Caucasus, Ciscaucasia and Transcaucasia

February 6th. I was driving home from the city, I decided to stop by the forest to see what and how, since the day is warm as in spring. 10 degrees of heat and the sun.






It's nice in the woods. A half-asleep admiral flew by, but he didn't have time to take a picture.






At least the snowdrops didn't run away






So the willow tree blooms





A mosquito flew out





And the fly is not averse to basking in the sun.





Although there is still snow in some places





Near the house I decided to walk on the steppe. The cows have been driven out, so there will be dung trucks soon.





Crocuses bloomed





The bees are right there





And some other blue flower
Well, since this is the case, let's try to go to the "Holy Well" tonight to catch an early spring butterfly on a flashlight. Good luck to me.

This post was edited by maik - 06.02.2019 16: 05

By the evening, by 18 00, the temperature dropped to +1, but I decided to go anyway.



Arriving in the forest, I waited for darkness.




It was getting dark . Somewhere in the treetops, a pair of moth motes flashed by.




Then a moth circled for a long time in one place. I think someone from Agonopterix . I tried to shoot
the flashlight beam down to the ground ,but it didn't work. After that , a moth, I suspect from Agriopis, was hanging out at the top of a maple tree. By 19: 00, the temperature dropped to 0 . I decided to go home. Well, there is a butterfly. It is necessary to catch . The 2019 season is open.

Well, a month has passed. Sometimes snow, sometimes frost, sometimes rain.But during the breaks, the butterfly flew.
Finally, on March 7, the weather recovered and spring finally came.The temperature rose to 10-14 degrees, and nature began to race.


Got out bedbugs soldiers

Barbels and pterostiches began to crawl in the steppe.
On March 9, I decided to go to the holy well again.
Once there was a cave and a spring flowed out of it.The water in the jar could last for a month and remain just as fresh.

Then it was closed

and we made a spring outlet in this form

a font was made below

Then they built a church

zvonitsa

cells for monks and pilgrims

And this place was called

Road to the holy well where there is a butterfly fishing



Agriopis leucophaearia (Denis & Schiffervuller, 1775)was caught this evening

Phigalia pilosaria (Denis & Schiffervuller,1775)
Agriopis marginaria (Fabricius,1776)

Apocheima hispidaria (Denis & Schiffervuller,1775)
Conistra (Conistra) vaccini (Linnaeus,1761 )

Eupsilia transversa (Hufnagel,1766)

When I went fishing I turned on the light in my office in the attic

In the evening, after checking what had arrived, I found
Phigalia pilosaria (Denis & Schiffervuller, 1775)

cocoonworms 3 pcs

Agriopis leucophaearia (Denis & Schiffervuller,1775)

Agonoprerix and here it is

Here's the catch. In the forest, moths can be collected by handfuls, the years are awesome.

Agonoprerix and here it is

Here is Nycteola, possibly revayana.

[quote=Djon,10.03.2019 21:32]

In fact, knizhka says that there seem to be no visible external differences between these two species( except that the point on the site of the reniform spot in columbana is small, if this is a sign, of course), other species of Nycteola can be distinguished, sometimes, however, it is also difficult. Here is revayana from near Kiev, compare it with your own. So, probably more correct Nycteola sp., in my opinion


And one more thing, does anyone know the sources on the basis of which Sinev included columbana for the 11th and 13th regions(the range is broken), and whether genital analysis was done for this species in these sources for this species, if so, then there are no questions, and if there is a different answer, then so that it does not turn out as we have In Ukraine, that siculana suddenly found itself in the east.
For Nolidae in Ukraine, it seems more or less put in order, and the latest finds of rare Nycteola are where they should be(see lepiforum)

http://www.lepidoptera.crimea.ua/articles/...014_Nolidae.pdf

I won'T argue with you. I am trying to collect a collection on an amateur level and express my opinion.If I made a mistake I think they will correct me and not condemn me

Kabardino-Balkar Republic, Elbrus district, National Park "Elbrus region", Terskol settlement, 05-11. 08. 2018

Total:

