Vienna (OTS) – For those who often spend time in the garden or nature, the striking green one is Florfliege usually not unknown. Their larvae are great enemies of aphids. Less well known is the graceful ant maiden and its larvae – the so-called ant lions. These lurk in self-made sand traps. When a prey animal approaches, the antlion throws sand at it. They belong to the insect group of reticulated winged insects. There are around 5,500 species worldwide and around 120 in Central Europe.
But there are also less well-known representatives among the web-winged birds. This includes, for example, the family Nevrorthidae with the species Nevrorthus apatelios. Dr. Susanne Randolf, insect researcher at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, is particularly fascinated by these inconspicuous, light brown animals.
In 1929, Randolf’s predecessor, the then curator of the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Dr. Hans Zerny, on his trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Dalmatia, a single adult male of N. apatelios collect. Since then there has been no documented sighting.
In 2022, several scientists from the NHM Vienna (including Mag. Michaela Brojer, Dr. Elisabeth Haring and Dr. Michael Duda) took part in the Neretva Science Week as part of the “Save the Blue Heart of Europe” campaign. The week is organized every year by Riverwatch, EuroNatur, Center for Environment and ACT Foundation (both Bosnia and Herzegovina) as well as the Manfred Hermsen Foundation.
A diverse team of 48 researchers from 7 countries gathered in the small town of Ulog (Bosnia-Herzegovina) to contribute to the conservation of the Neretva River. The river is 230 km long, flows through Bosnia and Herzegovina before flowing into the Adriatic Sea on the Croatian coast.
The scientists collected data to characterize this pristine and critically endangered river ecosystem. They focused on describing aspects of river-related biodiversity by combining their expertise on various aquatic and terrestrial plant and animal groups. They also examined the environmental conditions that promote this biodiversity and a range of ecosystem functions.
Susanne Randolf was able to produce two larvae from the collected material at the NHM Vienna N. apatelios prove and present it in a publication. “They confirm the occurrence of the species in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the first time in almost 100 years!” says the web-winged wing expert and first author of the article.
The life cycle of the species is amphibious, split between land and water. Adults can be found near bodies of water on overhanging branches of deciduous trees and in bushes. There they look for aphid excretions – so-called honeydew – from their food. They are rarely caught and are difficult to find even with a targeted search.
As larvae, they live in water and are predatory with poisonous suction pincers. They are very slender and long, have long bristles and quickly snake back and forth through the gaps between gravel and coarse sand in search of prey. They are undemanding when it comes to water temperature, but only live in clean, oxygen-rich waters and are therefore a good indicator of particularly high water quality.
The habitat in which the larvae of the Nevrorthidae occur depends on year-round, non-drying flowing waters with gravel-shaped riverbeds, larger blocks and coarse sand in areas with intact natural vegetation.
There are still such rivers on the Balkan Peninsula that flow through almost untouched landscapes. These ecosystems have survived the last decades of human intervention in nature, which has severely affected rivers across most of the European continent and beyond. However, the rivers of the Balkans are also in danger today, as more than 3,500 hydroelectric power plants are currently planned there, the construction of which would entail major changes and loss of habitat for animal river inhabitants. The discovery of the so rare N. apatelios Larvae underlines the importance of preserving this valuable natural heritage in the future.
Further links:
https://journals.uni-lj.si/NaturaSloveniae/
https://balkanrivers.net/de/neretva-wissenschaftswoche
https://balkanrivers.net/de/news/
Pressematerial
Questions & Contact:
Scientific query note:
Dr. Susanne Randolph
2. Zoological Department of the NHM Vienna
Tel.: + 43 (1) 521 77 – 345
susanne.randolf@nhm-wien.ac.at
General query information:
Mag. Irina Kubadinov
Head of press department, press spokesperson, NHM Vienna
Tel.: + 43 (1) 521 77 – 410
irina.kubadinow@nhm-wien.ac.at
Mag. Nikolett Kertész-Schenk, Bakk. BA MAS
Press department, NHM Vienna
Tel.: + 43 (1) 521 77 – 626
nicolett. garden@nhm-wien.ac.at
#century #slumber #NHM #entomologist #rediscovers #reticulated #winged #beetle #species #years
