Subject: Find of Eversmannia exornata in Europe

From: Maxim A. Klepikov <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 02 Nov 95 11:26:37 +0300

Dear colleague,
     I search  for the information about Eversmannia exornata (Ev.) in
Europe.  This is the only known representative of the tropical  family
Epiplemidae (Lepidoptera) in West Palearctic.
     In this summer I have found one sample of E.exornata not far from
Yaroslavl (north-central Russia). As I know, this is the most northern
and the most western find of this rare species now.  Are  known  other
finds of this species in Europe (not in Russia!)?

     I studied the article about E.exornata  in  Actias  journal  (N1,
1993, p. 19-23). This article informs:

>   ...The fact of multiple findings of E.exornata  in  European  Russia
>  and West Siberia,  after its almost century-long absence, is undoubtly
>  an entomological sensation. It is difficult to suppose that lepidopte-
>  rologists merely  missed  this  species,  as  Russian  faunistic until
>  1930-ies had been activety developing,  whereas since 70-ies  its  new
>  rise started. It is noteworthy that in 1902, 1924, 1960, and 1969, on-
>  ly solitary findings of E.exornata took place,  while in  1981-1992  a
>  steady increase  of both the number of sities and the number of speci-
>  mens collected was observed.  Some objective reasons should exits  for
>  such a phenomenon.
>       One of experts supposes that a hypotesis by an outstanding  pale-
>  ontologist V.V.Zherikhin  (1979) on an abrupt enriching fauna with re-
>  lic elements during global biocenotic crises seems to  be  helpful  in
>  this regard.  Because  it  is dominants of the biotic communities that
>  undergo a depletion under conditions of the crisis of the cenose, some
>  accessory species,  and  especially cenophobs,  could be af advantage.
>  Such species, which are often weekly connected with their communities,
>  might have acquired mechanisms of persisting with low density. So, the
>  increase of the role of relic groups,  the rise of vigor and number of
>  relics and  the  expansion of their ranges can be an important indica-
>  tors of profound changes of ecosystems...  Thus,  it is  not  excluded
>  that numerous  recent  findings of an obvious relic E.exornata in West
>  Palearctic can be a manifestation of the increasing disturbance of re-
>  cent ecosystems.
>
     Yours faithfully,
     Maxim A. Klepikov.

--- 
Maxim A. Klepikov
Tutaev's Nature House
email: [email-masked]