DOLOMITES - Annexes 2-8 - Provincia di Udine

NOMINATION OF THE DOLOMITES FOR INSCRIPTION ON THE WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE LIST UNESCO
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salamander (Salamandra atra) is found in numbers and it also frequents red fir woods and mountain
grazing land above 2,100 meters in elevation; in addition, we also find the male Alpine newt (Triturus
alpestris), the common frog (Rana temporaria), the common adder (Vipera berus) and the viviparous
lizard (Zootoca vivipara). Of the Japanese beetles, the most prestigious species is Agonum ericeti,
though there is a certain lack of precise information on this species; among the rove beetles, worthy
of mention are the Atanygnathus terminalis, Tetartopeus sphagnetorum and the boreoalpine Eucnecosum
tenue, found at elevations higher than 2,000 m Few but specialized are the dragonflies that fulfil
their development in the acidic waters of the peat bogs. Flying adults of the species represent one of
the most characteristic presence of these realms. Especially significant are Sympetrum flaveolum, Leucorrhinia
dubia and Aeshna juncea.
Aquatic fauna
Despite that the cold climate of the mountain limits their period of activity to a few months a year,
rather numerous are the animal species that populate the small lakes and streams or rivers in the Dolomites.
Several species of insects (dragonflies, hemipterans, dipterans, caddis-flies, coleopterans),
crustaceans (amphiphods, cladocera, copepods) and even molluscs (both gasteropods and bivalves)
have been observed in habitats over 2,000 m, for example in Laghetto di Valparola (2,143 m), in
Lago di Boè at 2,250 m and in Lago di Fedaia at 2,028 m. This latter also gives a home to a population
of common frog (Rana temporaria). The tiny temporary pools of water that form seasonally in
the Alpine pastures are also rich in animal life - seven species of aquatic beetles have been found in
a pool near Lastè di Lusia, at 2,100-2,200 m. Fewer in number but extremely specialized and therefore
important from a physiological and biogeographical perspective, are the species that live in the
melted water of the glaciers, where the temperature is only a couple degrees above zero and which includes
insect larva (dipterans of the Diamesa genus, trichoptera of the Cryptothrix nebulicola species)
and Platyhelminthes. The snowy fauna is characterized by the so-called glacier fleas, primitive, wingless
insects (collembola) that can spend their entire biological cycle on the surface of glaciers, and by
a genus of small wing dipterans with an appearance similar to a small spider (Chionea), whose adults
are active on the snow during the cold season.