Ecclisopteryx ivkae

Kladarić, Lidija, Popijač, Aleksandar, Hlebec, Dora, Previšić, Ana, Ćuk, Renata, Vučković, Ivan & Kučinić, Mladen, 2021, A surprising finding of Ecclisopteryx asterix Malicky, 1979 (Insecta, Trichoptera) in Croatia with notes to DNA barcoding and new distributional data of the subfamily Drusinae, Ecologica Montenegrina 48, pp. 71-85 : 79-80

2.4. New data on the distribution of Ecclisopteryx ivkae and E. keroveci in Croatia

Previous studies of the genus Ecclisopteryx have identified two species in Croatia: E. ivkae and E. keroveci ( Previšić et al. 2014a) . The species E. ivkae is the only endemic species of the subfamily Drusinae in the Croatian fauna, described from the Cetina River spring reach ( Previšić et al. 2014a). In later research, this species was also recorded in the spring area of the Rumin River, a tributary of the Cetina River ( Vučković et al. 2016). Within this study, we collected specimens of E. ivkae from localities where it was previously recorded.

In this study, we present a new record of E. keroveci from the confluence of the Una and Krka Rivers. This record is in line with the previously known range of this species that stretches from Gorski kotar in Croatia to the south-eastern area of Northern Macedonia ( Oláh et al. 2017; Previšić et al. 2014a; Vučković et al. 2016). Larvae of E. keroveci are scrapers, feeding on periphyton on the surface of stone pebbles and aquatic vegetation. Previšić et al. (2014a) provide a description of this species with a type locality in the area of the Sutjeska National Park in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a detailed presentation of the morphology of adult forms of both sexes and a detailed description of the larva. The findings of E. keroveci on the Papuk Mt. indicate a similar distribution as D. schmidi , and also certain similarities in the morphology of the larvae between the two species.

The distribution of Drusus schmidi and E. keroveci (disjunct ranges) indicates the faunal similarity of the Slavonian mountains with the Dinarides. The area of D. schmidi covers the continental parts of Croatia, and the area of the Dinarides. It stretches from Livno ( Bosnia and Herzegovina) in the west, to part of Kosovo in the east ( Ibrahimi et al. 2014; Marinković- Gospodnetić, 1979). A similar case is observed in the distribution of E. asterix at the Ivanščica Mt. and the Eastern Alps, where this species is considered stenoendemic. In the abovementioned cases, geological and hydrological processes in the past, together with the biological characteristics of the species, cause such a distributional pattern ( Kučinić et al. 2014; Previšić et al. 2013, 2014a).