Vertagopus pseudocinereus Fjellberg 1975

Vertagopus pseudocinereus Fjellberg, 1975

Material examined (only records from Buryat Republic and adjoining areas of Irkutskaya Region are listed below).

Buryat Republic: Ulan-Ude, valley of Selenga River, under looser bark of died big willow, 31.viii.2008. coll. M.P. and A.G.; N Buryat Republic, Dzergynsky Nature Reserve, upper flow of Barguzin River, at "81 km" Station, 1076 m alt., 55.34881°N, 111.49967°E, larch wood in river valley, under bark of larch tree, 10.ix.2012, coll. A.G. and M.P.; S Buryatia, Khamar-Daban Range, nearby Babushkin, northern slope, litter of forest with Pinus sibirica, 11.x.2013. coll. N. Makeeva; NW Buryatia, NW shore of Baikal Lake, ca. 30 км N Severobaikalsk, nearby Slyudyanskoye Lake, ca. 400 m alt., boggy larch wood, under looser bark of tree, 19.viii.2013, coll. M.P. and A.G.; Ibidem, nearby Slyudyanskoye Lake, dry pine forest with Vaccinium vitis-idae, ca. 600 m alt., under looser bark of fallen pine-tree, 19.viii.2013, coll. M.P. and A.G.; NW Buryatia, northern shore of Baikal Lake, nearby Goudjekit, floodplain of Goudjekit River (Chosenia, Abies), ca. 600 m alt., under bark, 16.viii.2013, coll. A.G. and M.P.; NW Buryatia, Barguzinsky Range, ca. 5 km W Barguzin, middle flow of Gremyachaya Brook, forest belt, ca. 1100 m alt., under looser bark, 18.viii.2008, coll. M.P. and A.G.; E Buryat Republic, Eravninsky District, nearby Telemba, larch forest, rotten wood and under looser bark, 15.viii.2008, coll. M.P.; W Buryatia, Tunkinskiye Gol'tsy Range, Khulugaisha Mount, 1735 m alt., under bark of birch and larch, 27.vii.2009, coll. A.G.; S Buryat Republic, Dzidinsky District, nearby Borgoi, under bark of dead larch tree. 1.viii.2014, coll. M.P.

Russia: Irkutskaya Region: W Khamar-Daban Range, nearby Cherskogo Peak, ca. 1 km away from meteorological station, taiga belt, in dry decaying wood and under the looser bark, 1372 m alt., 27.viii.2008. coll. V. Kadnikov; Ibidem, Slyudyanka River, 753 m alt., mixed forest, under bark of different trees, 27.viii.2008. coll. M.P.

Distribution and ecology. After our collections V. pseudocinereus is widely distributed in northern Asia and is very common all over the Buryat Republic. The species lives only under looser bark of dead trees. The Buryatian records are among the most eastern ones, thus so far in the eastern Palearctic it has been recorded only in Wrangel Island situated in north-eastern corner of Far East of Russia (Babenko 2010). According to catalogue of Babenko & Fjellberg (2006), the few ancient records of V. cinereus (Nicolet), a very common European species, from the same region might belong to V. pseudocinereus. The former species was absent in our materials from Buryatia.