During a survey of the Belarusian part of the Dnieper River conducted on 19-22 July 2006, we revealed five invasive Ponto-Caspian amphipod species in its benthos community: Chaetogammarus ischnus, Chelicorophium curvispinum, Dikerogammarus haemobaphes, Dikerogammarus villosus and Pontogammarus robustoides. All of them except C. curvispinum are reported in Belarus for the first time. The number of alien amphipod species and their abundance were found to decrease gradually in the upper sections of the river.
[Mastitsky SE and Makarevich OA (2007) Distribution and abundance of Ponto-Caspian amphipods in the Belarusian section of the Dnieper River. Aquatic Invasions 2(1): 39-44]
The Ponto-Caspian amphipod Chelicorophium curvispinum (Corophium curvispinum in the paper) was found in 1914 in the Prypiat River near Mozyr (Belarus) and then in municipal water systems of Warsaw (Poland). This is the first record of C. curvispinum in Belarus. The author argues that invasion of the amphipod to Poland happened through the way Dnieper-Pripyat-Vistula.
[Wolski T (1930) Corophium curvispinum G. O. Sars in der Prypec und in den Warschauer Wasserleitungsanlagen. Fragmenta faunistica musei zoologici Polonici 1(6): 152-159 (in German with Polish summary)]
197 species and forms of macrozoobenthos were found in the middle and low flow of the Berezina River, Belarus. The most diverse were chironomid larvae (77 species and forms), them liches and snails. Four exotic species (Caspiobdella fadejevi, Chelicorophium curvispinum, Dreissena polymorpha, Lithoglyphus naticoides) were found in the river. The changes in species composition of benthic communities in relation to pollution are discussed.
[Tischikov GM and Tischikov IG (1999) Macrozoobenthos fauna in the middle and low Berezina River. In: Karatayev AY (ed) Proceedings of the International conference on aquatic ecosystems "The results and future of aquatic ecology research", pp 251-264. Belarusian State University Press, Minsk (in Russian with English summary)]
