European Micropezids & Tanypezids

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Wetland Kerkini Survey: Trap summary 01; Malaise traps

Publication Type:Journal Article
Year of Publication:2009
Authors:G. Ramel
Pagination:1–13
Keywords:diptera, Greece, malaise trap, Megamerina, Megamerina dolium, report
Abstract:

Lake Kerkini is an artificial lake, created in 1932 on the river Strymon immediately south of the Greek border with Bulgaria and 80 km north of Thessaloniki. The area was originally an inland delta, a huge marsh where the river unloaded the debris it had collected on its journey past the Ryla and Pirin mountains of Bulgaria, and as a wetland habitat it was unique in Europe. The area is currently a RAMSAR and NATURA2000 site as well as a Wetland of International Importance for birds. To the north the lake is bounded by the 2,000, metre Serbo-Macedonian massif (Kerkini mountains) which forms the border with Bulgaria but which is split by the narrow Ruppel Gorge through which the river enters Greece. To the southwest the lake is bordered by the 1,000 metre Mavrovouni mountains. The nature reserve includes parts of both of these mountain ranges, extending to the summit of the Kerkini mountains, all of the riverine habitat between the border and the lake, about 20 km, and has a total area of about 200 square km. The vegetation of the area is classified as para-mediterraean and mountainous mediterranean. Wetland Kerkini is the largest national park in Greece. The Longitude, latitude and altitude data supplied for the traps are from a Garmin 12 XL GPS The duration that each trap was run was not scientifically chosen in many of the cases but arose as a result of a variety of negative influences, the exceptions to this were the Beles, Ramna and Petritsi traps which were all run for a year and the Procom trap which was run for most of a year over two separate years. Of the other trap sites Strymon (site 1 below) was terminated when the trap was stolen, Lithotopos (site 3 below) was terminated after the 2nd occurrence of vandalism required the trap to be dismantled for extensive repairs, Kerkini (site 4 below) was terminated when unseasonal snow and unusually strong winds destroyed it and Midway (site 13 below) which was destroyed in a storm. The collecting bottles for each of the traps were half filled with 70% ethyl alcohol and the specimens, after being sorted under a binocular microscope were stored in plastic vials in 70% ethyl alcohol before being posted from Greece to various locations for identification.

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