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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 2422

Vassil Golemansky; [On the species composition and distribution of the Rhizopoda Fauna of Upper Smolian Lakes]. Bulletin de L'Institut de Zoologie et Musee,Academie Bulgare des Sciences XXVII:171-187, 1968

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The investigated Smolian Lakes, which are situated not far from the town of Smolian in the Rhodope Mountains, are typical landsliding lakes whose above-sea-level altitude is from 1,300 to 1,600 m. Their position in situation in shown in Fig.1. The Smolian Lakes are rather shallow and their littoral is covered with abundant water vegetation. Some of the situated below them landsliding terraces, which in the past were probably also small lakes, are completely covered with swampy vegetation and moss. The general view of the explored Smolian Lakes and the swampy terraces are presented in Figs.2-6. After the short characterization of the lakes, which are the objective of the present publication, the work also contains the rhizopod associations found in them. The exploration conducted in the Smolian Lakes resulted in the finding and identification of a total of 105 species and varieties of rhizopods belonging to the order Amoebida, the order Testacea and the class Heliozoa. Of them, 20 species and varieties are reported for the first time in the fauna of Bulgaria. The complete systematic list of rhizopods found, as well as their distribution in the explored Smolian Lakes and swampy terraces are given in Table 1. Finally the paper also contains some general conclusions about the distribution of the established rhizopods in the various zones and biotopes of the lakes. Of greatest ecological interest is the fauna of two of the explored lakes: the "Blatistoto" Lake and Lagot Lake. The central parts of both lakes are occupied by large 1-meter thick peat mosses. The rhizopod associations in the indicated sphagnum are formed mainly by typical sphagnobiont species, Amph. flavum and Hyalosphaenia papilio being dominant among them. This fact gives the author grounds to determine the rhizopod associations in the two lakes as Flavum-type according Harnisch (1927, 1929), characteristic of the live mountainous peat-bogs of Central Europe.