Dragonfly fauna (Insecta: Odonata) of Papuk Nature Park, Croatia

Abstract

Odonata is an amphibious insect order constituting an important link between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Members of the group are widely used as bioindicators of freshwater habitat health. The Odonata fauna of a total of 44 freshwater habitats in the wider area of Papuk Nature Park was investigated in the spring and summer of 2017 and 2019. Twenty-three lotic and 21 lentic habitats were included in the study. We recorded 39 Odonata species, witha higher species richness (i.e. 35) documented at lentic than at lotic habitats (i.e. 16 species). Calopteryx virgo was the most widespread species in the area, while Aeshna affinis, Epitheca bimaculata, and Sympetrum meridionale were the rarest. The most frequently recorded species at lentic sites were Platycnemis pennipes, Coenagrion puella, and Ischnura elegans, while Calopteryx virgo, Onychogomphus forcipatus, and Cordulegaster bidenatata were the most common species in lotic habitats. Although we recorded numerous anthropogenic pressures in freshwater habitats in the Park, 11 recorded species are of conservation concern, which highlights the conservation value of aquatic habitats in the study area. Our results represent the first Odonata checklist of Papuk Nature Park, and as such, they are an important contribution to our knowledge of the Odonata fauna and species distribution in Croatia.

The first records of Trithemis annulata (Palisot de Beauvois, 1807) (Odonata: Libellulidae) in Croatia

“…Having in mind that in Montenegro the species has been established since 2008 (De Knijf et al, 2013) the colonization was expected to occur even sooner. The species might have been established in Croatia for some years now, but this was not confirmed sooner due to the lack of targeted odonatological studies in most of the country, with some rare recent examples (Vilenica et al, 2011;Vinko & Vilenica, 2013;Vilenica & Dijkstra, 2014;Vilenica, 2017;Štih et al, 2020;Štih & Koren, 2022).…”

Circadian (re)colonisation dynamics of macroinvertebrates in an isolated karst spring

“…49 In addition to the macrolithal, moss was also a preferred habitat for Protonemura, which explains the higher number of individuals found on artificial substates in comparison to the natural habitat. 50 The spring area of the Jankovac stream had a large abundance of Trichoptera, 38,48 as confirmed with the number of individuals found on the natural substrate, but only a small number on artificial substrates. We conclude that their body size and cases make them slow colonisers 51,52 The order Coleoptera are slow colonisers, achieving maximum values during winter, which could explain the relatively low abundance found on the artificial substrates.…”

“…14,28 Unlike previous research, a noticeably higher number of Diptera and Ephemeroptera was found in the present study. 38,46,48 Although the abundance of Baetidae and Chironomidae was very high in natural samples, they were much more abundant in artificial substrates, that is, they colonised artificial substrates very well. A good colonisation pattern in the open canopy area was also seen for Simuliidae individuals.…”

New data on Odonata fauna of the Drava River basin

“…The most numerous and/or the most frequently recorded species were Orthetrum albistylum (Figure 3a) and Sympetrum sanguineum (Figure 3b) from the suborder Anisoptera, and Platycnemis pennipes (Figure 3c) and Calopteryx splendens among the representatives of the suborder Zygoptera. Orthetrum albistylum prefers sunny standing water habitats (ponds, lakes, oxbows) (Dijkstra and Lewington 2006), but it was also recorded in the lentic habitats with little or no aquatic vegetation (Vilenica et al 2011(Vilenica et al , 2020a. Sympetrum sanguineum prefers sunny lentic habitats with well-developed riparian vegetation (Dijkstra and Lewington 2006), and it is possible that most of the recorded individuals originate from the Ferdinandovac oxbow (study site 10) or from some other sunny oxbow with well-developed vegetation located in the vicinity of our study sites.…”