The special geographical position of Kyrgyzstan in the depths of the Eurasian continent, at the junction of the Afghan-Turkestan and Dzhungar-Tian Shan biogeographical provinces, as well as its fragmented relief, determine the unique biological diversity of the arthropod fauna. According to some estimates, the arthropod fauna of Kyrgyzstan comprises 30,000 species. It is still not well studied, and new representatives of arthropods are discovered annually in various regions of the Republic, some of which turn out to be new species for science, while others have arrived from other countries with humans, and the taxonomic affiliation of others remains unclear...
Counts conducted about ten years ago showed that the fauna of the republic includes 418 species of spiders (from 199 genera of 39 families) and 9,032 accurately identified species of insects (this is twice as many as the total number of species from all other groups of living organisms). The concentration of arthropod species, despite Kyrgyzstan being located in a zone with a relatively harsh climate for them, is three times higher than the global average. More than a quarter of the arthropod species in the republic are endemic, meaning they are not found anywhere else in the world.
Biological and landscape diversity is one of the national treasures of any country, and the arthropod fauna holds, if not a proportional significance to the number of species, then a sufficiently important role in it. However, over the past decades, the planet's natural diversity has undergone significant depletion, and the fauna of arthropods, primarily insects, has also been affected by this negative phenomenon. The rate of loss of natural biodiversity in Kyrgyzstan as a whole is still relatively low, but this process occurs with varying intensity across the regions of the republic.
On the international stage, the issue of insect conservation was first raised by the International Committee on Biological Control of Insects and Plants in 1955. It is not by chance that discussions on the conservation of insect fauna began with an analysis of the problems of mountain entomofauna (in 1968 at the All-Union Conference on the Protection of Mountain Landscapes in Yerevan). In April 1972, the first organizational meeting of the Insect Conservation Section of the Mountain Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature took place (meetings of this section are held every two years).
It became evident to scientists and staff of environmental protection agencies that mountain entomofauna is characterized, along with richness and concentration of species, by increased vulnerability. The inclusion of endangered species in red books of various ranks serves the purpose of conservation, as red books are official documents (national or international) of permanent action, based on environmental protection legislation, and serve as reference guides for protected objects.
The first list of insects to be included in the "Red Book of the Kyrgyz SSR" contained five species. In 1984, the Red Book of the USSR was published, including 202 species of insects, including those found in the territory of the Republic. In this regard, at the end of the same year, a corresponding Resolution was adopted, according to which 14 additional species of insects were included in the list of rare and endangered species. However, the first edition of the Red Book published in early 1985 included only the initial list (five species).
In the following one to one and a half decades, as specialists concluded that the conservation of individual species of arthropods could only be achieved within the framework of protecting entire complexes within specific ecosystems, more attention was paid to insect species and other invertebrates, primarily those listed in red books, in conservation practice. The status of arthropod populations, along with vegetation, ornithofauna, and populations of large animals, became a subject of scientific study in reserves. In some cases, when the preservation of unique entomofauna, primarily beneficial species (natural enemies of forest pests, pollinators, etc.), made it impossible to alienate sufficiently large territories from economic land use for conservation, the organization of micro-reserves (small entomological reserves) was practiced, including in our country. In Kyrgyzstan, a methodology was proposed for the optimal selection of sites for the effective comprehensive conservation of a large number of rare, endemic, and other potentially vulnerable insect species. The proportion of endemic species (of a particular taxon) in the ecosystem and in the selected taxonomic group was proposed as one of the national indicators of state actions to fulfill obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity, which Kyrgyzstan ratified on August 6, 1996.
With the accumulation of experience in the conservation of entomofauna, as well as the influx of new data on species listed in red books, the need arose to revise and correct these lists. The first attempts at analysis revealed a major flaw in the lists – the inclusion of species with questionable status, in the absence of clear principles for selecting arthropod species for inclusion in the lists of rare and endangered species. In practice, for the overwhelming majority of species, one of the first limiting factors continued to be indicated, similar to vertebrate species, the factor of direct removal of individuals from nature. Undoubtedly, the most noticeable (large-sized, brightly colored, and openly living) representatives of invertebrates, which are commonly referred to as "decorations of fauna," have aesthetic value and are objects of amateur and commercial collecting.
In recent years, this quite normal phenomenon has artificially attracted interest from environmental protection agencies, which is completely inadequate to the biological essence of the factor. It should be clearly defined that the collection of butterflies, beetles, and the overwhelming majority of other invertebrates by amateur collectors for educational, scientific, and medical purposes cannot affect the population numbers of the species in nature. For example, almost all insects are characterized by high reproductive potential and short lifespan, and in the presence of natural fluctuations in population numbers by hundreds and thousands of times, they serve as a food base for a vast number of birds, lizards, and other animals. The real threat to the populations of rare invertebrate species can only come from the destruction of ecosystems in their habitats and large-scale chemical treatments against pests. Species of interest for amateur and commercial collecting represent a renewable natural resource, and their collection has much less significance for ecological balance than even the gathering of mushrooms and berries. The main goal pursued by the CITES convention in the quota of trade in almost all rare species of invertebrate animals is not to prohibit the collection of individuals of these species (unlike plant and vertebrate species), but to prevent the destruction of natural biocenoses accompanying their commercial extraction and, thus, to preserve the entire complex of objects within this biocenosis.