Hesperiidae:
Hesperia comma
Thymelicus lineola
Pyrgus jupei

Lycaenidae:
Lycaena candens
Lycaena phlaeas
Lycaena tityrus orientalis
Lycaena virgaureae mikaeli
Aricia agestis
Aricia artaxerxes
Aricia eumedon modestus
Aricia teberdina
Aricia anteros dombaiensis
Cyaniris semiargus bellis
Plebejus argus bella
Plebejus idas altarmena
Polyommatus daphnis marcida
Polyommatus amandus orientalis
Polyommatus eros tshetverikovi
Polyommatus icarus

Nymphalidae:
Argynnis adippe gigantea
Argynnis aglaja auxo
Boloria caucasica
Melitaea interrupta
Aglais urticae
Nymphalis antiopa
Vanessa atalanta
Vanessa cardui
Coenonympha glycerion alta
Erebia aethiops melusina
Erebia iranica/graucasica
Erebia melancholica

Papilionidae:
Papilio machaon
Driopa nordmanni

Pieridae:
Colias croceus
Colas thisoa
Leptidea sp.
Pieris napi caucasica
?Pontia callidice
Pontia edusa

Sphingidae:
Macroglossum stellatarum

Geometridae:
Aspitates acuminaria
Aspitates gilvaria
Alcis repandata
Hylaea fasciaria
Charissa certhiatus
Crocallis elinguaria
Geometra papilionaria
Odezia atrata
Eulithis prunata
Stamnodes depeculata
Hydriomena furcata
Scotopteryx aelptes
Scotopteryx chenopodiata
Scotopteryx sp.
Xanthorhoe fluctuata
Idaea serpentata

Lasiocampidae:
Malacosoma franconica

Noctuidae:
Helicoverpa armigera
Heliothis peltigera
Apamea furva
Litoligia literosa
Hadena caesia
Polia bombycina
Mythimna ferrago
Mythimna conigera
Cyrebia anachoreta
Cyrebia luperinoides
Eurois occulta
Xestia ochreago
Brachylomia viminalis
Autographa gamma
Autographa jota

Zygaenidae:
Zygaena armena
Zygaena filipendulae

Eh.... it's like being there again!

Hello everyone. I Was In Dagomys On 03-10. 06. 19.
There are a lot of burdocks everywhere, in different conditions. Along the railway track, early in the morning, I observed the departure of a large number of "sorrel" mottles.
I was interested in cantharids scurrying around in the morning on a burnt deck on the beach.
Well, a big oak sawyere, right at the train station (for the first time in my life I see it at all) - I was incredibly pleased. The hand did not rise (my brother bought both a male and a female for the collection) - he released it.

I watched coastal spiders spin circular nets over an artificial pond.
And the wasp, extremely similar to the Colombian, which stitched half of my face-just delighted! I don't even know what kind of animal it is...
https://cloud.mail.ru/public/2fMz/53iG7XrGg

Hello everyone. I Was In Dagomys On 03-10. 06. 19.
There are a lot of burdocks everywhere, in different conditions. Along the railway track, early in the morning, I observed the departure of a large number of "sorrel" mottles.
I was interested in cantharids scurrying around in the morning on a burnt deck on the beach.
Well, a big oak sawyere, right at the train station (for the first time in my life I see it at all) - I was incredibly pleased. The hand did not rise (my brother bought both a male and a female for the collection) - he released it.
 
I watched coastal spiders spin circular nets over an artificial pond.
And the wasp, extremely similar to the Colombian, which stitched half of my face-just delighted! I don't even know what kind of animal it is...
https://cloud.mail.ru/public/2fMz/53iG7XrGg

So the wasp is probably the invasive Isodontia mexicana.

So the wasp is probably the invasive Isodontia mexicana.

"I'm in shock!" "I'll read about it now.

