On October 30, four stamps dedicated to insects were put into postal circulation in the Fauna of Russia series

Insects are a class of invertebrate animals belonging to the Arthropoda phylum. This is the most diverse group of living beings on the planet. There are many insect orders available, among which the most numerous are: Coleoptera (beetles); Diptera (flies, mosquitoes); Lepidoptera (butterflies); and Hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps).

Insects have assimilated into virtually all living environments: land, soil, fresh water bodies, and are found even in such extreme conditions as hot springs or oil spills. There are about 100 thousand species distributed over the territory of Russia. By their characteristics, they are adapted to different natural zones from Arctic deserts to subtropics. Among them are the emperor dragonfly, the Panagaeus cruxmajor, the heavenly barbel, and the Saga pedo.

The emperor dragonfly is a dragonfly from the Aeshnidae family. It is one of the largest dragonflies in Russia. It is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. The thorax is green, with wide black stripes on the sutures. The 5 cm long wings are transparent. The abdomen of the male is blue, and green or bluish-green of the female. The eyes are large, of blue-green color. In Russia, the species is mainly found in the southern half of the European part. The emperor dragonfly inhabits water bodies, both in open and closed forest landscapes.

The Panagaeus cruxmajor is a beetle from the Carabidae family, 7.5 to 9 mm long. The body is hairy, black with four rufous or yellow spots on the elytra in the form of a cross. The pronotum is transverse, slightly narrower than the elytra, the dots on it are coarse and dense. It is found in the east of Siberia up to the Amur, in North Africa, and in Asia Minor. It prefers moist terrain with rich vegetation.

The heavenly barbel is a species of beetles of the Cerambycinae subfamily of the Cerambycidae family. It is a 15 to 35 mm long beetle characterized by the presence of blue or turquoise hair cover, hairy black brushes on the inner side of the antennae, and black transverse bands on the elytra. It is distributed in the Ussuri-Primorsk Region. Outside Russia, it is distributed in the northeastern part of China and North Korea. It inhabits broadleaved and coniferous-broadleaved forests.

The Saga pedo is a grasshopper of the Saginae subfamily. It is the largest grasshopper in Russia. It is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. The body length of a female is 7-8 cm, the ovipositor length is 3-4 cm. The wings are very short or completely absent. The body is strongly elongated. The hind legs are elongated, but not jumping (although the Saga pedo can jump from a height). The body is of green or greenish-yellow color, with yellow longitudinal strips on the sides. In Russia, it inhabits areas of unploughed steppes (Kursk, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Tambov, Samara, Saratov, Volgograd, Rostov, Astrakhan, Chelyabinsk and Kurgan Regions, the Republics of Bashkortostan, Chechnya, Kalmykia, North Ossetia and Dagestan).

The postage stamps feature the following insects: the emperor dragonfly, the Panagaeus cruxmajor, the heavenly barbel and the Saga pedo.

In addition to the issue of the postage stamps, JSC Marka produced First Day Covers and a special cancel for Moscow, as well as maxi-cards, an illustrated cover with postage stamps and a label and a First Day Cover with a cancel for Moscow inside.


Design Artist: M. Bodrova.
Face value: 40 rubles each.
Stamp size: 37×37 mm; sheet size: 168×101 mm.
Form of issue: a sheet with formatted margins of 8 (4×2) stamps.
Quantity: 50 thousand stamps each (25 thousand sheets).

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