Kaproun – National Nature Monument

Kaproun – National Nature Monument

The Kaproun National Nature Monument was declared in 1987 as a natural formation and in 1992 reclassified as a national nature monument. The site covers an area of 2.92 hectares and is located in the cadastral territory of Kaproun, Jindřichův Hradec District.

The locality lies in a terrain depression through which the source section of the Dračice stream flows and is categorized as a zone of waterlogged spruce forests with haircap moss. The protected subject is a residual population of the critically endangered species – Traunstein’s dactylorhiza (Dactylorhiza traunsteineri) on a meadow peat bog. The vegetation is composed of sedge communities of the Caricion fuscae alliance with transitions to the Molinion and Violion caninae alliances. Notable plant species include: marsh cinquefoil, sheath cotton-grass, bogbean, prickly sedge, cranberry, marsh ragwort, dwarf scabious, brown clover, mountain arnica, and stalked marsh pennywort.

Several mollusk species live in the pond, including the specially protected swan mussel (Anodonta cygnea). In the protected aquatic environment of the drainage ditch, 23 species of dragonflies develop. Notable species include the protected ground beetle Carabus arcensis, the peat-loving beetle Pterostichus diligens, the less common humicolous rove beetles Stenus latifrons and Astenus brevelytratus, and the rare weevil Apion sorbi. Among the dipteran insects, rare species with little-known binomials have been observed, such as the chloropid fly Elachiptera diasteme and the fungus gnat Brevicornu sericoma. The common toad and the moor frog breed in the pond, while the short-legged frog is abundant in the perimeter canal.