Research Article |
Corresponding author: Pal Boda ( boda.pal@okologia.mta.hu ) Academic editor: Thomas Henry
© 2015 Pal Boda, Tamás Bozóki, Tamás Vásárhelyi, Gábor Bakonyi, Gábor Várbíró.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Boda P, Bozóki T, Vásárhelyi T, Bakonyi G, Várbíró G (2015) Revised and annotated checklist of aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera of Hungary with comments on biodiversity patterns. ZooKeys 501: 89-108. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.501.8964
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A basic knowledge of regional faunas is necessary to follow the changes in macroinvertebrate communities caused by environmental influences and climatic trends in the future. We collected all the available data on water bugs in Hungary using an inventory method, a UTM grid based database was built, and Jackknife richness estimates and species accumulation curves were calculated. Fauna compositions were compared among Central-European states. As a result, an updated and annotated checklist for Hungary is provided, containing 58 species in 21 genera and 12 families. A total 66.8% of the total UTM 10 × 10 km squares in Hungary possess faunistic data for water bugs. The species number in grid cells numbered from 0 to 42, and their diversity patterns showed heterogeneity. The estimated species number of 58 is equal to the actual number of species known from the country. The asymptotic shape of the accumulative species curve predicts that additional sampling efforts will not increase the number of species currently known from Hungary. These results suggest that the number of species in the country was estimated correctly and that the species accumulation curve levels off at an asymptotic value. Thus a considerable increase in species richness is not expected in the future. Even with the species composition changing the chance of species turn-over does exist. Overall, 36.7% of the European water bug species were found in Hungary. The differences in faunal composition between Hungary and its surrounding countries were caused by the rare or unique species, whereas 33 species are common in the faunas of the eight countries. Species richness does show a correlation with latitude, and similar species compositions were observed in the countries along the same latitude. The species list and the UTM-based database are now up-to-date for Hungary, and it will provide a basis for future studies of distributional and biodiversity patterns, biogeography, relative abundance and frequency of occurrences important in community ecology, or the determination of conservation status.
Water bugs, estimated species richness, new species records, Notonecta reuteri reuteri
Aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera (water bugs) are important components of aquatic ecosystems for several reasons. Water bugs act both as consumers of algae and leaf litter at lower trophic levels and as prey for fish and other organisms at higher trophic levels (
There are conflicting opinions in the literature as to whether aquatic bugs are good indicators of the ecological status. However, communities of aquatic Heteropteraper se have generally been studied less frequently than the assemblages of aquatic macroinvertebrates as a whole (
The aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera are composed of two monophyletic infraorders (Gerromorpha, Nepomorpha), which together encompass 92% of the aquatic and semi-aquatic species, with the remaining species belonging to the more or less water dependent Leptopodomorpha (
The implementation of the WFD required intensive faunistical and ecological surveys across Hungary. The first country-wide survey of aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera was carried out in 2005 under the framework of the ECOSURV project (
The main goals of the present paper are (1) to provide a revised and annotated checklist of the aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera fauna of Hungary, (2) to assess the UTM-based distributional patterns during three distinct intervals of research to show the biodiversity trends in Hungary over more than 100 years, (3) to describe the current state-of-the-art of water bug studies in Hungary, and (4) to compare the number of species with those of the neighbouring countries. Finally, by synthesizing this information, key areas for future research are identified.
