Checklist of benthic macroinvertebrates of high altitude ponds of the Tatra Mountains (Central Europe) with new records of two species for Slovakia

Abstract

A checklist of benthic macroinvertebrates of ponds of Tatra Mountains is presented. The checklist comprises 122 taxa including the first records of Derotanypus cf. sibiricus (Kruglova & Chernovskii, 1940) (Diptera: Chironomidae) and Arctocorisa carinata (Sahlberg, 1918) (Heteroptera) from Slovakia. The most diverse pond site supported 28 taxa, the minimum number of recorded taxa was 2. The richest group was Chironomidae (Diptera) constituting almost half of the total diversity (58 taxa), followed by Trichoptera with 15 taxa. The other higher taxonomic groups were represented by considerably lower taxa number. Relatively high number of recorded taxa underlines important contribution of small lentic waterbodies to regional biodiversity of high-altitude ecosystems.