An overview of the Iranian Chironomidae (Diptera) diversity with an updated checklist with the provincial distribution

Abstract

An assessment of the Iranian Chironomidae diversity with an updated checklist is provided. In total, 65 species from 12 out of 31 provinces of Iran are recorded. Based on the distributional data obtained for these species, much of the biodiversity of this country is unknown, especially for central, south, and eastern regions. The most studied area of the country is Kurdistan Province in the west, with 36 known species, of which three new species and 31 new faunistic records were recently obtained from studies of rivers and streams of this region. Based on the records obtained, we can tentatively report Boreoheptagyia iranica Makarchenko, 2020, Palatovia lorestanica Makarchenko et Semenchenko, 2020, and Eraniella kurdistanensis Namayandeh, Ghaderi, Ghobari et Mohammadi, 2021 described from the Zagros Mountains are endemic to the country. The biogeographical location of Iran and its diverse geography, habitats, and reservoir of freshwaters suggest that the diversity of Iranian Chironomidae is far more than the current estimate. Therefore, there is an urgency in obtaining baseline data on the distribution and taxonomic abundance to understand the Iranian Chironomidae’s diversity

Keywords

• : diptera
• chironomidae
• fauna
• iran