Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Válogatott tanulmányok XIX. - Natura Somogyiensis 35. / Miscellanea 19. (Kaposvár, 2020)
Boóz, B. - Móra, A.: Data on the Chironomidae (Diptera) fauna of streams originating from the Mecsek Mountains, SW Hungary
88 Natura Somogyiensis between the different larval stages, closely related species are often indistinguishable in larval form and many species are not known as larvae. It is also noted that larvae sampling methods are not properly sensitive to rare species (e.g. Móra 2014). In contrast, pupal exuviae is acknowledged as a suitable technique to provide reliable data about distribution of chironomid species. Recently, studies on chironomid pupal exuviae has become more common in Hungary, because it can be collected and identified easier than larvae. Therefore, this method is more appropriate for faunistical studies (e.g. Wilson 1996). In this paper, new occurrence data for the chironomid fauna of main watercourses originating from the Mecsek Mountains are given, based on collection of pupal exuviae. Material and methods Four watercourses were included in this study: Pécsi-víz, Völgységi-patak, Karasica and Megyefai-árok. Floating pupal exuviae were collected at 11 sites along the selected streams between 2017 and 2020 (Table 1), according to the Chironomid Pupal Exuvial Technique (Wilson 1996). Exuviae were preserved in 70% etanol until further laboratory processing. All specimens were mounted on microscope slides for detailed investigations. Species identification was based on morphological charasteristics according to keys and descriptions by Langton & Visser (2003), Ekrem (2004), Michiels & Spies (2002), Stur & Ekrem (2006) and Vallenduuk & Morozova (2005). The nomenclature followed Spies & Saether (2013) for species names and Langton & Visser (2003) for pupal exuvial forms. New records in the species list contain the following information: locality with administration unit in parentheses, the date of collection, the total number of individuals (identified as exuviae), and the abbreviations for names of collectors in alphabetic order (BB = Bernadett Boóz, MA = Arnold Móra). Results This survey gives occurrence data of chironomids for the areas between the Mecsek Mountains and the Drava River and between the Mecsek Mountains and Danube River for the first time, resulted in 438 new species-level records for chironomid fauna of South-West Hungary. Altogether, 7892 exuviae belonging to 112 taxa (10 Tanypodinae, 3 Diamesinae, 2 Prodiamesinae, 44 Orthocladiinae and 53 Chironominae) were collected. The Hungarian occurrence of nine species, Conchapelopia triannulata (Goetghebuer, 1921), Chaetocladius laminatus Brundin, 1947, Limnophyes punctipennis (Goetghebuer, 1919), Orthocladius lignicola Kieffer, 1914, Paraphaenocladius impensus (Walker, 1856), Paracladopelma mikianum (Goetghebuer, 1937), Polypedilum pullum (Zetterstedt, 1838), Polypedilum quadriguttatum Kieffer, 1921 and Tanytarsus gibbosiceps Kieffer, 1922, were proved at first time. Additionally, many species are rare in Hungary with less than five records. Since no data were known from these streams previously, all species are new in their fauna. Furthermore, 36 species were found in the Mecsek Mountains (i.e. the uppermost sections of the streams) for the first time, which increased the number of species recorded from here to 93. Our results strongly suggest that the chironomid fauna not only of the South Transdanubian region, but that of Hungary is far from being fully discovered.
