Vertical and zonal distribution of cuckoo wasps (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae) in Central Caucasus (Elbrus variant of vertical zonation)

The fauna of cuckoo wasps in the Central Caucasus was unknown till recently, and the first data go back to 2004 2006[1-3]. The first report on the fauna of cuckoo wasps from the Caucasus in dated to 1880, and it re-fers mainly to Transcaucasia [16]; the second report embraces the fauna from high mountains in the Western Caucasus (the North Ossetia nature reserve) [7]. Until the present day 168 species and subspecies of cuckoo wasps from the Central Caucasus [4-6] are known with assurance. Similarity of the fauna is the highest in ad-jacent belts. Dominant species of altitudinal belts are revealed, and the limits of their altitudinal distribution are specified.