Salda morio Zetterstedt 1838

Salda morio Zetterstedt, 1838 (Figs. 6–8; 20; 31; 41, 1)

Zetterstedt, 1838: 267; Reuter, 1895: 37 (Acanthia); Oshanin, 1908: 583 (Acanthia); 1912: 88; Drake, Hoberlandt, 1950: 6; Kiritshenko, 1951: 94; Cobben, 1960: 224; Kerzhner, 1964: 685; Vinokurov, 1979: 62, 172; 1988: 749; 2005a: 887; Cobben, 1985: 250; Schuh et al., 1987: 284; Lindskog, 1995: 135; Vinokurov, Kanyukova, 1995a: 8; 1995b: 36; Putshkov, Putshkov, 1996: 12; Vinokurov et al., 2003: 54.

A Euro-Siberian species.

Distribution (Fig. 41, 1). In Russia, the northern border of the range extends along the line: Lake Ladoga–80 of km N of Surgut–Mirnyi–Nyurba–the Aldan River mouth–the Notora River, a tributary of the Aldan River–the central part of Sakhalin Island. In the European part of Russia, the species was recorded from Karelia (Gerd, 1946) and Yaroslavl (Kiritshenko, 1916) and Kirov (Shernin, 1971) provinces. In the Asian part of Russia, it was found in Novosibirsk Prov. and Tyva (SZM), the northern part of Tomsk Prov. (Lukashuk coll.), and in the middle-taiga subzone of Yakutia (IBPC). According to the literature (Jakovlev, 1893; Cobben, 1985), the species was recorded in Irkutsk and Amurskaya provinces, Transbaikal, Khabarovsk, and Primorskii territories, and Sakhalin Island. It also occurs in Rovno Province of the Ukraine (Cobben, 1985; Putshkov and Putshkov, 1996).—Central and Northern Europe, Mongolia (Vinokurov, 1979; Cobben, 1985), Northeastern China, and the northern part of Japan (Cobben, 1960, 1985; Lindskog, 1995).

Material. Russia. Leningrad Prov.: St. Petersburg; Ladoga. Novosibirsk Prov.: Kuibyshev District, middle Om River, Zonovo Vill., 5.VII.1961 (Stebaev). Tomsk Prov.: 80 km of Surgut, Trom-Agan, bog, 15–20.VII.1980 (Lukashuk). Tuva: Tandinskii Distr., Lake Chagytai, 26.VI–1.VII.1989 (Logunov). Irkutsk Prov.: Kaya River, Pashkovo, Irkutsk (V. Jakovlev coll.); Irkutsk, 24.VIII.1971 (Shilenkov). Yakutia: Mirnyi, 29.VII.2001 (Nogovitsyna and Popova); Nyurba, 15.VIII.1987 (Kaimuk); Peledui River, Tolon Vill., 16.VII.1987 (Vinokurov); Olekminsk2.VIII.1974 (Vinokurov); right bank of Lena River, “Bulus” icefield, 17 km downstream of Buotama River mouth, 8–10.VII.1998 (Vinokurov and Stepanov); Khaptagai Vill., 30 km SSE of Yakutsk, early July 1972 (Larionov); Lena River, 10 km upstream of Aldan River mouth, 28.VII.1985 (Vinokurov); Ingnyachchi Island on Aldan River, 50 km downstream of Eldikan, 1.VIII.2006 (Nogovitsyna); Tokinskii Stanovik Mt. Range, Algama River, Chaidakh, 23.VII.2000 (Nogovitsyna and Stepanov). Transbaikal Terr.: Ingoda, 11.VII.1899 (Suvorov); Sretensk, 6.VII.1928 (Kapustin). Amurskaya Prov.: Klimoutsy, 40 km W of Svobodnyi, 15.VII.1959 (Kerzhner); Samodon Peninsula near Korsakovo, 7.VIII.1959 (Kerzhner). Primorskii Terr.: Chernigov Distr., Dmitrievka Vill., 19.VII.1976 (Larin).

Ukraine. Rovno Prov.: Krasnoe Vill. Mongolia. Dornod Aimak: Derkhin-Tsagan-Obo Mt., 60 km ENE of Bayab-Burda, 3.VIII.1976 (Kerzhner); Numregin- Gol River, 32 km SE of Salhit Mt., 8.VIII.1976 (Kerzhner).

A total of 51 specimens were examined.

Biology. In Europe, the species inhabits peatbogs and boggy meadows, occurring there along the shores of water bodies (Hoberlandt, 1977; Péricart, 1990). In the middle-taiga subzone of Yakutia, it was collected in a hygromesophytic bottomland grass-woodreed meadow, a tussock swamp sedge meadow, and in boggy areas. According to the ornithologist G.P. Larionov, the adult bugs are used for feeding nestlings of the bank swallow in the environs of Yakutsk.