Chironomidae of semiaquatic lake shore habitats in the Karelian Isthmus (northwestern Russia)

Abstract

Przhiboro A. and Paasivirta L. 2012. Chironomidae of semiaquatic lake shore habitats in the Karelian Isthmus (northwestern Russia). Fauna norvegica 31: 87-94.Shores of lentic waters are poorly studied as habitats of Chironomidae. We investigated floating shore marsh surrounding the lakes Bol'shoe Rakovoe (Äyräpäänjärvi or Eteläjärvi) and Okhotnich'e (Muolaanlampi), shallow mesotrophic wetlands in the Karelian Isthmus. Our research aimed to identify species structure of immature chironomid assemblages in this peculiar habitat and to provide their quantitative assessment. Five sites of the water margin zone (a 20-m part of floating marsh adjoining the lake littoral) were studied using two techniques, quantitative samples taken with a grab-net and laboratory rearings of adults from substrata. Thirty-two samples were taken in July and October; 2970 emerging chironomid adults were identified. Nineteen species were found, 3 of Tanypodinae, 10 of Orthocladiinae and 6 of Chironominae. Tavastia yggdrasilia, Thienemanniella minuscula and Polypedilum trigonus are first recorded from Russia, and 8 more species, from NW Russia. Orthocladiinae accounted for over 99% emerging adults, with 3 species predominant and numerous on all sites, Paraphaenocladius impensus, Limnophyes minimus and L. natalensis. Species structure is discussed and compared with the data on similar habitats. Chironomid larvae were most numerous macroinvertebrates. Mean abundance of chironomid immatures varied from 1246 to 32060 ind./m 2 , mean biomass, 0.104 to 3.591 g(wet weight)/m 2 , depending on site and season. In July, Chironomidae comprised 3-15% of Diptera biomass and 1-5% of macroinvertebrates biomass; in October, 13-49% and 7-20%, respectively.

Phenology of non-biting midges (Diptera Chironomidae) in peatland ponds, Central Poland

“…Taxa active during different times of day might have been omitted. The light trap and the net sampling transect were also located directly at the pond, which might have excluded Orthocladiinae from the catch, typically dominating on peatlands (Rosenberg et al 1988, Przhiboro & Paasivirta 2012. On the other hand, the pH of the nearby pond was also low (Bobrukiewicz & Szulc 2011), the diatom-inferred pH ranged between 3.75 and 5.6.…”

“…Their number was very low and often hardly observed. Przhiboro and Paasivirta (2012) used other, more precise methods of estimating abundance and species composition on moss carpets in Karelia. There, the abundances of collected chironomids were much higher at Bolshoe Rakovoe and Okhotniche Lakes than reported here from the investigated light trap at R¹bieñ reserve.…”

Pullimosina (Pullimosina) turfosa sp. nov. and other Sphaeroceridae (Diptera) from peat bogs in the North Caucasus (Russia)

“…Insect fauna of mires (peat bogs in a broad sense, i.e., peatlands where peat is currently being formed and accumulating) has been relatively well studied both in Europe and North America (for reviews, see Marshall et al 1999 ; Keiper et al 2002 ; Spitzer and Danks 2006 ; Batzer et al 2016 ) but most of the published faunal and ecological studies are devoted to Lepidoptera and Coleoptera while even in most complex studies (e.g., Harnisch 1925 ; Peus 1928 , 1932 ; Rabeler 1931 ; Pax 1937 ; Krogerus 1960 ; Nelson 1971 ; Coulson and Butterfield 1985 ; Drake et al 1989 ; Boyce 2004 ; Spungis 2008 ; Sushko 2012 ; Anderson et al 2017 ), as a rule, Diptera are treated only marginally, with faunal studies mostly devoted to selected families of this order (e.g., Rief 1996 ; Salmela 2004 ; Przhiboro and Paasivirta 2012 ). This is particularly true for Sphaeroceridae : the reliable data on the occurrence of sphaerocerid species on peat bogs are not very numerous and can mostly be found in studies published by specialists on this group, viz.…”