Prague

Abstract

Prague, which is the capital of the Czech Republic, occupies 496 km2 and has a population of 1.2 million people. This chapter describes six of the major invertebrate groups that occur in the city: Arachnida (spiders and related species)- 504 species or 58 % of the national species; Coleoptera-Carabidae (groundbeetles)-362 species found between 1790 and 2013 or 70 % of the national list of ground beetles; Lepidoptera (diurnal butterflies)-119 species or c. 74 % of the 161 species recorded in the country; Mollusca (molluscs)-146 species or 65 % of the national species; Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) 41 species or >50 % of the national species; and Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets)-44 species or 53 % of the national species. Prague is one of the European cities where mollusc fauna has been studied in detail. Altogether, 146 species of gastropods and bivalves were recorded here, which is 60 % of the Czech Republic's mollusc fauna. This surprisingly high species diversity reflects the geological and geomorphological diversity of the city that is crucial for molluscs. The gradient from eusynanthropic species over common assemblages of catholic species to the scattered network of nature reserves inhabited by rare and protected species is described. The highest concentration of non-native mollusc species in the Czech Republic was recorded only in Prague.