First Report of Arthropod Fauna in Flooded Plains of Northern Patagonia (38° S, Araucania Region Chile)

Abstract

In northern Patagonia, there is a kind of water body characterized as flooded plains (vegas), resulting from heavy rains. They have submerged vegetation that sustains aquatic insects and crustaceans, including burrowing crayfish of the genus Parastacus. The object of the present study was to present the first description of the community structure of three such water bodies. The results revealed the existence of seven species in the only site with Parastacus pugnax Poeppig, 1835, whereas in the sites where P. pugnax was absent there were one and three species respectively. The niche-sharing null model revealed the absence of niche-sharing due to interspecific absence. This kind of habitat presents marked heterogeneity, attributable to specific micro-environmental variations.