New Records of Sphaerius acaroides (Coleoptera, Sphaeriusidae) from Russia Extend the Known Distribution of Myxophaga to Siberia

Abstract—

А beetle species Sphaerius acaroides Waltl, 1838, widespread in Europe, Caucasus region and Iran, is here recorded from Tatarstan Republic and Tyumen Oblast (Russia) for the first time. The Tyumen record is the easternmost hitherto known and it is the first Siberian record for this species, genus, family and suborder. Molecular analysis based on the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase I (COI) showed that the specimen from Tyumen Oblast, which is morphologically identical with the European specimens, undoubtedly belongs to S. acaroides. All phylogenetic reconstructions revealed S. acaroides as a well-supported clade. The analysis based on pairwise distance (p-distance) between studied samples showed the distance on the intraspecific level not exceeding 1.1%. The largest distance observed between specimens from Tyumen and north-west Germany, still shows only variability between the conspecific populations.