Large golden-ringed dragonfly Cordulegaster heros Theischinger 1979, new for the fauna of Italy (Odonata: Cordulegastridae)

. The species has been recorded at three localities in the extreme eastern part of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, north-eastern Italy, thus bringing the number of Italian dragonfly species to 89. The distribution of C. heros in Slovenia and Italy is mapped and discussed from the zoogeographical point of view. Additionally, the collected faunistic data on other dragonfly species and sympatric occurrence of endangered frog species Rana latastei Boulenger are given. Due to inclusion of C. heros and R. latastei to the Annexes II and IV of the Habitat Directive of EU, the conservation of their habitats in Italy and western Slovenia is proposed within the European network of protected areas NATURA 2000.


Introduction
According to Utzeri (1995), altogether 88 dragonfly species occur in Italy.Despite its size, the country is odonatologically relatively well explored, and in the easternmost Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (NE Italy) some dragonfly research has also been carried out in the past.More than 30 years ago, a comprehensive overview of dragonfly fauna of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region was made by Kiauta (1969a), following a similar study in the neighbouring Primorska region in Slovenia (Kiauta 1969a).In addition, only a few years ago Bognolo & Pecile (1995) thoroughly studied dragonfly fauna of the Trieste and Gorizia Karst in Italy and published an annotated list of species occurring in the region.As far as the genus Cordulegaster is concerned, only C. bidentata (Selys) and C. boltonii (Donovan) have been recorded from Friuli-Venezia Giulia so far (Kiauta 1969a, Bognolo & Pecile 1995).Until now, however, one of the most enigmatic European dragonfly species, Cordulegaster heros Theischinger, escaped the notice of odonatologists and has not been reported for Friuli-Venezia Giulia or for Italy as a whole yet (Utzeri 1995, Galletti & Pavesi 1985).
According to Wasscher & Bos (2000), C. heros is one of the ten dragonfly species endemic to Europe.Two additional Cordulegaster species, viz.C. trinacriae and C. helladica, are also confined to Europe, whereby the range of the first is limited to Sicily and southern Italy and that of the later to Greece.C. heros also has a relatively small range, occurring in Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece.Recently it was discovered in Slovakia (Blaškovič et al., in print), and the present article formally extends its distribution range to Italy.
In Slovenia, the species is quite common and it has been recorded by the members of the Slovene Odonatological Society from more than 340 localities (Fig. 1), whereas development of the species has been documented in more than 260 localities (Kotarac et al. 2003).The exceptional number is even more impressive by the fact that the number of all other known European localities of the species is by far lower.If the proportion of unsuitable habitat for C. heros in most of the Pannonian lowlands is taken into account, the speculation that Slovenia actually represents the core area of the species' distribution range in Europe is not far from reality.
However, in western Slovenia, close to the border to Italy, where C. heros reaches the extreme north-western edge of its European range, the suitable habitat is much scarcer and limited only to few stream catchments in the wider surroundings of the Vipava valley.The distribution of the species in this part of Slovenia has been described in detail by Bedjanič & Pirnat (2000), gathering their observation with the faunistic data from Pirnat (1996Pirnat ( ), Červek (1997)), Kotarac (1997), Šalamun et al. (1997) and Bedjanič (2000).Few additional localities have been added by Pirker (2002), and a very comprehensive overview has been presented by Kotarac et al. (2003).
Since the distribution of any living species is rarely limited by the state borders, the idea that C. heros might also occur in north-eastern Italy is not new in the minds of Slovene odonatologists.Kotarac (1997) has already predicted this possibility with the following words: "We started to collect the data about C. heros in the eastern parts of Slovenia.In five years we harrowed the species to two spots about 1 km away from the national border with Italy.It is the turn of Italian odonatologists now."In addition, Bedjanič & Pirnat (2000) stated in a similar way: "It is interesting that so far C. heros has not been found in Italy, although it goes without saying that its already mentioned north-western distribution edge probably extends also to the western side of the Soča River."Quite surprisingly, nobody took over the pleasant challenge for years and there was no other possibility than to finally clear the situation by ourselves.

Nature conservation aspect
As mentioned earlier, a special attention was paid, in addition to Cordulegaster heros, to the frog species Rana latastei.Both species are endangered and listed on the Annexes II and IV of the EU Habitat Directive (The Council Directive 92/43 EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and on Wild Fauna and Flora, Off.Journal of the EC, No.L.206/7).They are stenotopic and live or breed almost exclusively in primary habitats, such as smaller forest streams and rivulets.The inclusion of C. heros and R. latastei to the Annexes II of the abovementioned directive demands conservation of their habitats and obligates all member states, including Italy and Slovenia, to ensure long-term favourable conservation status for the species in their territories.Their sympatric occurrence can therefore be of a great nature conservation importance.
As far as the newly discovered localities of C. heros in Italy are concerned, the Rio Sniardar stream near Brazzano (LOC 3) can definitely be proposed as future SITE OF COMMUNITY IMPORTANCE (SCI), since it presents an ideal habitat for C. heros and R. latastei as well.On the other hand, additional faunistic research is needed in order to clear the status of C. heros in Italy.A study of the species' occurrence in the streams around Corno di Rosazzo and east of Cividale should be accomplished as soon as possible.Only then an assessment of the size and stability of the Italian C. heros population as well as an evaluation of potential threats and planning of appropriate conservation measures will be possible.
According to the strict provisions of the European Habitat Directive, Italy too should provide for a long-term survival of the C. heros population in its territory and effectively protect the species' selected habitats.Due to the fact that the eastern Friuli-Venezia Giulia constitutes the extreme north-western edge of C. heros European range, this obligation is even more important.In this respect, the sympatric occurrence of C. heros and R. latastei can serve as an additional argument.It can facilitate the designation of suitable habitats of both species as SITES OF COMMUNITY IMPORTANCE (SCI) and herewith ensure their inclusion in European NATURA 2000 network.In this respect, the action already undertaken by Slovenia can serve as a good example (Kotarac et al. 2003, Poboljšaj & Lešnik 2003).