Further, the direction of discussions on the specifics of red-listing and conservation of invertebrate species was also determined by the SSC/IUCN recommendations on the application of a unified system of categories and quantitative criteria for the inclusion of species in the red book [16, 75]. In particular, general criteria and an algorithmic key for selecting invertebrate species were proposed and discussed, and attention was again drawn to the inconvenience of universal criteria for the entire diversity of assessed species from various taxonomic and ecological groups [23, 66]. However, the practice of using a numerical system of qualitative categories in a number of red books was also recognized at the modern stage as having exhausted its positive elements. In the first edition of the Red Book of Kyrgyzstan, categories were not defined at all, and each of the five species was assigned the status of "rare species, decreasing in number," "rare species, whose numbers continue to decline," or "rare species, having a tendency to decrease in number," which had an even more subjective character. The trend that has emerged in recent decades of splitting and increasing the number of categories of threat of extinction for species included in regional red books seems, and not only for arthropod taxa, to be practically unjustified (creating artificial difficulties in determining status), and the application of a large number of categories for organizing effective species conservation is even impractical.
In relation to our country, due to human economic activities in the foreseeable future (considering the economic and land reforms of recent years, the current situation, and trends), some biocenoses will inevitably be irreversibly disrupted, and populations of some invertebrate species, which are their specialized inhabitants, will disappear, mainly on the outskirts of the republic. However, this will not lead to the disappearance of such species from nature altogether.
Theoretically, only some of these invertebrate species may be able to repopulate restored stations. Unfortunately, it must be noted that there are already such species in the entomofauna of Kyrgyzstan that, according to the SSC/IUCN category system, should be classified as EX, namely in the subcategory RE ("Regionally Extinct"). Examples include Psammodius nocturnus Reitter and Masaris carli Schulthess. The former is a flat-headed beetle, an obligate psammocolimbid, whose only island population in the Chui Valley has disappeared, and irretrievably so, due to the irrigation of areas with dune sands and the construction of an airport. Natural reintroduction of this wingless species from hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest habitats in the Moyunkum desert seems unrealistic, and including it in the Red Book is unlikely to make sense. The latter species is a relic flower wasp, the "calling card" of the few remnants of pristine deserts in the eastern ancient Tethys region, which inhabited Kyrgyzstan only along the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul (on the outskirts of the city of Cholpon-Ata) and has not been found in several decades despite special searches. Here, its habitats have undergone severe anthropogenic degradation, are practically destroyed, and the few other known populations and potential habitats lie outside Kyrgyzstan. Artificial reintroduction of these two species, and in general (possibly with rare exceptions) of arthropod fauna species, is unlikely to be feasible in the conditions of the republic.
The categories EX ("Extinct") and EW ("Extinct in the Wild") cannot be effectively used largely due to the difficulty of proving the fact of extinction of any, predominantly small-sized, secretive, rare, and sometimes unidentifiable in nature, species of arthropods. The category DD ("Data Deficient") is excluded due to the extraordinary abundance of such rare species, for example, "naturally rare" insect taxa, for which population numbers in nature (and not in scientific collections), limited range, and, most importantly, the real threat to their existence with habitat changes are currently not quantitatively confirmed.
In the practice of regional red-listing, a positive example regarding threatened species is the priority inclusion in red books of representatives of monotypic and relict genera and families, which undoubtedly have greater significance for the preservation of the gene pool compared to evolutionarily thriving groups. Priority should be given to stenobiont species and the highly specialized communities they form, as stenobionts represent an undeniable limiting factor. In contrast, the status of some objects in a number of earlier published red books, defined as "rare species, decoration of nature," is not related to the real threat of reduction in their numbers and range. Therefore, for inclusion in the Red Book of the Kyrgyz Republic, which is a small country in area, it is advisable to include only those species of invertebrate animals, the disappearance of populations of which in the territory of the country will lead to the disappearance of the species as a whole. The practice of applying quantitative criteria in assessing the status of threatened arthropod species in Central Asia has shown that the categories CR ("Critically Endangered") and EN ("Endangered") differ only in nuances within a small range of assessment, while the two categories – NT ("Near Threatened") and LC ("Least Concern") (LR, "Lower Risk" in earlier versions) – are almost identical. It has also been suggested that all invertebrate species of Kyrgyzstan needing protection should be classified as VU ("Vulnerable").
