Interesting Records of Leaf Beetles (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) in the South of the Steppe Zone of Orenburg Province

Abstract: Data on 15 species of leaf beetles found in the southern steppe and semi-desert landscapes near the boundary between Europe and Asia (Orenburg Province) outside their previously known ranges are reported. Twelve species are recorded for the first time for Orenburg Province and for the Ural region as a whole: Crioceris bicruciata, Labidostomis metallica metallica, Cryptocephalus kerzhneri, C. tataricus, Pachybrachis vermicularis, P. cribricollis, Stylosomus flavus, Chloropterus versicolor, Phyllotreta sholaksori, Chaetocnema major, Ch. nebulosi, and Cassida parvula. Of these, Cryptocephalus kerzhneri is for the first time recorded in Russia, and Phyllotreta sholaksori, recently described from the steppe zone of Omsk Province, is for the first time found in the Steppe Trans-Urals. The records presented here supplement my previous data, which testify to the presence of an important zoogeographic boundary passing through the very south of Orenburg Province within 51.00–51.50°N, from the Obshchy Syrt to the Turgai Plateau. To the south of this boundary the fauna of phytophagous beetles includes many species characteristic of the semi-deserts and deserts of Kazakhstan and the Caspian region, these species comprising a considerable proportion of the fauna. © 2022, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.