Pytho abieticola J. R. Sahlberg, 1875

Jaskula, Radomir, Coso, Denis, Tamutis, Vytautas & Ferenca, Romas, 2024, Updated distributional checklist of the genus Pytho Latreille, 1796 of the Palearctic realm with the first records of P. abieticola J. R. Sahlberg, 1875 from Lithuania and the family Pythidae (Coleoptera) from Moldova and Serbia, Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. 115422-115422 : 115422

Pytho abieticola J. R. Sahlberg, 1875

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Vytautas Tamutis; occurrenceID: 3E7B8E53-ED03-51F6-8A37-4E15212ACEC1; Location : country: Lithuania; municipality: Ignalina District Municipality ; locality: Azvincių sengirės gamtinis rezervatas [Azhvinschiai Primeval Forest Nature Reserve] ; verbatimCoordinates: N55.434908 E26.065562; Identification : identifiedBy: Vytautas Tamutis ; Event : samplingProtocol: flight interception trap; eventDate: 22.05.2020.- 12.06.2020.; habitat: Picea abies dominated forest; Record Level: type: 2 specimens; collectionID: KZM Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Romas Ferenca; occurrenceID: ABBC3F00-763A-5E03-8AE3-BB 141AD 637F3; Location : country: Lithuania; municipality: Kaišiadorys District Municipality ; locality: Sesuva Reserve ; verbatimCoordinates: N54.934772 E24.252475; Identification : identifiedBy: Romas Ferenca ; Event : eventDate: 15.03.2021.; fieldNotes: under bark of dead pine; Record Level: type: 1 specimen; collectionID: KZM; collectionCode: KZM IC- 56300 Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Vytautas Tamutis; occurrenceID: 7DE992D5-00D2-5115-8F6D-0BC44B0BA2ED; Location : country: Lithuania; municipality: Alytus District Municipality ; locality: Punios silas [Punia forest] ; verbatimCoordinates: N54.545196 E24.022972; Identification : identifiedBy: Vytautas Tamutis ; Event : samplingProtocol: flight interception trap; eventDate: 19.05.2023.- 05.06.2023.; habitat: Picea abies dominated forest; Record Level: type: 1 specimen; collectionID: KZM; source: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/ 189178097 Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Vytautas Tamutis; occurrenceID: 1FB36BFD-6EDA-557A-80DA-AC 08132861 DE; Location : country: Lithuania; municipality: Alytus District Municipality ; locality: Punios silas [Punia forest] ; verbatimCoordinates: N54.545055 E24.030973; Identification : identifiedBy: Vytautas Tamutis ; Event : samplingProtocol: flight interception trap; eventDate: 19.05.2023.- 05.06.2023.; habitat: Picea abies dominated forest; Record Level : type: 1 specimen; collectionID: KZM

Description

Small to medium beetles with moderately flattened bodies; body length 5.6-10.6 mm (9.5 mm in specimen from the Šešuva Reserve, others not measured). Head, pronotum and elytra black, legs and antennae brown-black (Fig. 1 ). Ratio of pronotal width-length less than 1.5 in most specimens, mesosternum impunctate or with few punctures.

Distribution

Palearctic taxon. Similar to other Pytho species, P. abieticola prefers regions with lower annual temperatures; in Central and Western Europe, it is restricted mainly to mountainous areas. Till now, it has been recorded from 12 countries (for details see distributional checklist below), including the first records from Lithuania presented here (Fig. 2 ).

Ecology

Numerous data suggest that P. abieticola is exclusively associated with spruce forests ( Picea spp.), often restricted to primeval forest areas ( Saalas 1917, Saalas 1923, Burakowski et al. 1987, Pollock 1991, Horák 2017) where it usually inhabits swampy sites ( Saalas 1917, Saalas 1923). It has been also reported from pine ( Pinus spp.) and fir ( Abies spp.) trees ( Koch 1989); one of our findings suggests that the species can also live under the bark of fir trees. Fallen, freshly dead trees lying horizontally and with no direct contact with the ground and characterised by small or medium diameter (6-25 cm) are preferred by females to lay their eggs. Larvae then develop under the bark ( Saalas 1917, Saalas 1923, Burakowski et al. 1987). The trees used for development are previously colonised by different bark beetles, especially Pityogenes chalcographus (Linnaeus, 1760), Hylastes spp. and Polygraphus spp. ( Curculionidae , Scolytinae ). Habitats of Pytho abieticola in Lithuania are shown in Fig. 3 .

There are no regular studies focused on feeding preferences or feeding behaviour in P. abieticola . Some literature data suggest that larvae of this species are zoophagous ( Koch 1989), which can be supported by observations of their cannibalistic behaviour observed under "artificial" conditions by Sahlberg (1875) and Saalas (1923), while other authors suggest decaying cambial-phloem layer and/or fungi as the main type of food ( Chittaro et al. 2023).

Conservation

Pytho abieticola is listed in category I on the list of primeval forest relict species of Central Europe, which includes taxa restricted to a few remnants of natural forests ( Eckelt et al. 2017). Globally, the species is considered as "least concern" (category LC) ( Pettersson et al. 2010), but this situation should be changed soon ( Chittaro et al. 2023) as it is threatened or even regionally extinct in all European countries where it has been noted. Cálix et al. (2018) placed P. abieticola on the IUCN Red List of European Saproxylic Beetles as a species of "near threatened" (NT) category. In Austria ( Jäch et al. 1994) and in Germany ( Schmidl et al. 2021), it is recognised as "regionally extinct" (RE), in the Czech Republic ( Horák 2017) and in Norway ( Ødegaard et al. 2021) as "critically endangered" (CR), in Poland ( Pawłowski et al. 2002) as "endangered" (EN), in Sweden ( SLU Artdatabanken 2020) as "vulnerable" (VU) and in Finland ( Malmberg et al. 2019) as "near threatened" (NT). Actually, some populations of this species are protected in national parks and/or nature reserves, for example, in Switzerland ( Chittaro et al. 2023), Poland ( Burakowski 1962, Kubisz and Tsinkevich 2001, Kubisz 2004), Czech Republic ( Hošek 2008), China ( Painter et al. 2007), Russia ( Painter et al. 2007), Finland ( Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility 2023a) and Lithuania (this paper).

Biology

Based on Burakowski et al. (1987), larval development takes at least three years and larvae of various sizes can be found throughout the year ( Saalas 1923). The pupal stage takes about two weeks ( Sahlberg 1875) and can be found between the second half of July and the first half of September ( Burakowski et al. 1987). As in all Pytho species, pupal cells under bark are used by adults as shelters to overwinter. In April and May, the adults start to be active and reproduce.

Figures

Figure 1. Specimen of Pytho abieticola J. R. Sahlberg, 1875 from the Sesuva Reserve, Kaisiadorys District Municipality, Lithuania (photo Romas Ferenca).

Figure 2. Distribution of Pytho abieticola J. R. Sahlberg, 1875 in Lithuania.

Figure 3. Habitats of Pytho abieticola J. R. Sahlberg, 1875 in Lithuania: a, b Sesuva Reserve (N 54.934772 E 24.252475), Kaisiadorys District Municipality; c, d Punios silas (N 54.545196 E 24.022972), Alytus District Municipality; e, f Punios silas (N 54.545055, E 24.030973), Alytus District Municipality. Note the flight interception trap in photos d-e (photos a & b - Romas Ferenca, c-f - Vytautas Tamutis).