Insect Regulations

[Jere Kahanpaa]

Michael Gochfeld <gochfeld at eohsi.rutgers.edu> wrote:
: 	The NE Russia trip sounds extremely exotic. Please tell us what 
: you "discovered".  Are there lots of new species lurking in remote north 
: temperate areas----or are the mostly widespread creatures that could be 
: found in eastern Europe (or even in northwestern North America). 

I doubt there are many macros yet to be found in the Magadan area. 
There is a biologital station near Magadan and Finnish lepidopterologists 
have made several field trips there. Russia is, however, a huge country 
with (relatively) very few biologists. While the macro fauna is 
relatively well known, the microlep side is almost untouched. 
A Finnish group made a few month-long journeys to the southern Ural 
region a few year ago and found >50 new species and about as 
many species new to Europe. Many of these are probably not 
endemic but whidespread in southern Russia. 

Finland is on the western edge on Russia and some eastern 'taiga'
species are regularly seen in the E parts of the country even 
though the climate much milder than in northern Russia. 
A good example in provided by Xestia brunneopicta, which 
has been recorded in Finland several times. X. brunneopicta 
was known only from the E Siberia ja  the Magadan area, 
which means the Finnish population is isolated by some 3500
km from the other *known* populations! 

Yours
    Jere Kahanpää