Composition and zonation of benthic invertebrate communities in a New Zealand kauri forest stream

SUMMARY. The macro‐invertebrate fauna of Waitakere River and its tributaries, a northern New Zealand kauri forest stream, was surveyed in January 1974 and January and June 1975, as part of a study on stream community dynamics. This survey and regular samples in the study area provided 144 taxa, almost three times the maximum number previously recorded from a New Zealand stream. Many species were restricted in distribution to a high gradient tributary, or the low gradient mainstream. These did not follow the division into rhithron and potamon families suggested for New Zealand.