Croatian mayflies (Insecta, Ephemeroptera): species diversity and distribution patterns

By

Vilenica, Marina
Gattolliat, Jean-Luc
Mihaljević, Zlatko
Sartori, Michel

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2015

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

523

Pages

99-127

Subjects

Balkan Peninsula , Biodiversity , Ephemeroptera , species list

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.523.6100

 

Abstract

Knowledge of the mayfly biodiversity in the Balkan Peninsula is still far from complete. Compared to the neighbouring countries, the mayfly fauna in Croatia is very poorly known. Situated at the crossroads of central and Mediterranean Europe and the Balkan Peninsula, Croatia is divided into two ecoregions: Dinaric western Balkan and Pannonian lowland. Mayflies were sampled between 2003 and 2013 at 171 sites, and a total of 66 species was recorded. Combined with the literature data, the Croatian mayfly fauna reached a total of 79 taxa. Of these, 29 species were recorded for the first time in Croatia while 15 species were not previously recorded in Dinaric western Balkan ecoregion. Based on the mayfly assemblage, sampling sites were first structured by ecoregion and then by habitat type. In comparison with the surrounding countries, the Croatian mayfly fauna is the most similar to the Hungarian and Bosnian fauna. Some morphologically interesting taxa such as Baetis cf. nubecularis Eaton, 1898 and Rhithrogena from the diaphana group were recorded. Ephemera cf. parnassiana Demoulin, 1958, the species previously recorded only from Greece, was also recorded.