The Chironomidae (Diptera) fauna of Greece: ecological distributions and patterns, taxalist and new records

Abstract

-For the first time, a faunistic list of the Chironomidae fauna of Greece is presented along with its ecological distribution. Chironomidae larvae and pupal exuviae were collected from 61 locations in mainland Greece during 2006-2008. 76 taxa (genera to species) were recorded. The genera Potthastia, Brillia, Euorthocladius, Synorthocladius, Tvetenia and Xenochironomus are recorded for the first time from Greece. Furthermore, 12 species are new for Greece and five are new for mainland Greece. Chironomidae collected from running waters were analysed with ordination techniques. The results revealed that Chironomidae assemblages were distinguished into three ecoregions with distinct climatic, geological and hydrochemical features. Running waters in Northwestern Greece were generally dominated by species tolerant to water acidification. Chironomids typical of eastern uplands preferred relatively slow current and soft bottom sediments. Assemblages of the southern Peloponnese Peninsula were represented by species of relatively fast flowing, warm streams. However, these are only preliminary results and many more data are needed to justify this ecological distinction of Chironomidae assemblages. This is the first study contributing to the knowledge of a rather neglected insect group of the Greek fauna. It is expected that more species remain to be identified and recorded and future works will contribute to this initial faunal list.

Spatio-temporal distribution patterns of Chironomidae communities in the wadis of Northern Tunisia

“…Spatial variation of turbidity is related, in part, to the rainfall regime, the type of substrate from bordering areas, type of land use, flow diversions, organic discharge and the presence of riparian vegetation. The turbidity has a significant impact on the freshwater fauna distribution (Płociennik and Karaouzas, 2014). Altitude, watersheds' slopes and bedrock geology were the most important factors influencing the variation in conductivity, turbidity and total water hardness, influencing the taxonomic composition and diversity of chironomid communities.…”

Synorthocladius federicoi sp. nov., a new species occurring in the middle basin of the Adige River, northern Italy (Diptera, Chironomidae, Orthocladiinae)

“…According to data on the taxonomy and geographical distribution of known Synorthocladius species from the Palaearctic and neighbouring biogeographical regions ( Pankratova 1970 ; Sasa and Yamamoto 1977 ; Sasa 1981 ; Cranston et al 1989 ; Reiss 1989 ; Evrard 1995 ; Liu and Wang 2005 ; Langton and Pinder 2007 ; Lencioni et al 2011 , 2012 , 2018 ; Ashe and O’Connor 2012 ; Moubayed-Breil and Ashe 2012 ; Plociennik and Pesic 2012 ; Sæther and Spies 2013 ; Plociennik and Karaouzas 2014 ; Makarchenko and Makarchenko 2017 ; Kettani and Moubayed-Breil 2018 ; Murray et al 2018 ; Yavorskaya et al 2018 ; Rossaro et al 2019 ; Moubayed-Breil 2020 ), there are eight valid species of the genus worldwide, of which only one, S. semivirens (Kieffer, 1909), was reported from Europe. The present description of S. federicoi sp.…”