Rediscovery of Chirocephalus carnuntanus and Tanymastix
stagnalis: New Data on Large Branchiopod Occurrence in Austria.
IUCN
Anostracan News 3/2 (1995): 2
Erich
Eder & Walter Hödl
Institute
for Zoology, Univ. Vienna
Althanstr.14,
A-1090 Wien, Austria
Löffler
(1994) reported four of the eight known Austrian anostracan species
known historically from Austria to be extinct in Austria. During a
study on large freshwater branchiopods in Austria, we revisited all
habitats reported in the literature. Additionally, we screened astatic
water bodies in the Pannonian lowlands of Eastern Austria which were
formerly not known to have branchiopods. In doing this, we have been
able to find that all but one of the anostracan species ever reported
from Austria are still present.
Branchipus
schaefferi was already known to us from two sites in middle
Burgenland and Lower Austria since 1993 (Hödl, 1994). We documented
it from several new sites in the Burgenland’s Seewinkel region and
in the Wiener Becken of Lower Austria in late spring 1995 and, for
the first time since 1960, near the river Morava in autumn 1995. We
found Eubranchipus grubii at several previously known
sites and at new sites along the rivers Morava and Thaya in Lower
Austria, and for the first time documented it in southern Burgenland
(Milasowszky & Eder, unpublished). Chirocephalus shadini
still occurs at the single known locality in Austria near the Morava
River (Hödl & Rieder, 1993). Branchinecta orientalis
and the rare Branchinecta ferox, formerly not recognised
as two distinct species (Petkovski, 1991), can both be found in the
Seewinkel region.
The
latest record of Tanymastix stagnalis dates from 1979
in the private collection of H. Palme, Neureisenberg, at a site near
the river Leitha which has not been flooded since then. Chirocephalus
carnuntanus, named after the Roman settlement "Carnuntum" in
Lower Austria, was last found in Austria in 1963 (NHMW, Acquis. No.
1984.XXI.1.) and has not been documented since then. We rediscovered
both C. carnuntanus and T. stagnalis in April
and June 1995 in the Seewinkel region near the lake Neusiedlersee.
Chirocephalus carnuntanus occurred in shallow alkaline
pans typical of this region, whereas, T. stagnalis was
found in a temporary pool filled by heavy rainfall. Specimens of these
rediscovered species were deposited in the Crustacea collection of
the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHMW, Nrs. 12946, 12947).
In
addition to anostracans, we found the notostracan species Lepidurus
apus in Burgenland province for the first time since 1979 (Eder
& Hödl, unpubl.). It was abundant in the flood plains of
the rivers Morava and Thaya. We found Triops cancriformis at
several new sites along the Lower Morava, in northern and middle Burgenland,
and in the Seewinkel region.
The
investigations of conchostracans showed all the spinicaudatan species
ever reported in Austria are still around. This includes Eoleptestheria
ticinensis which was thought to have been extinct since 1879 (Eder
& Hödl, 1995; Hödl & Eder, in press). Eoleptestheria
ticinensis, Leptestheria dahalacensis, Cyzicus tetracerus, Limnadia
lenticularis, and Imnadia yeyetta occur in the flood plains
of the Lower Morava and near its mouth ; L. dahalacensis
and I. yeyetta were also found in the Seewinkel region.
Considering
what we now know about large branchiopods in Austria, out of 16 historically
reported species (Vornatscher, 1968; Hödl & Eder, 1995) only
the fairy shrimp Streptocephalus torvicornis and the laevicaudatan
Conchostraca Lynceus brachyurus are most probably extinct in
Austria. We could document 14 species from the Pannonian region of
Austria in 1994 and 1995. However, all Austrian large freshwater branchiopod
species should be considered endangered. The main threats are agricultural
activities and artificial changes of the hydrologic conditions (Löffler,
1993). As in most animal groups, large branchiopod protection can
only be achieved by habitat protection (Rieder, 1989). The wetlands
of the Danube and Morava are protected under the Ramsar Convention
of 1971, a Council-of-Europe resolution of 1975, and the Bern Convention
of 1979. However, the protection offered by these instruments has
not been effectively executed in practice (Farasin & Lazowski,
1990). Only one year ago was the Ramsar region of Seewinkel in northern
Burgenland declared a National Park (Dick et al., 1994). Listing
the threatened species in the Austrian Red Data Book of Endangered
Species (Gepp, 1984) as well as protection of outstanding habitats
is our current goal (Eder & Hödl, in prep.). Conservational
measures have already started at some locations due to our initiative
(Eder & Hödl, in press).
References
Dick,
G., Dvorak, M., Grüll, A., Kohler, B., Rauer, G. (Eds.) 1994.
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Eder,
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E. & W. Hödl, in preparation. Large freshwater branchiopods
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shrimps in Austria. Hydrobiologia, in press.
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