Hungary is located in the Carpathian Basin, the largest intramontane basin in Europe (
As a first step, a database was constructed that contained information on the taxa occurring in Hungary and their known locations. During the building of the database, two main sources were considered: published papers, and data from the regular surveillance monitoring operated by the National Environmental Authorities since 2005. As a result, 22 587 records from 198 papers published between 1878 and 2014 are included in the database. Records were only included when the specimen was identified to species and when the locality of occurrence was clearly indicated. For mapping the distribution patterns, all records were arranged into 10 × 10 km UTM grids. Non-verifiable records were omitted from the database. To reveal the trends in the growth of knowledge regarding water bugs, the database was divided into three time periods: the first part included all records before 1918, the second part included all records before 1999, and the third part contained all data before 2014, respectively. Each sub-database was then considered as a matrix with UTM grids in columns and species in rows. Each species has presence-absence data in cells appertaining only to those UTM grid cells, in which aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera data occurred during the given period. Based on these sub-databases, species accumulation curves and richness estimates were calculated with PAST 3.02 (
The composition of water bug assemblages of the neighbouring countries were compared using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). The dissimilarity of assemblages based on presence-absence data was quantified by the Jaccard index (
The names of the species were updated according to
Based on the results of data mining and the Hungarian surveillance monitoring, 58 water bug species representing 21 genera and 12 families are currently known from Hungary (Table
Updated checklist of aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha) occurred in Hungary, with the year of the first published occurrence and the author(s).
Taxa | Year of first published occurrence, and author |
---|---|
Nepomorpha | |
Nepidae | |
Nepa cinerea Linnaeus, 1758 | 1918 Horváth |
Ranatra (Ranatra) linearis (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1918 Horváth |
Micronectidae | |
Micronecta (Dichaetonecta) pusilla (Horváth, 1895) | 1918 Horváth |
Micronecta (Dichaetonecta) scholtzi (Fieber, 1860) | 1918 Horváth |
Micronecta (Micronecta) griseola Horváth, 1899 | 1916 Horváth |
Micronecta (Micronecta) minutissima (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1962 Wróblewski |
Micronecta (Micronecta) poweri poweri (Douglas & Scott, 1869) | 1960 Wróblewski |
Corixidae | |
Cymatia coleoptrata (Fabricius, 1777) | 1885 Horváth |
Cymatia rogenhoferi (Fieber, 1864) | 1885 Horváth |
Callicorixa praeusta praeusta (Fieber, 1848) | 1959 Soós |
Corixa affinis Leach, 1817 | 1918 Horváth |
Corixa panzeri Fieber, 1848 | 1959 Soós |
Corixa punctata (Illiger, 1807) | 1918 Horváth |
Hesperocorixa linnaei (Fieber, 1848) | 1918 Horváth |
Hesperocorixa sahlbergi (Fieber, 1848) | 1918 Horváth |
Paracorixa concinna concinna (Fieber, 1848) | 1885 Horváth |
Sigara (Microsigara) hellensii (C.R. Sahlberg, 1819) | 2009 Kiss |
Sigara (Pseudovermicorixa) nigrolineata nigrolineata (Fieber, 1848) | 1918 Horváth |
Sigara (Retrocorixa) limitata limitata (Fieber, 1848) | 1918 Horváth |
Sigara (Retrocorixa) semistriata (Fieber, 1848) | 1918 Horváth |
Sigara (Sigara) assimilis (Fieber, 1848) | 1959 Soós |
Sigara (Sigara) striata (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1918 Horváth |
Sigara distincta (Fieber, 1848) | 1918 Horváth |
Sigara (Subsigara) falleni (Fieber, 1848) | 1918 Horváth |
