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Morava and Thaya in Lower Austria, and for the first time documented it in southern Burgenland (Milasowszky & Eder, unpublished).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

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Eder, E. & W. Hödl, in press. Schutzgebiete für Urzeitkrebse! Neue Aktivitäten an der Unteren March. G’stettn, in press.

Eder, E. & W. Hödl, in preparation. Large freshwater branchiopods in Austria:
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Hödl, W. & E. Eder, in press. Rediscovery of Leptestheria dahalacensis and Eoleptestheria ticinensis (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Spinicaudata): an overview on presence and conservation of clam shrimps in Austria. Hydrobiologia, in press.

Löffler, H. 1993. Anostraca, Notostraca, Laevicaudata and Spinicaudata of the Pannonian region and in its Austrian area. Hydrobiologia 264: 169-174.

Petkovski, S. 1991. On the presence of the genus Branchinecta Verill, 1869 (Crustacea, Anostraca) in Yugoslavia. Hydrobiologia 226: 17-27.

Rieder, N. 1989. Veränderungen und neuere Entwicklungen im Gefährdungsstatus der Phyllopoden. Schr. f. Landschaftspflege u. Naturschutz, Bonn-Bad Godesberg H. 29: 294-295.

Vornatscher, J. 1968. Anostraca, Notostraca, Conchostraca. Catalogus Faunae Austriae VIIIaa. Österr. Akad. Wiss.: 1-5.