The compilation of a new list of arthropod species in need of protection in Kyrgyzstan was preceded by a long and extensive effort. In 2002, at the Global Mountain Summit in Bishkek (during the first round table), the task of publishing a new edition of the Red Book of Kyrgyzstan was raised again. In the same year, a review of principles, categories, and criteria for determining the status of rare and vulnerable species and a critical review of nineteen insect species in the Red Book of Kyrgyzstan with an analysis of the motivation for inclusion and indication of the revised status of each of them was published (in the publication of the Kyrgyz Entomological Society). Leading taxonomists (specialists in the systematics and fauna of specific orders and families) from the Kyrgyz Republic and Eurasia, as well as practitioners in the field of biodiversity conservation, participated in the formation of new lists and discussions on proposed species. An important event was the conduct of several special entomological expeditions in 2004 with the assistance of the State Forest Service of the Kyrgyz Republic. The specificity of these exploratory expeditions was that their task was to collect necessary information on an extensive list (more than 100) of species. This list included all species listed in the Red Book of Kyrgyzstan (19 species from 13 genera belonging to 10 families of five orders), species recorded in the fauna of Kyrgyzstan from those listed in the Red Book of the USSR (33 species), in IUCN RLTS (10 species), in the red books of neighboring countries, proposed for inclusion in the new edition, and several narrowly local endemic species. Naturally, finding and surveying populations of all these species within a single field season was an impossible task, but sufficient data on the status of populations and habitats were obtained for a significant portion of them. Finally, the concluding stage was a working meeting on revising the list of rare and endangered species of fauna and flora for inclusion in the Red Book of Kyrgyzstan on November 27, 2004, in Bishkek. During discussions, each of the 43 species presented for consideration from the list (for which nine expert opinions were received from competent institutions both near and far abroad) was discussed. In the final resolution of the Meeting, it was recommended, firstly, to take into account the specificity of arthropod species as objects of the Red Book and to adopt a modified system of categories developed with consideration of SSC/IUCN recommendations; secondly, to include 17 insect taxa (of which 2 species were assigned to category I, 12 to category II, and 4 to category III) and 1 arachnid species (category II) in the new edition; thirdly, to exclude 15 species from it and not to include, except for three, species from IUCN RLTS. Less than six months later, a special government resolution approved the new list of arthropods for inclusion in the second edition of the Red Book (with minimal nomenclatural inaccuracies).
The comprehensive criteria by which some species and subspecies were recognized as requiring protection and included in the Red Book, while others were excluded from it, included characteristics such as low population numbers, narrow local endemism, relict nature, and oligotypicity of the taxon, habitation in areas of active anthropogenic pressure on natural ecosystems or their destruction, and others. In addition, some included species are also indicators of environmental purity, beneficial entomophages, pollinators, and have aesthetic or scientific significance. The system of categories of threat of extinction for arthropods in the Red Book of Kyrgyzstan is developed based on SSC/IUCN recommendations but includes not nine, but only three following categories:
Category I: "ENDANGERED" (EN: "Endangered") – species whose populations in Kyrgyzstan are under immediate threat of extinction, having reached critical levels of numbers and range; there is adequate information about the intense destruction and degradation of their natural habitats within the range; their rescue is impossible without special measures.
Category II: "VULNERABLE" (VU: "Vulnerable") – species (subspecies), primarily among relict and narrow local endemics, characterized by low reproductive rates and levels of ecological plasticity, inhabiting small, and moreover, shrinking territories, in landscapes subjected to anthropogenic impact, so that degradation of their habitat in the near future will put such taxa on the brink of critical danger of extinction.
Category III: "RISK GROUP" (LR-nt: "Lower Risk – near threatened") – species (subspecies) whose status of numbers and range requires monitoring (population monitoring), but does not currently raise concerns about a sharp decline due to anthropogenic pressure on habitats, as well as those previously included in one of the higher threat categories, for which stability of their numbers and main range has not been quantitatively demonstrated.
In assigning a species (subspecies) to each of the two higher threat categories, quantitative criteria from those recommended by SSC/IUCN were fully utilized. In cases where there was a relatively wide range of assessment of the degree of threat of extinction, the recommended SSC/IUCN precautionary principle was applied: inclusion of the taxon in the highest deserving category, even if there was only a small amount of information regarding its lifestyle. In several cases, mapping of find locations over long periods was used as an adequate and informative method.
Thus, to date, only 19 representatives of the class of insects have been included in the Red Book of Kyrgyzstan, and now it includes one species of spider and 17 species of insects. These insect species represent 15 genera belonging to 13 families of 6 orders, and compared to the first edition, their qualitative composition has changed significantly (of the species included in the first edition, only four remain in the second).
By administrative regions of the republic and by main types of ecosystems, the number of arthropod species in this edition of the Red Book of Kyrgyzstan is distributed as follows:
The species among the objects of study in the mentioned expeditions and discussed at the Meeting, but not included in the edition of the Red Book (insufficiently studied, unassessed, geographically marginal, immigrating, as well as from categories EX, EW, and RE), essentially constitute a list of species that currently require special attention to their status.