Natura Croatica Issue number: Natura Croatica, Vol. 19 No.1

Fauna vodenih muha plesačica (Diptera, Empididae: Hemerodromiinae i Clinocerinae) Nacionalnog parka Plitvička jezera

Authors: Marija Ivković, Marko Miliša, Zlatko Mihaljević

Authors and affiliation

  • Marija Ivković Division of Zoology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Rooseveltov trg 6, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
  • Marko Miliša Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Rooseveltov trg 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
  • Zlatko Mihaljević Department of Biology, Division of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Rooseveltov trg 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Adult aquatic dance flies were collected in the Plitvice Lakes National Park from 2005 to 2009 using various sampling methods. Sampling was done at 13 sampling sites representing four main types of karst aquatic habitats: spring, stream, tufa barriers and lakes. A total of 22 species were recorded belonging to 6 genera. Four species (Chelifera pyrenaica Vaillant, 1981; Hemerodromia laudatoria Collin, 1927; Clinocera wesmaeli (Macquart, 1835); Wiedemannia (Philolutra) aquilex (Loew, 1869)) are new to Croatian fauna. The highest species richness was recorded for the Bijela rijeka Spring. The cluster analysis showed that sites group together not just by similarity of community composition but as well in similarity of habitat types. Clustering of geographically nearby sites is also observed. This study represents an important contribution to the knowledge of dance flies fauna of Croatia and of various karstic habitats in general.

Keywords

aquatic Empididae, fauna, NP Plitvice, species richness, karst habitats