- I made a joke on the Internet - only once it was caught in the Crimea in 2012; and, roughly speaking, - if the Crimea was not squeezed out, - I would be the first Russian to capture this creature in my country!?
"I'll never forget how a couple of wasps flew out from under an empty box I'd moved in an abandoned hotel on the riverbank in Columbia , and -" like lightning, they flew to my face, just like that, shooting several times - one through my lip, and the other through my eyelid! I just howled-screamed in pain! Smashed so that mom does not grieve! And Sinyaev laughed and took pictures on the phone ((
By the way, if Sochi was somewhere 2.5 cm, then the Colombian ones were 4 cm
each. And, I also didn't find something about its habitat in South America, they only write about the USA, Mexico and Central America...
In short, it's good that cows don't fly)

This post was edited by Andreas - 14.06.2019 22: 36

Dear colleagues!

Yandex. disk has a complete archive of expeditions in the Stavropol Territory and a little beyond - for all previous years,
in the form of two folders-
1-in chronological order;
2 - by geographical location.

https://yadi.sk/d/79SaTomZnIpmWg

All materials are freely available.
We present photographic and video materials that can be interesting for specialists of various specialties.:
botanists, zoologists, entomologists, geographers, geologists, and others.
Each folder contains a map, and some contain comments and / or reports.

A separate request is to read the "Request to Visitors" word file in the same folder when visiting.

I would be grateful if, when publishing photos or videos, you would consider it possible to refer to the authorship in the format "A. V. K., Ph. D." - or contact me by mail for more complete data (opatrum@mail.ru).

Thank you in advance,
with great respect.

Stavropol Territory, Mineralovodsky district, Orbelyanovka village, at the foot of the town of Camel, in cow dung. 15.IX.2019

Pictures:

dwokwdok.PNG — (1.24мб)

Hello everyone I was from the second half of September to the end of October in the upper reaches of the Matsesta River (Krasnodar Territory) - ST "Zvezda". I clicked something on the soap dish. I share my impressions. I'll tell you a little later. Thanks for attention.
https://youtu.be/4ByI_WcA6iw
43.621281, 39.808032

This post was edited by Andreas - 07.11.2019 04: 52

Stavropol Territory, Mineralovodsky district, Orbelyanovka village, at the foot of the town of Camel, in cow dung. 15.IX.2019

Our selection is quite standard )

Our selection is quite standard )

This year, for the first time, I collected from manure and the results were pleasantly surprised, we still have a large variety of six-legged animals. By the way, it's unexpected to see a fellow countryman with a mine, it's too deep a hole)

My friend Vovka Bogdanov at our volcano Yutsa filmed a rider during the egg-laying process. The first few seconds weren't very good, but then I just phallomorphized from this alien hydraulics! https://youtu.be/6e_rW7iu8do

A friend didn't tell me: Jutsa city 1?

And a friend didn't tell me: G. Jutsa 1?

Yutsa and Jutsa 1 are synonyms.

Yutsa and Jutsa 1 are synonyms.

This was typical: due to the lack of maps and language barriers (but they are spelled the same thing differently in Turkic), the same place was called differently, but more often different places were called the same. There are many such examples.
But you do not live under the Alans and Scythians, and for us, our colleagues-cartographers (you may not agree with them) tried to eliminate this mess. I didn't load the map for everyone. In fact, today, there are two mountains Jutsa 1 and Jutsa 2 and there is one village Yutsa, which is the same name as the Yutsa River (as usual), and which in turn flows into the tributaries of the Jutsa river 1 and the Jutsa River 2.

This was typical: due to the lack of maps and language barriers (but they are spelled the same thing differently in Turkic), the same place was called differently, but more often different places were called the same. There are many such examples.
But you do not live under the Alans and Scythians, and for us, our colleagues-cartographers (you may not agree with them) tried to eliminate this mess. I didn't load the map for everyone. In fact, today, there are two mountains Jutsa 1 and Jutsa 2 and there is one village Yutsa, which is the same name of the Yutsa River (as usual), and which in turn flows into the tributaries of the Jutsa 1 and Jutsa 2 rivers.

This is all great, of course, but nevertheless, I am for a living history, and in fact Jutsa-1 this mountain is called only on some maps, and what is in the literature, on many sites, and all the locals call this mountain as Yutsa, and they call it, and they will call it, so your comment is just for the sake of a comment.

