Annotated checklist of the dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) of the Kaliningrad region, North-Western Russia

N A Shapoval,A P Shapoval

doi:10.15421/2017_100

Abstract

Unlike adjacent territories (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia), the Kaliningrad region have been poorly studied by far with respect to dragonflies. The first comprehensive surveys on Odonata were made more than 100 years ago, at the beginning of 20th century by La Baume (1908) and especially by Le Roi (1911) and included 50 species. In the following years, no significant publications which particularly address faunistic and taxonomic studies related to the Kaliningrad region were published. Here we present the first modern, most complete checklist of the dragonflies of the Kaliningrad region with notes on the species composition, abundance, and periods of local flight and seasonal migrations. The current checklist is based on data collected by the authors on the Courish Spit (Kaliningrad region, Russia) in 2007-2016. In total, 278 955 specimens belonging to 57 species were recorded. Additional 7 species are included in the list based on the literature data. Thus, the number of species known for the territory of the Kaliningrad region has risen to 64.

Highlights

The dragonfly fauna (Insecta, Odonata) of the Kaliningrad region has received little attention from professional odonatologists
Since no comprehensive studies were conducted over the years with the exception of data on 14 dragonflies species collected during nine days of observations in ornithological traps on the Courish Spit, with Sympecma fusca and Anax parthenope new for the Kaliningrad region (Bertram & Haacks, 1999)
The present study summarizes personal observations data of Odonata gathered in 2007-2016 on the Courish Spit in the Baltic Sea and literature data, and provides new insights into dragonfly fauna of the Kaliningrad region

Summary

Introduction

The dragonfly fauna (Insecta, Odonata) of the Kaliningrad region has received little attention from professional odonatologists. The territory of the Kaliningrad region underwent considerable biotopical changes and human habitat disturbance over the past century These factors, together with climate changes might be expected to affect the species composition of the dragonfly fauna and distribution ranges of dragonflies, as it was shown for some European countries (Ott, 2001, 2010; Hassall et al, 2007; Flenner & Sahlén, 2008; Bernard et al, 2009; Termaat, 2010; De Knijf et al, 2011). The present study summarizes personal observations data of Odonata gathered in 2007-2016 on the Courish Spit in the Baltic Sea and literature data, and provides new insights into dragonfly fauna of the Kaliningrad region

Methods

Results

Conclusion