Abstract
BackgroundThe first summarising checklist of Ukrainian Chironomidae (Insecta, Diptera) consisted of 302 species. Compared to other European countries, it is obvious that the real chironomid diversity of Ukraine has not been fully documented and greater effort is needed to discover the actual richness of this family. Thus, our survey focused on the chironomid fauna of some alpine lakes situated above the treeline in the Ukrainian Carpathians (a part of the Eastern Carpathians) aiming to contribute to the knowledge of the Ukrainian chironomid fauna and create the basis for more comprehensive neo- and palaeolimnological studies of these, regionally, little-known ecosystems.New informationIn total, 34 species/taxa, belonging to 22 genera and 4 subfamilies were collected in June 2019. Ten species were recorded for the first time in Ukraine: Zavrelimyia melanura, Acamptocladius reissi, Cricotopusspeciosus, Cricotopuscurtus, Heterotrissocladius marcidus, Orthocladius dentifer, Psectrocladiusoligosetus, Polypedilumuncinatum, Paratanytarsus laccophilus and Tanytarsus bathophilus. The occurrence of six species previously considered as “doubtfully present” in Ukraine was finally confirmed. Generally, the surveyed lakes have a unique composition of chironomids consisting of a mixture of species typical for cold alpine lakes and acidic ponds situated at lower altitudes.
Highlights
The Chironomidae family is a group of holometabolous insects distributed with the widest range of any family of insects, with individual species occurring from Antarctica and subAntarctic islands to Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic
Ten species were recorded for the first time in Ukraine: Zavrelimyia melanura, Acamptocladius reissi, Cricotopus speciosus, Cricotopus curtus, Heterotrissocladius marcidus, Orthocladius dentifer, Psectrocladius oligosetus, Polypedilum uncinatum, Paratanytarsus laccophilus and Tanytarsus bathophilus
Our study contributes to the knowledge of the chironomid fauna of alpine lakes in the Ukrainian part of the Eastern Carpathians
Summary
The Chironomidae family is a group of holometabolous insects distributed with the widest range of any family of insects, with individual species occurring from Antarctica and subAntarctic islands to Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. Chironomids are common inhabitants of most aquatic habitats and regularly dominate aquatic insect communities in both abundance and species richness, often approaching 80 or more species and occasionally exceeding 100 species per site (Ferrington 2007). Out of the several thousand natural and artificial lakes in Ukraine (Polishchuk and Igumnova 1983), mountain lakes located in the Carpathians represent a tiny fraction in both number and size These alpine lakes are suitable for studying ecosystem responses to environmental impacts both global (e.g. climate change, atmospheric pollution) and regional (e.g. land use change, species introductions; Catalan and Donato Rondón 2016). Our survey expands the knowledge on the Ukrainian chironomid fauna, but can serve as the first step to more comprehensive neo- and palaeolimnological studies of these unique and, in Ukraine, so far largely unknown ecosystems
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