Yesterday a friend in his backyard clicked mahilid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKoLGi3T1oE They move like Charlie Chaplin
And photos too: http://macroclub.ru/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=272826
It turns out that their males and females are quite different.
Do they feed on lichens?
- And why do they feel the surrounding space so quickly with their antennas? "are you looking for female tracks?"

The post was edited by Andreas - 05/01/2020 10: 53

Looking for a companion with a car for a joint trip to the East of the Stavropol Territory (semi-desert, sands, sand breakers, steppe).
The places are interesting,
you can collect a lot of unique material.
Please write to your email address or телефон:opatrum@mail.ru

89614710161

This post was edited by Opatrum - 05.06.2020 18: 29

Looking for a companion with a car for a joint trip to the East of the Stavropol Territory (semi-desert, sands, sand breakers, steppe).
The places are interesting,
you can collect a lot of unique material.
Please write to your email address or телефон:opatrum@mail.ru

89614710161

Where are you going from and when are you going? and for how long? In the east of the region it is interesting, but in Dagestan it is even more interesting, but they are not allowed there yet because of the difficult epidemiological situation.

The post was edited by Michalis - 09.06.2020 11: 34

On July 28, I went to the Saltpetre Rocks: 44.157006, 43.044594
On the way back through the forest to the Privolny farm, at 6 o'clock in the evening, I met several flying Iberian deer beetles. Provoked their contact. Sorry for the unprofessional clumsiness: https://youtu.be/eLnVSBTRTto

The post was edited by Andreas-30.06.2020 07: 23

Hello everyone. A branch withered. I am
now sitting in a dacha in the upper reaches of the Matsesta River. On the lamp (it would be necessary to equip the screen professionally) fly insects in the species composition-more butterflies. And in quantitative terms-cicadas. In short, I shoot all the new arrivals on the sly to create some kind of photo report about "How I spent the summer". I hope someone will be interested when I post it. I think I should upload it to YouTube... - or, still in the old-fashioned way, step by step "delete/insert / wait/click" and again on a new one. - Hemorrhoids are terrible.
Yesterday, a large female of the thinworm Shamil huddled in the grass - there was already a chirp. And the day before yesterday, for the first time, I met a cicada, one of those cicadas that whine endlessly in the sultry crowns with repeated frequency. We don't have such people; yes, and our people sing differently.
I also met a very rare fly - Milesia hornet. Finds-one-two and ran out.
From large beetles-so far only olenek and barbel-morimus. Interestingly, so far there are no long-legged mosquitoes at all, and by autumn they will fly at the same time - no less than ten species.
Mosquitoes got - very small and agile. Or is this how Aedes aegypti was crushed?

Hello everyone. A branch withered. I am
now sitting in a dacha in the upper reaches of the Matsesta River. On the lamp (it would be necessary to equip the screen professionally) fly insects in the species composition-more butterflies. And in quantitative terms-cicadas. In short, I shoot all the new arrivals on the sly to create some kind of photo report about "How I spent the summer". I hope someone will be interested when I post it. I think I should upload it to YouTube... - or, still in the old-fashioned way, step by step "delete/insert / wait/click" and again on a new one. - Hemorrhoids are terrible.
Yesterday, a large female of the thinworm Shamil huddled in the grass - there was already a chirp. And the day before yesterday, for the first time, I met a cicada, one of those cicadas that whine endlessly in the sultry crowns with repeated frequency. We don't have such people; yes, and our people sing differently.
I also met a very rare fly - Milesia hornet. Finds-one-two and ran out.
From large beetles-so far only olenek and barbel-morimus. Interestingly, so far there are no long-legged mosquitoes at all, and by autumn they will fly at the same time - no less than ten species.
Mosquitoes got - very small and agile. Or is this how Aedes aegypti was crushed?

