Abstract
During 2013–2017, assemblages of bush-crickets and grasshoppers were surveyed in two neighbouring flysch mountains – Čergov Mts (48 sites) and Levočské vrchy Mts (62 sites) – in northern part of Western Carpathians. Species were sampled mostly at grasslands and forest edges along elevational gradient between 370 and 1220 m a.s.l. Within the entire area (ca 930 km2) we documented 54 species, representing 38% of Carpathian Orthoptera species richness. We found the same species number (45) in both mountain ranges with nine unique species in each of them. No difference in mean species richness per site was found between the mountain ranges (mean ± SD = 12.5 ± 3.9). Elevation explained 2.9% of variation in site species richness. Elevation and mountain range identity explained 7.3% of assemblages composition. We found new latitudinal as well as longitudinal limits in the distribution for several species. Occurrence and distributional patterns of some noteworthy species (Isophya stysi, Pholidoptera transsylvanica, Poecilimon schmidtii, Polysarcus denticauda, Pseudopodisma nagyi, Chorthippus tatrae), as well as habitat specialists (Chorthippus pullus, Tetrix tuerki) are discussed.
Highlights
The Carpathian Mountains are the largest mountain range in Central and Southeastern Europe and an important center of endemism and biodiversity for many plant and animal groups (Ronikier 2011, Mráz and Ronikier 2016, Jarčuška et al 2019)
No significant differences in number of all species together and number of Ensifera and Mantodea species had been observed between two mountain ranges
Some other didn’t have interpretation value, while occurríng in only one site (e.g. Conocephalus fuscus, Chorthippus vagans, O. caerulescens, Chorthippus oschei in CER, Pholidoptera aptera, Arcyptera fusca, Miramella alpina, in LEV, see Appendix 1, 4, 5). Species richness This is the first report on Orthoptera assemblages along the Slovak-Polish borderline between SE Poland (Theuerkauf et al 2005) / NE Slovakia (Jarčuška et al 2015, Jarčuška 2019) and Tatra Mts (Krištín 2010) and it is filling the gap in knowledge from this part of Western Carpathians
Summary
The Carpathian Mountains are the largest mountain range in Central and Southeastern Europe and an important center of endemism and biodiversity for many plant and animal groups (Ronikier 2011, Mráz and Ronikier 2016, Jarčuška et al 2019). The northern part of Western Carpathians in Slovakia and southern Poland is characterized by cooler climate, different types of grasslands and forest habitats along elevational gradients up to 2655 m a.s.l. Relatively diverse environmental conditions may explain rich species diversity of insect and Orthoptera assemblages (Gavlas et al 2007, Krištín 2010). Several Orthoptera species have been described there (e.g. Isophya pienensis, Isophya posthumoidalis, Chorthippus tatrae, Isophya fatrensis, Chorthippus smardai – Mařan 1954, Bazyluk 1971, Chládek and Harz 1983, Chládek 2007, Chládek 2014) and some of these Carpathian endemics are expected to have significant populations there (Jarčuška et al 2015, Krištín and Iorgu 2014, Chládek 2014, Hochkirch et al 2016). Regularly updated knowledge about the range boundaries is important for understanding the effects of climate change on species distributional patterns (Keppel et al 2012, Fournier et al 2017), especially in mountain systems (Schmitt 2009, Ronikier 2011)
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