A hotspot of subterranean Collembola in ferruginous rock caves and Mesovoid Shallow Substratum is revealed by the analysis of pseudocryptic diversity. The diversity is accessed by detailed description of chaetotaxy and slight variation in morphology of 11 new species of Trogolaphysa Mills, 1938 (Collembola, Paronellidae, Paronellinae) and the 50 previously recorded species of springtails from caves, using optical and electronic microscopy. When combined with recent subterranean surveys, our results show an important reservoir of cave diversity in the Mesovoid Shallow Substratum. Contrastingly the conservation policy for subterranean fauna in metallogenic areas in Brazil prioritizes the caves instead the cave species, which may be extremely detrimental to the fauna in the shallow subterranean habitats not accessible to humans.
Herein, eyeless Pseudosinella species from Brazilian caves are reviewed, including the description of 23 new species, new records plus additional notes on the descriptions of P. ambigua Zeppelini, Brito, and Lima and of P. guanhaensis Zeppelini, Brito, and Lima. We also provide an identification key to 27 eyeless species recorded from Brazil. To organize the 26 Brazilian eyeless taxa analyzed in this work, we organize them in apparently artificial groups: 11 species have one larger tooth on the unguiculus outer lamella (petterseni group); one presents unguiculus outer lamella smooth or serrated (never with a larger tooth), with 9 held prelabral chaetae undivided and the last 6 held prelabral chaetae bifurcated. The Brazilian species of eyeless Pseudosinella herein described present a remarkably conservate dorsal chaetotaxy; therefore, the main diagnostic characters are related to other features like prelabral, labral, and ventral head chaetotaxy and empodial complex morphology. In addition, our study suggests that Brazilian caves possibly shelter a great diversity of Pseudosinella taxa, several of them potentially cave dependent.
In detritus-based trophic systems, springtails, dung beetles, saprophagous calyptrate flies and termites consume and fragment organic matter and control populations of decomposer microorganisms, exerting a strong influence on energy and nutrient fluxes. A faunal inventory of these four groups of hexapods was performed in Serra de Santa Catarina (SSC), an area of arboreal-shrub caatinga located in the state of Paraíba, with the purpose of characterizing the assemblages of these taxa, and highlighting their unique links to the local ecosystem. Samplings were performed in May, 2014, and April, 2015, both during the rainy season. Standard sampling protocols for biodiversity inventory of the various taxa were used, including both active and passive sampling methods. In general, 114 species of hexapods were captured, with 26 species of springtails, 20 dung beetles, 30 saprophagous calyptrate flies and 38 termites, with sampling sufficiency varying from 69.5 to 96.8% of total estimated richness. Species richness of the groups are among the highest recorded for a single area of Caatinga, with some taxa being recorded for the first time for the domain. Several morphospecies had indeterminate taxonomic status, especially springtails and termites, and are quite likely new species to science. The structure of the assemblages of springtails, dung beetles, saprophagous calyptrate flies and termites recorded in SSC, suggest that this conserved area is unique within the highly impacted landscape of Caatinga, and has great potential for the conservation of biodiversity of this domain in the Northeast Region of Brazil.
The spatial distribution of abiotic resources and environmental conditions can vary at small scales within terrestrial ecosystems, influencing the composition of soil fauna. Epiedaphic springtails (Collembola) of a semiarid Caatinga ecosystem were studied to determine if factors related to vegetation structure, such as species richness, aerial biomass, litterfall, and soil characteristics (pH, granulometry and soil organic matter), influence species richness and abundance of this group. A total of 5,513 individuals were collected of 15 species distributed in 13 genera and 9 families. The most abundant species wereTemeritassp., with 2,086 (38% of the total abundance) individuals, andNeotropiellameridionalis(Arlé, 1939), with 1,911 (35% of the total abundance) individuals. None of the variables in the regression model were significantly related to Collembola species richness, but abundance was significantly related to plant species richness, aerial biomass and soil pH. Thus, even at a small spatial scale, habitat heterogeneity influences the epiedaphic Collembola in the Caatinga ecosystem, especially their abundance.
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