Zubovskya mongolica Storozhenko, 1986

Zubovskya mongolica Storozhenko, 1986: 53; Sergeev 1991: 121; Storozhenko 2004: 24; Sergeev et al. 2019: 12.

Kingdonella mongolica: Li et al. 2015: 111.

Remarks. The type locality of this species is in vicinities of Khövsgöl Lake in N Mongolia (Storozhenko 1986). Unfortunately, the exact points of occurrences remain unknown. Later, the species was mentioned for the Altai-Sayan Mts. in Russia (NE Altai Mts., Tuva, the southern parts of Krasnoyarsk Region and the Republic of Khakassia (Sergeev 1991; Storozhenko 2004; Sergeev et al. 2019)). However, all specimens from Oyskyi Range (West Sayan Mts.) were mistakenly identified (Sergeev et al. 2019). In addition, the female with the label “Chadan Experimental Station” in the collections of Siberian Zoological Museum (Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals) is obviously mislabeled, because this locality is near the bottom part of the Khemchik Intermountain Basin (W Tuva) with elevations less than 1000 m and where the steppes and dry meadows are usual (Sergeev et al. 2019).

Distribution and ecology. Altai-Sayan Mts., from NE Altai to East Sayan Mts. (Fig. 1). All know localities of Zubovskya mongolica are inside the range of widely distributed Z. koeppeni. However, our field observations show that their altitudinal ecological niches overlap very weakly (Table 1).

Zubovskya koeppeni is mainly distributed across the belt of coniferous forests from relatively low altitudes up to the timber-line and rarely above it (Table 1). Its populations can be usually found on wet meadows of openings and clearings. The species is commonly associated with quite different broad leaf plants, e.g. Veratrum L., Aconitum L., Potentilla L., Phlomoides tuberosa (L.) Moench, Geranium L. The populations of Zubovskya mongolica were found between 1700 and 2100 m. The species colonizes openings with wet meadows near the local timber-lines (Fig. 2), alpine meadows and some meadow plots in the mountain tundra. It is clearly associated with the same groups of plants. Its abundance is commonly low or moderate and, according to our data, in August of 2018, varied between 4 and 45 adults per hour.

Ecologo-geographic modelling of Zubovskya mongolica distribution

The maximum entropy approach allows to reveal terrains with very suitable conditions for Z. mongolica (Fig. 3). All of them are limited by high elevations of the Altai-Sayan Mts. However, the distribution of these areas is wider than the known range of the species (cf. Fig. 1). They include the southern parts of the Altai Mts., Tannu-Ola Ranges in Tuva, the central part of the East Sayan Mts., and several ridges in NW Mongolia. In addition, some applicable territories are traced in the Far East, that is, very far from the modern range of the species. The generated model is well supported (AUC = 0.997). The most significant variables are the solar radiation in November (34.2%) and in March (18.1), what can be associated with the conditions of going into hibernation and coming out of it, and elevations (10.9%). In addition, the Jackknife test allows us to add mean temperatures of the warmest quarter as the significant variable.