Aquatic Beetles in Connemara National Park, Co GalwayAuthor(s): Stephen McCormackSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Jun. 30, 2005), pp. 69-72Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25536641 .

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Ir. Nat J. Volume 28 No 2 2005

Aquatic beetles In Connemara National Park, Co Galway Stephen McCormack

Department of Zoology, National University of Ireland, Galway

Presented in this paper are records of aquatic beetles compiled from a survey of

Connemara National Park carried out in 2001 and 2003. The aim of the survey was to

compile a list of the aquatic beetle species in the Park, particularly in upland areas as

these are seldom visited by cofeopterists. Brief remarks are given on the more notable

records.

Connemara National Park encompasses an area of about 5000ha in north-west Connemara. The landscape of the region is dominated by the quartzite peaks of the Twelve Bens Mountains, some of which lie within the Park. Frequent rainfall and steep-sided mountains produce an abundance of small trickles and streams which descend into wide bottomed valleys to join larger streams with riffles and pools. Extensive areas of Atlantic blanket bog cover the lowland areas of the park, however Sphagnum pools are not as

frequent as might be expected. Sphagnum pools occur in turf cuttings near Kylemore and the

village of Letterfrack. A number of standing waterbodies within the park are man-made

including two ponds at the Visitor Centre and a reservoir on Diamond Hill. There are no

previous published records of aquatic beetles from Connemara National Park, however Walton (1967) recorded five species from pools on the nearby peak of Doughruagh (526m) in

1958. Amongst these were Dytiscus lapponicus Gyllenhal and Agabus arcticus (Paykull), both

species usually restricted in Ireland to upland habitats.

Results

A total of 30 collections was made and some sites were sampled more than once so that 25 different sites were sampled. These are listed in Table 1. A list of the species recorded is given in Table 2.

Discussion

Forty-six species, considered to be aquatic by Ashe et al. (1998), were recorded. The sites sampled can be broadly described as: upland streams (sites 1-3), lowland streams (4-7), upland pools (8-13), Sphagnum pools (14-18), seepages and drains (19-22), muddy pools (23-24) and large ponds (25). Two species associated with running water in upland areas:

Hydroporus longulus and Hydraena gracilis, were discovered by turning stones in small streams and trickles. Hydroporus longulus, a rare species of seepages and flushes (Nelson et al. 1997), was recorded only once as a single specimen despite searches at a number of suitable sites. Hydraena gracilis, which has been recorded extensively in upland areas in the north of Ireland (Nelson et al. 1998), was also recorded in small numbers. Streams at low altitude were characterized by the presence of elmid beetles and small dytiscids such as: Stictotarsus duodecimpustulatus, Oreodytes sanmarkii and Stictonectes lepidus.

In comparison with other mountain ranges in the west of Ireland there are very few

large pools at altitude in the Twelve Bens to harbour upland species. Dytiscus lapponicus, a

large flightless glacial relic, could not be found in the two largest and potentially most suitable

pools on Benbrack (sites 12 and 13). However, two other mountain specialists, Agabus arcticus and Stictotarsus multilineatus, were present in abundance in these pools and also occurred in other smaller pools at altitude. At low altitude a small number of Sphagnum pools were sampled. Treading on Sphagnum and sieving the puddle created revealed the presence of species tolerant of low pH such as Hydroporus tristis, Hydropoms gyllenhalii, Helophorus flavipes and Anacaena globulus. The ponds at the Visitor Centre were the most productive sites in terms of numbers of species and produced one notable species, a single male of

Hydroporus melanarius. This is an uncommon species of shallow upland seepages and pools

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Ir. Nat J. Volume 28 No 2 2005

Table 1. Sites sampled in Connemara National Park, with site descriptions and sampling dates.

No. Grid. Ref. Site description Date(s) sampled

. . First and second order streams at 300-400m 7 orVH inft?nM altitude on Mweelin mountain

2 L7574 First order streams at 500m altitude on Bencullagh 17.3.2003

3 L772543 First order streams at 450m on Muckanaght 7.2001

4 L711574 Sruffaunboy Stream, second order stream with g 2001 .,

g 20Q3 plant debris and fine gravel substrate

>

5 L741575 Polladirk River: large stream with riffles and pools 11 g 2Q03 over gravel

c . 7Coc77 Mweelin River: fifth order stream with riffles and A ? 0 onno

pools over gravel

7 L702574 Owengarve Stream: second order stream with ., g 2QQ3

flooded edges at outflow to Barnaderg Bay

8 L763563 Peaty pool on Mweelin mountain at 450m altitude 7.2001

9 L768541 Shallow peat pools on Muckanaght at 580m 7 2001 altitude

10 L744546 Shallow peaty pool at 600m on Maumonght 17.3.2003

11 L757563 ^mall SP^ ">

ed?ed P?o1 with rockV bottom at 7 2001 10 8 2003

400m on Knockbrack

12 L760559 LarQe sPna9num and Peat edged pool at 500m on 1Q g 20Q3

Benbrack

13 L765558 Large stony bottomed pool at 550m on Benbrack 10.8.2003

14 L7157 Shallow Sphagnum pools in cutover bog at 80m 7 2001 altitude

15 L712572 Shallow Sphagnum pool in old turf cutting 11.8.2003

16 L711576 Stagnant pools \n Freyer's Wood with leaf litter 7.2001

17 L710574 Mossy pools in Ellis Wood 11.8.2003

18 L711575 Pitfall traps in Sphagnum by stream in Ellis Wood 29.6-12.7.2001

18 L712572 Peaty and gravelly drain by road 11.8.2003

on 1 7coc7c Ditch in bog with running water and Potamogeton . A Q onno

polygonifolius

01 1 7^C7o Peat bottomed drain in cutover bog with Molinia -, onn? 21 L714573 ^ ^ 7.2001

22 L7256 Deep pool in stream in blanket bog 7.2001

23 L704573 Small muddy trampled pool 9.8.2003

24 L705573 Muddy pool by Owengarve Stream 9.8.2003

Ponds at Visitor Centre with substrate of moss, g 2001 16 3 2QQ3 25 L711575 gravel, peat and filamentous alga and emergent Q' 9

'

_vegetation_a.a.^uuj_

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Ir. Nat J. Volume 28 No 2 2005

Table 2. Aquatic beetles recorded from Connemara National Park and sites where they occurred (numbers refer to sites listed in Table 1).

