We travelled to Iran by a Volkswagen Transporter car via Balkan peninsula and Turkey. Iran is a relatively rich country with very good roads, well supplied stores, nice and clean hotels, and a broad and well working service system. The country is safe for a traveller, people are nice and helpful, and all the prices are unbelievably low. If there were no problems with Iran visa policy it would be an ideal country for any sort of tourist activities. Iranian nature is fantastic. We travelled from Bazarghan (the border between Turkey and Iran) southward passing the Orumiye lake and searched the huge mountain complex Zagros first. One of our stops was in Dorud (cf. Figure 1: W IRAN, prov. Lorestan, Dorud 80 km E Horramabad), a village close to Horramabad in the W of Iran. It is a mountainous countryside with sparse vegetation composed primarily by shrubby oaks. In this place and in some other localities situated in the NW of Iran we collected for instance: Helladia imperialis, Agapanthia frivaldszkyi, Semnosia herminae, Cortodera pseudomophlus, Chlorophorus adelii, Mesoprionus persicus, Pygoptosia eugeniae, Osphranteria coerulescens inaurata, Stictoleptura tripartita and many other interesting Cerambycidae species.
The southern most place we reached was the environments of Siraaz (cf. Figure 2: SW IRAN, prov. Fars, Siraaz) in the the S of Zagros. The place surprised us by a rich vegetation cover composed by Quercus brenti, Lonicera, Amygdalus, Fraxinus and other shrubs and trees. In this locality we collected for instance: Monocladum iranicum and Derolus mauritanicus iranicus.
From the very south of Iran we travelled to mountain Elborz in the north of the country. We arrived at a place called Gorgan (cf. Figure 3: N IRAN, prov. Mazandaran, Gorgan) in the NE Iran. It is the most impressive place I have ever seen in the Palaearctics. The north facing aspects of the mountain Elborz are influenced by the Caspian see which ensures a lot of precipitation. The local forests are composed by Fagus orientalis, Tilia, Alnus, Quercus, etc. and the trees reach unbelievable sizes. To name a least the most interesting species we met here I must not forget: Acanthocinus elegans, Morinus verecundus, Parandra caspia, and Isotomus comptus maculicollis.
The next stop we did was a town called Calus (cf. Figure 4: N IRAN, prov. Mazandaran, 10km S Calus) in the W of the mountain Elborz. Again the vegetation here was extremely rich and also the number of insect species we met here was hard to believe. To give some examples we collected here: Saperda maculosa, Leiopus kharazii, Paraclytus reitteri, Isotomus comptus comptus, etc.
From the city Calus we decided to cross the mountain Elborz and reached a pass (cf. Figure 5: N IRAN, prov. Mazandaran, 70km SW Calus (pass)) in an altitude at about 2800 metres. It was a typical mountainous locality with grassy formations containing various plant species like Ferula, Salvia, etc. In this place we collected: Semnosia mirabilis, Semnosia jakovlevi, Agapanthia angelicae, and some other species.
On our way home we visited a well known locality: Buglan Gecidi (cf. Figure 6: E TURKEY, Buglan Gecidi NW Mus) close to the city Mus in E Turkey. To name only the most interesting Cerambycidae species we collected here I must not forget: Akimerus berchmansi, Vadonia bitlisiensis, Agapanthia frivaldszkyi, Coptosia compacta, Cerambyx heinzianus, Pteromallosia albolineata, Purpuricenus cornifrons, Neomusaria suworovi, and a number of others.
Before we reached the Black sea we made a short stop in Cankurtaran Gecidi (cf. Figure 7: NE TURKEY, Cankurtaran Gecidi E Hopa) a locality situated close to Hopa in NE Turkey. The place is strongly influenced by the Caucasian fauna and flora and our results corresponded with this phenomenon. We collected: Parmenopsis caucasica, Rhagium fasciculatum, Hybometopia starcki, Paraclytus sexguttatus, Fallacia elegans, Cortodera pumila, Morinus verecundus, Clytus schurmanni, Pogonocherus sieversi, which are species typical for the Turkish Black sea belt. In a nearby locality in this region we collected other species: Stictoleptura deyrollei, Alosterna tabacicolor caucasica, Anaglyptus simplicicornis, Stenurella jaegeri, Musaria boeberi, Xylosteus spinolae caucasicola, and interestingly also Enoploderes sanguineus, a Caucasian species never recorded from Turkey before.
MH & MR © August 1, 2006
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