New record of Collembola (Hexapoda) from the Prutul de Jos scientific reserve

The paper presents new data about the species diversity of the order Collembola from the Prutul de Jos Scientific Reserve. A total of 13 species of Collembola from 11 genera and 5 families were identified for the first time in the floodplain forest of the Prutul de Jos Scientific Reserve. Among the identified collembolan species one - Endonura lusatica Dunger, 1966 is new for the fauna of the Republic of Moldova.

Annotated checklist of Collembola of Nepal

This is the first annotated checklist of Collembola species of Nepal. It includes 167 collembolan species belonging to 78 genera and 17 families including 45 endemic species. Majority of the Nepalese collembolan species were reported from major trekking routes viz. Mount Everest, Annapurna Conservation Area and Langtang area with very few other locations. The highest record of collembola in Nepal is about 5800 m asl. Southern Terai and Siwalik range remain unexplored.

Collembola (Hexapoda) as Biological Drivers between Land and Sea

Macroalgae debris accumulated onshore function as points of interaction between marine and terrestrial ecological systems, but knowledge of the importance of detritivores facilitating the introduction of organic matter via the detritus pathway into neighbouring ecosystems, is still poorly understood. In particular, not much is known about biodiversity patterns and the colonisation of macroalgal debris by terrestrial, detritivorous soil microarthropods in the harsh environmental conditions in the subpolar Arctic region. We hypothesised that (i) soil microarthropods of the coastal tundra, including Collembola, can cross the ecosystem boundary and colonise decaying and freshly exposed macroalgae; and (ii) various inundation regimes by sea water, microhabitat stability and decaying of macroalgae drive distribution patterns of collembolan species. Our results suggest that environmental filtering influences collembolan species’ distributions across the examined gradient and induces sorting of species according to their functional traits, including dispersal ability, resistance to disturbance and environmental tolerance.

Temperature and Aging Affect Glyphosate Toxicity and Fatty Acid Composition in Allonychiurus kimi (Lee) (Collembola)

Glyphosate is the most used herbicide worldwide, but enormous use of glyphosate has raised concerned about its environmental loadings. Although glyphosate is considered non-toxic, toxicity data for soil non-target organisms according to temperature and aging are scarce. This study examined the toxicity of glyphosate with the temperature (20 °C and 25 °C) and aging times (0 day and 7 days) in soil using a collembolan species, Allonychiurus kimi (Lee). The degradation of glyphosate was investigated. Fatty acid composition of A. kimi was also investigated. The half-life of glyphosate was 2.38 days at 20 °C and 1.69 days at 25 °C. At 20 °C with 0 day of aging, the EC50 was estimated to be 93.5 mg kg−1. However, as the temperature and aging time increased, the glyphosate degradation increased, so no significant toxicity was observed on juvenile production. The proportions of the arachidonic acid and stearic acid decreased and increased with the glyphosate treatment, respectively, even at 37.1 mg kg−1, at which no significant effects on juvenile production were observed. Our results showed that the changes in the glyphosate toxicity with temperature and aging time were mostly dependent on the soil residual concentration. Furthermore, the changes in the fatty acid compositions suggest that glyphosate could have a chronic effect on soil organisms.

Checklist of the springtails (Hexapoda: Collembola) of the Edough massif, northeastern Algeria

Based on 225 samples taken from different biotopes in the Edough Massif (northeastern Algeria) from 1998 to 2018, we compiled a list of 91 collembolan species names from the literature, of which 72 can be considered valid records. Fourteen of them are only known from this massif in Algeria, and eight are endemic of northeastern Algeria. These 72 species are spread over 14 families and 49 genera. The family Neanuridae is the most diverse with 18 species, including six species of the genus Friesea. The monotypic genus Edoughnura (Neanurinae) is endemic to the Edough and Collo massifs. Several of the listed species do not fully match the diagnosis of the species to which they have been assigned and may represent undescribed taxa. Entomobryidae as well as several habitats (epigean, deep soil, littoral) remain unsampled or undersampled in Edough, and are likely to host many more species than those listed in this paper.

Dynamics of collembolan communities inside the forested scree slope

The monthly dynamics of collembolan communities was studied over a year-long period in the depth profile of forested scree slope in the karst area of the Čierna hora Mts. (Western Carpathians, Slovakia). Collembola were sampled using non-baited subterranean traps consisted of a plastic cylinder with the small openings drilled around at 10 horizontal levels (5 – 95 cm), and a system of 10 plastic cups connected to each other by a helical rod and nuts. The plastic cylinder, after being buried in the slope profile, served as a protective casing for inserting the plastic cups filled with the preservative solution. The cups inside the cylinder were placed right under the openings on the cylinder perimeter, enabling to trap specimens in the particular depth. The temperature was measured continuously throughout the study at four-hour intervals using thermo-data loggers affixed to the wall of the plastic cups. During the year, the monthly temperature means on the surface ranged between 0.2°C (January) to 16.6°C (August) while the monthly temperature means at the depth of 95 cm ranged between 3.5°C (April) to 15.2°C (September). Monthly temperature ranges varied from 5.0°C (February) to 12.5 °C (October) on the surface and from 0.5°C (February, April) to 4.5 °C (July) at 95 cm. A total of 60 collembolan species were identified, among them 27 trogloxenes, 19 subtroglophiles, 12 eutroglophiles and 2 troglobionts. Fluctuations of the locomotory activity during the year were observed in all four categories of Collembola and at all depths. Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed collembolan activity to be substantially affected by the thermal conditions fluctuating over the year. Most eutroglophiles and troglobionts, associated with deeper layers of the scree slope, preferred rather lower temperature ranges and were typical of the autumn months.

Unusually low genetic divergence at COI barcode locus between two species of intertidalThalassaphorura(Collembola: Onychiuridae)

Species classification is challenging when taxa display limited morphological differences. In this paper, we combined morphology and DNA barcode data to investigate the complicated taxonomy of two Onychiurid Collembolan species.Thalassaphorura thalassophilaandThalassaphorura debilisare among the most common arthropod species in intertidal ecosystems and are often considered to be synonymous. Based on morphological and barcode analyses of fresh material collected in their type localities, we redescribed and compared the two species. However, their morphological distinctiveness was supported by a molecular divergence much smaller than previously reported at the interspecific level among Collembola. This divergence was even smaller than inter-population divergences recognized in the related edaphic speciesT. zschokkei, as well as those known between MOTUs within many Collembolan species. Our results may indicate a link between low genetic interspecific divergence and intertidal habitat, as the only biological peculiarity of the two species of interest compared to other Collembolan species analyzed to date is their strict intertidal life.

Redescription and neotype designation of the Antarctic springtail Folsomotoma octooculata (Collembola: Isotomidae)

The growing interest in Antarctic collembolan species has led us to re-evaluate both the morphological and molecular aspects of different species adapted to the extreme Antarctic environment. The genus Folsomotoma includes nine species mainly distributed in Antarctic and subantarctic areas and a few additionally from Australia and South America. We herein designate the neotype of Folsomotoma octooculata (Willem 1901) and redescribe its morphological characters with particular emphasis on the sensory and ordinary chaetotaxy. Furthermore, based on analyses of both our new and previously published morphological data for F. octooculata, we propose a systematic key of the species for the genus.