Hello everyone. A branch withered. I am
now sitting in a dacha in the upper reaches of the Matsesta River. On the lamp (it would be necessary to equip the screen professionally) fly insects in the species composition-more butterflies. And in quantitative terms-cicadas. In short, I shoot all the new arrivals on the sly to create some kind of photo report about "How I spent the summer". I hope someone will be interested when I post it. I think I should upload it to YouTube... - or, still in the old-fashioned way, step by step "delete/insert / wait/click" and again on a new one. - Hemorrhoids are terrible.
Yesterday, a large female of the thinworm Shamil huddled in the grass - there was already a chirp. And the day before yesterday, for the first time, I met a cicada, one of those cicadas that whine endlessly in the sultry crowns with repeated frequency. We don't have such people; yes, and our people sing differently.
I also met a very rare fly - Milesia hornet. Finds-one-two and ran out.
From large beetles-so far only olenek and barbel-morimus. Interestingly, so far there are no long-legged mosquitoes at all, and by autumn they will fly at the same time - no less than ten species.
Mosquitoes got - very small and agile. Or is this how Aedes aegypti was crushed?

- Well, - and here is a photo report about what arrived at night and flew during the day:
Link to a folder in the cloud: https://cloud.mail.ru/public/3SM6/4s5V2Zxcv
Thank you for watching.

We were struck-just a giant weevil that flew past like a pterodactyl and caught my eye with its paw, and, iridescent in all the colors of the rainbow, a mahilis from the order of the ancient mandibles. There was even a whiff of something Jurassic, prehistoric.

This post was edited by Andreas - 09/21/2020 08: 41

Friends, it's been a long time since I posted anything here... But, of course, there is something to post, which I do on my channel in Yandex Zen in the mountains
https://zen.yandex.ru/pogoram
Here, for example, is one of the summer trips to Tsei (North Ossetia), where there are also photos of beetles collected during the trip:
https://zen.yandex.ru/media/pogoram/gornoly...52b7a18818213f1
So, come visit, read - I will be glad )

At the very end of September, I shot a couple of seconds of video on the beach in Sochi:
During the strengthening of the storm, gammarus began to panic to escape from the waves of pebbles at the water's edge. Very nimble.
https://cloud.mail.ru/public/2cBm/YMyF4f4gT

http://rbcu.ru/forum/messages/forum10/topi.../#message257540
The beginning is made.
By the way, on January 26, I managed to meet the first moths in the amount of about a dozen, flying in the light of lanterns on the terrenkur under the Zhelezny volcano, t+1.8°C.
However, it was not possible to collect it. Sorry. The scene was enchanting - fog, silence, winter forest, screams of gray hooves, trees felled from frost...

Nicho so frost fell out. Trees fell.

Nicho so frost fell out. Trees fell.

Yes, there is a horror that is happening-terrenkury from the first grandfather in the direction of Razvalki-generally officially closed-forbidden to pass. And to the top of the Zhelezny volcano, every 2-10 meters you had to move "lying down", crawling under fallen trunks!

Frost/icing in the absence of snow cover is a normal phenomenon in Zheleznovodsk. Trees suffer from it, sometimes very much. On the scree, it's generally the same - wild birches curl up in rings and crawl down the slope like boa constrictors. The fact is that the structure of their wood is better adapted to protect against breaking, and they are easier to break along than across. Radde birch is best adapted to this, but it does not grow here, but only in the highlands. Her trunks are red.

The post was edited by Andreas - 17.02.2021 09: 02

Maybe someone has a desire for joint entomological trips around the Stavropol Territory?
Andreas, how are you doing, what are you doing?

In the Stavropol Territory, a friendly team of entomologist enthusiasts is being recruited. The objectives are to create a long-term friendly team of researchers of the fauna of the Stavropol Territory, group and individual field trips, collection of entomological material, professional communication, etc.

With a good long-term collaboration - publishing articles in rating scientific journals, participating in conferences, joining the Russian Entomological Society, dissertation research, etc.

Age and education are not crucial for entry.
Accommodation in rural areas of the Stavropol Territory is welcome.
Questions and responses directly by phone (WhatsApp): 8-961-471-01-61.

Sincerely.

Hello! I'm going to go for 5 days in Dzhemet, near Vityazev and Anapa. I want to spend these days as productively as possible. The purpose of the trip is Bronzki, Khungarika, Kuprina, affinis, if you are lucky - spezioza. I would also like to find marbled and white krushchei, golden-capnodisov and perotis lugubris, some dung-copra, gymnoplevrov, ontofagov. I want to know if it's really there at the end of July? Would I waste my time and money?