there. But he was obviously too late. Some of our people were caught, some were not connected.
BUT I caught something interesting and brought it home . I'll try to make a report .
P|S May God help all our colleagues to return home safely this year.
Chief of Staff .

And, with "Kulyabets" in the Pamirs, it's extreme! Real extreme sports! If of course your driver was from the starting point of the expedition.
Even ordinary Tajiks are afraid to go to the Pamirs. They are afraid, like banderlogs of a boa constrictor. You can put up a monument to your driver. Monumental!

And, with "Kulyabets" in the Pamirs, it's extreme! Real extreme sports! If of course your driver was from the starting point of the expedition.
Even ordinary Tajiks are afraid to go to the Pamirs. They are afraid, like banderlogs of a boa constrictor. You can put up a monument to your driver. Monumental!

Driver-Kulyabets, from the starting point of the expedition. Pamir cops, of course, missed out, but in general everything went fine. There were certain acquaintances that leveled many things.

The weather, of course, was very disappointing. I personally brought a little material, but one new type of checkers for science covers everything . There are other novelties, no less significant - at the moment they are drying on my crucifixes, I will soon start writing articles. The night brought little, I personally did not catch any beetles at all-it was extremely inappropriate, in the middle of the route, I died, I had to be content with the day's fees.

I especially remember Dunkeldyk and Mynhadjir. Dunkeldyk seemed like an extremely dark place to my astral senses, and the others immediately got sick of it. Plus - the car broke down (twice), and other small things. In general, after two nights, we decided not to tempt fate and got out of there, and I had to go to the nearest village on foot in order to call a car (I needed a battery, since our friend died). Mynhadjir... Just beautiful . Well, at the same time, I assessed the harm from the Chinese presence for anyuta - anyuta is not in danger: D.

I have heard about the lists, but the Tajiks persistently do not want their nature to be studied by specialists. This is their sexual difficulties - the Middle Ages there are already coming by leaps and bounds, if the trend continues-95 % of the population in 10 years will live like an Afghan, and 99 % will forget what the Russian language is. I would like to believe that this will not happen...