Sigara (Subsigara) fossarum (Leach, 1817) | 1990 Bakonyi |
Sigara (Vermicorixa) lateralis (Leach, 1818) | 1918 Horváth |
Naucoridae | |
Ilyocoris cimicoides cimicoides (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1918 Horváth |
Aphelocheiridae | |
Aphelocheirus (Aphelocheirus) aestivalis (Fabricius, 1794) | 1918 Horváth |
Notonectidae | |
Anisops sardeus sardeus Herrich-Schaeffer, 1849 | 2010 Soós |
Notonecta (Notonecta) glauca glauca Linnaeus, 1758 | 1918 Horváth |
Notonecta (Notonecta) lutea Müller, 1776 | 1918 Horváth |
Notonecta (Notonecta) maculata Fabricius, 1794 | 2009 Soós |
Notonecta (Notonecta) meridionalis Poisson, 1926 | 2009 Soós |
Notonecta (Notonecta) viridis Delcourt, 1909 | 1931 Horváth |
Notonecta (Notonecta) obliqua Thunberg, 1787 | 1938 Visnya |
Notonecta (Notonecta) reuteri reuteri Hungerford, 1928 | recent paper |
Pleidae | |
Plea minutissima minutissima Leach, 1817 | 1918 Horváth |
Gerromorpha | |
Mesoveliidae | |
Mesovelia furcata Mulsant et Rey, 1852 | 1915 Horváth |
Mesovelia thermalis Horváth, 1915 | 1999 Kiss |
Hydrometridae | |
Hydrometra gracilenta Horváth, 1899 | 1899 Horváth |
Hydrometra stagnorum (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1878 Horváth |
Hebridae | |
Hebrus (Hebrus) pusillus pusillus (Fallén, 1807) | 1878 Horváth |
Hebrus (Hebrusella) ruficeps Thomson, 1871 | 1918 Horváth |
Veliidae | |
Microvelia (Microvelia) buenoi Drake, 1920 | 1988 Vásárhelyi and Bakonyi |
Microvelia (Microvelia) reticulata (Burmeister, 1835) | 1916 Horváth |
Microvelia (Picaultia) pygmaea (Dufour, 1833) | 1916 Horváth |
Velia (Plesiovelia) caprai caprai Tamanini, 1947 | 1923 Horváth |
Velia (Plesiovelia) affinis filippii Tamanini, 1947 | 1938 Visnya |
Velia (Plesiovelia) saulii Tamanini, 1947 | 1969 Benedek |
Gerridae | |
Aquarius najas (De Geer, 1773) | 1918 Horváth |
Aquarius paludum paludum Fabricius, 1794 | 1918 Horváth |
Gerris (Gerris) argentatus Schummel, 1832 | 1878 Horváth |
Gerris (Gerris) lacustris (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1878 Horváth |
Gerris (Gerris) odontogaster (Zetterstedt, 1828) | 1918 Horváth |
Gerris (Gerris) thoracicus Schummel, 1832 | 1918 Horváth |
Gerris (Gerris) gibbifer Schummel, 1832 | 1918 Horváth |
Gerris (Gerriselloides) asper (Fieber, 1860) | 1918 Horváth |
Limnoporus rufoscutellatus (Latreille, 1807) | 1918 Horváth |
Although the first checklist listed only 31 species (
Figure
Observed and estimated species richness based on the checklist of given periods. Cumulative species curves produced by PAST 3.02 software package. A based on data before the first checklist (published in 1918) B based on data before the second checklist (published in 1999) C based on the whole database (present work).
There are 1061 UTM grid cells in Hungary, 709 of which contain aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera records (66.8% of the total) (Figure
Aggregate records of aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha) in Hungary depicted on UTM grids map. Empty circles refer to UTM grids with a lower number of species (N < 10), half full circles refer to UTM grids with an average number of species (10 < N < 30), and full circles refer to the most diverse UTM grids (N > 30).
The number of species occurring in Hungary (58) corresponds to 36.7% of the water bug fauna of Europe. The number of species was higher in Hungary than in Slovakia (55), Serbia (54), and Slovenia (49); almost the same as in Croatia (59); and slightly lower than in Austria (62), Ukraine (68) and Romania (72) (Table
Number of species of aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera from Hungary and neighbouring countries compared to the 158 species in Europe. Data on the number of established species in specific countries taken from different papers.