Species Sites

Gyrinus substriatus Stephens 5,8,11,25

Gyrinus minutus Fabricius 20

Haliplus confinis Stephens 25

Haliplus fulvus (Fabricius) 4,25

Haliplus iineatocoiiis (Marsham) 4,6,7,25

Haliplus ruficollis (DeGeer) 25

Haliplus sibiricus Motschulsky 25

Noterus clavicornis (DeGeer) 25

Hygrotus inaequalis (Fabricius) 25

Hydroporus gyllenhalii (Sch ic-dte) 15,20

Hydroporus longulus Mulsant 2

Hydroporus melanarius Sturm 25

Hydroporus nigrita (Fabricius) 6,12,16,19,23,25

Hydroporus obscurus Sturm 4,12

Hydroporus paiustris (Linnaeus) 4,12,19,24,25

Hydroporus pubescens (Gyllenhal) 1,3,6,9,10,12,21,23,25

Hydroporus tristis (Paykull) 15,16,19,20

Oreodytes sanmarkii (Sahlberg) 4

Stictotarsus duodecimpustulatus (Fabricius) 4,20

Stictotarsus multilineatus (Falkenstrc-m) 11,12,13

Stictonectes lepidus (Olivier) 4,25

Agabus arcticus (Paykull) 8,11,12,13

Agabus bipustuiatus (Linnaeus) 9,11,14,24,25

Agabus guttatus (Paykull) 1,8,19

Agabus paludosus (Fabricius) 22

Agabus sturmii (Gyllenhal) 6,18,24

llybius montanus (Stephe ns) 12

Rhantus suturelfus (Harris) 11

Acilius sulcatus (Linnaeus) 11

Dytiscus semisulcatus Muller 21

Hydraena riparia Kugelann 18

Hydraena gracilis Germar 1

Limnebius truncatellus (Thunberg) 3,6,24

Helophorus flavipes Fabricius 1,3,10,14,23,24

Anacaena globulus (Paykull) 1,3,4,13,14,20,24

Anacaena lutescens (Stephens) 25

Laccobius atratus (Rottenburg) 19,23

Enochrus affinis (Thunberg) 14

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Ir. Nat J. Volume 28 No 2 2005

Table 2 (continued). Aquatic beetles recorded from Connemara National Park and sites where

they occurred (numbers refer to sites listed in Table 1).

Species Sites

Enochrus fuscipennis (Thomson) 12,15,20

Hydrobius fuscipes (Linnaeus) 11,24

Coelostoma orbiculare (Fabricius) 20

Dryops fundus (Erichson) 20

Elmis aenea (MOHer) 6

Limn/us volckmari (Panzer) 5

Esolus parallelepipedus (Muller) 6

Donacia simplex Fabricius 25

that sometimes occurs in lowland situations. It has been recorded previously from several sites in upland areas in Northern Ireland and from Kerry (Nelson et al. 1997).

The number of aquatic beetle species so far recorded from Connemara National Park is low but includes a number of species associated with upland habitats which are seldom recorded. The low species richness may be due to the predominance of peaty and Sphagnum rich waters and the limited number of standing waterbodies in the Park. For example, Speight et al. (2000) recorded 43 species of aquatic beetles from three localities with calcareous or mineral flushes in north Mayo. Further work, particularly in spring and autumn, would certainly add to the above list and contribute to knowledge of species and habitats In Connemara National Park.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Dr Noel Kirby for permission to sample beetles in the National Park. Fieldwork in 2001 was undertaken whilst employed on a bursary from Connemara National Park. I wish to thank Professor Garth Foster for checking the identity of some specimens. I am also grateful to Eugenie Regan for comments on the text.

References

ASHE, P., O'CONNOR, J. P & MURRAY, D. A. (1998) A checklist of Irish aquatic insects. Occasional Publication of The Irish Biogeographical Society No 3. Irish

Biogeographical Society, Dublin.

NELSON, B., FOSTER, G., WEYL, R., & ANDERSON, R. (1997) The distribution of aquatic Coleoptera in Northern Ireland. Part 1: familes Haliplidae, Hygrobiidae, Noteridae, Dytiscidae and Gyrinidae. Bulletin ofthe Irish Biogeographical Society 20:179-296.

NELSON, B., FOSTER, G., WEYL, R., & ANDERSON, R. (1998) The distribution of aquatic Coleoptera in Northern Ireland. Part 2: familes Hydraenidae, Helophoridae, Hydrochidae, Hydrophilidae, Elmidae and Dryopidae. Bulletin of the Irish

Biogeographical Society 22:128-193.

SPEIGHT, M. C. D., GOOD, J. A., MARNELL, F., MOORKENS, E. & NELSON, B. (2000) Invertebrate (Arachnida, Insecta, Mollusca) records from some County Mayo localities, Ireland. Bulletin ofthe Irish Biogeographical Society 24: 43-68.

WALTON, G. A. (1967) A site of particular zoological interest - Doughruagh Mountain,

Kylemore, Co. Galway. Irish Naturalist's Journal 15: 309-312.

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