Taxacom: Entomological collecting at altitudes higher than 4, 500 m (more than 14, 500 feet)?

[Adam Cotton]

Some Tibetan Parnassius species only fly at 5,000m or more, e.g. 
Parnassius schultei, P. huberi and P. hide (which can be found at the 
slightly lower altitude of 4,700m too).

Adam.

On 23/04/2022 03:50, Fernandez, Jose via Taxacom wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> Earlier today Michael Heads was asking about a great collector that lived in Sichuan and as part of Michael's email I noticed that he was asking about a locality at around 4,800 m (15,900 feet).
>
> It reminded me of a (admittedly, somewhat silly) question that I have been meaning to ask to this list for a while. Have any entomological collections ever made at altitudes higher than 4,500 m (~14,500 feet)? I am not asking for observations of something seen flying (which I know there are quite a few observations of bumble bees and I believe even one Lepidoptera that were seen flying at really high altitudes in the Himalaya) but rather more "solid" collecting such as traps, or netting...
>
> The main reason is a bit silly, as I am interested in having some "records" for my pet group of parasitoid wasps (Braconidae). Especially the subfamily Microgastrinae which are caterpillar (Lepidoptera) parasitoids. As far as I know there is a potential to have some species occurring at altitudes a bit over 4,500 m. But I have not found any solid evidence yet. Based on specimens housed here in the Canadian National Collection, I described in 2018 a species of Microplitis from four specimens collected in Colorado (Mount Evans)  at altitudes between 3,658 m (holotype) and 4,267 m (paratypes) (link to paper here in case someone is interested in seeing the species, which I named as "altissimus" to refer to the altitude it was collected: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fzookeys.pensoft.net%2Farticles.php%3Fid%3D22869&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C33bb15e41dc042f5f2fd08da24a67414%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637862595466453701%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=YLLqDkqZzW%2FeICxulmP%2FlI74HkhHjPZ8m0zOJxObyDs%3D&reserved=0) . There is a road that reaches the summit of that mountain and thus it is relatively easy for collectors to access that mountain and collect at such altitude (the mountain peak reaches 4,350 m or some 14,200 feet, but I have not seen any specimen from higher than 4,267 m). Similarly, I am describing now a new species in the genus Dolichogenidea collected in Ecuador and Peru at 4,000-4,100 m, but here it falls a bit short of my previous species "record". And I cannot find any historical reference higher either. Thus, at least until this point I have failed to find any evidence of collecting for parasitoid wasps at altitudes higher than 4,200 m or so.
>
> However, I believe that there must be some collecting done at higher altitudes, as probably the main limitation is the logistical and physical demands of reaching such places. But I am pretty sure that there are many places in the Andes, close to the Equator, where some vegetation can be found way over 4,300 m (in fact, more like close to 5,000m), and thus any entomological expedition done there should have collected parasitoid wasps. Same could apply to Africa (I would assume that Kilimanjaro would be a good guess? But there are also a few other possibilities), and perhaps to Himalaya. The record for the highest tree line is discussed in many places (I believe that South America wins that one) but actually even if only grasses that would be sufficient for potentially having caterpillars and therefore, parasitoid wasps attacking them. After all, in the northermost locality in the world (Alert, Ellesmere Island, Canada, 82°30′N) with a brutal artic environment, there are many species of parasitoid wasps. So, I gather that finding them at altitudes of around 4,500 would be reasonable.
>
> Which brings me back to my question if anyone in this list knows about such potential entomological expeditions that have happened at that (or higher) altitude.
>
> Thanks a lot for any info you can share! And my apologies for such a long and probably silly post...
> Cheers,
> Jose
>
> --
> José L. Fernández-Triana, Ph.D.
> Research Scientist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
> Canadian National Collection of Insects (CNC)
> 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C6, CANADA
> Phone: 613-759-1034. Email: jose.fernandez at canada.ca
> Alternative email : cnc.braconidae at gmail.com
>
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