Countries | Gerromorpha | Nepomorpha | Total number of species | % of the total number of species in Europe |
---|---|---|---|---|
Slovenia | 20 | 29 | 49 | 31.0 |
Slovakia | 20 | 35 | 55 | 34.2 |
Serbia | 23 | 31 | 54 | 34.2 |
Hungary | 21 | 37 | 58 | 36.7 |
Croatia | 22 | 37 | 59 | 37.3 |
Austria | 22 | 40 | 62 | 39.2 |
Ukraine | 24 | 44 | 68 | 43.0 |
Romania | 28 | 43 | 72 | 45.6 |
Material examined. Notonecta reuteri reuteri Hungerford, 1928: Érd, 1934, 3 females, Pudleiner lgt., P. Boda & P. Kment det. (coll. Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest).
Former publications mentioned N. reuteri reuteri as a species expected to occur in the Hungarian fauna (
Increased sampling effort contributes to a better knowledge of regional faunas (
Is the Hungarian aquatic and semiaquatic bug fauna, currently at 58 species, completely known? Our results suggest that the number of species in the country is estimated correctly and that the species accumulation curve levels off at an asymptotic value, a considerable increase in species richness is not expected in the future. It is clear that species composition may change and that the opportunity of species turnover exists. Turnover of species, or finding additional species new to Hungary, depends on the current characteristics of water bodies and on the biological attributes controlling the dispersal and persistence of their potential colonists (
Among these expected species, some alien species show a recent range expansion northwards in Europe (
The national biodiversity monitoring system of Hungary is operated at approximately 1200 samplings stations from 558 UTM grid cells and thus provides a broad spatial coverage. With the addition of UTM grid cells where further studies were carried out with various purposes and which provided valid data (198 papers altogether), the spatial coverage has now reached two thirds of the area of Hungary. The most diverse grid cells may have particular significance for biodiversity conservation as hotspots of species richness. However, the eight grids with an outstandingly high number of species (N > 30) can also result from unusually high sampling effort. Five from the eight cells belong to Lake Balaton and its tributaries, one of the most frequently studied shallow lakes in Europe (BT70:
A comparison of species composition with that of neighbouring countries is difficult because of the high variation in latitude, area, climate, altitude, and the number and types of watercourses. In Hungary, all but one catchment area originates in the surrounding mountain ranges (the Alps to the west, Carpathians to the north and east, and Dinarids to the south) and thus extends beyond the country borders. As a result, drift phenomena from upstream reaches can be more frequent and important than one might think. No species occurs exclusively in Hungary, which could be explained by these geographical features, the fact that the country borders are not aligned with any geographical feature and that aquatic bugs have good dispersal abilities. Dispersal studies indicate that 32% of the fauna can be found in the air as common species (
The plot of the NMDS and the geographical map has shown the same organizing principles. Hungary and Slovakia together are roughly at the same latitude with Austria and two other countries with similar geographical/environmental conditions (Romania, Ukraine), whereas countries reaching into the Mediterranean Region are located further south (Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia). The differences in faunal composition seen in the plot should be due to the rare or unique species, and 33 species are common in the faunas of the eight countries (Suppl. material
We conclude that the species list and the UTM-based database are now up-to-date for Hungary. These will provide a basis for future studies of distributional and biodiversity patterns, biogeography, relative abundances and frequency of occurrences important in community ecology, or the determination of conservation status.
We appreciate the efforts of all who have collected aquatic and semi-aquatic bugs and who have published the data. We thank Petr Kment (National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic), Rózsa Kiss, Gabriella Bodnár, Gábor Borics (MTA Centre for Ecological Research), Dávid Rédei, András Orosz, Mária Ronkayné Tóth (Hungarian Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology), Csaba Deák, Krisztián Kovács, Attila Petri, Zsolt Nagy-László, Márk Ficsór, Ildikó P. Holló, Attila Czirok, Valér Horvai, Balázs Cser, Melinda Móré, Andrea Akác (Regional Inspectorates of National Inspectorate For Environment and Nature). Szabolcs Lengyel, Eszter Krasznai helped to improve the English text. Thanks also for the valuable and constructive comments of two anonymous reviewers.
Checklist of aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha) occurred in Hungary, and the neighbouring countries
Data type: occurence data