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The results of faunal studies carried out in the last 13 years (2005-2017) are reported, regarding 52 different water sites in Albania and Republic of Macedonia. Lakes (natural and artificial), and ponds (temporary and perennial) have been investigated. A total of 155 taxa have been identified in the plankton, and a particular detail has been devoted to Crustacea, which were subdivided in 101 taxa. Many Cladocera (31 species) and Copepoda (36 species) were new at least for one of the two Countries. Eight genera are here reported for the first time for the whole geographic area. The present investigation contributes to fill in the gap existing among Albania and Macedonia due to a different attention paid to the fauna of the two Countries, with Cladocera more studied in Albania and Copepoda more studied in Macedonia. High mountain lakes, however, have been scarcely considered in the past faunal studies, and their faunal assemblages contributed noteworthy to the knowledge of the regional biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saline water bodies are critic, often extreme habitats with a small number of species. The small number of species can, however, be organized in different assemblages typical of the salt category dissolved into the water. For the first time a wide faunal study has been conducted (from 2002 to 2006) on hypersaline lakes of the Crimea peninsula (Ukraine) allowing us to recognize a total of 40 categories of zooplankton from 10 lakes in representation of the whole lake habitat of the peninsula. The only lake with water evidently influenced by the sea hosted the highest number of categories (20). The lowest number of categories (5) has been found in the lake which showed the highest salinity concentration. Apart the lake conditioned from sea water, other two categories of lakes were recognized: thalassohaline and atalassohaline on the basis of the species composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]