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.

The description of a new species, Cyphoderus caetetus sp. nov., led to comparisons among Paronellidae (Cyphoderinae and Paronellinae), which showed that the chaetotaxy of the first abdominal segment is very similar in Cyphoderus, Troglobius (Cyphoderinae) and Trogolaphysa (Paronellini), and much reduced in relation to that seen in Lepidonella (Paronellinae, Bromacanthini), Pseudosinella and Seira (Entomobryidae). This feature, along with the presence of pseudopores behind the posterior row of setae on the fourth abdominal segment as seen in Troglopedetes, Trogolaphysa and Cyphoderinae (absent in Lepidonella and Entomobryidae), suggests that Cyphoderinae is more closely related to tribe Paronellini than Paronellini is to Bromacanthini and Entomobryidae, and that the subfamily Paronellinae is paraphyletic if Cyphoderinae is excluded. We propose including Cyphoderini as the apical group in Paronellinae together with Paronellini (Trogolaphysa and Troglopedetes).

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Cyphoderus innominatus Mills, 1938 (Collembola: Paronellidae) was first observed in early colonies of Atta sexdens leaf-cutting ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The colonies were collected on February 6, 2019, from a transition area between the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado, located in the municipality of Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. A total of four colonies collected had an average population density of 227 ± 212 C. innominatus individuals, and most of the latter were found in peripheral areas inside the fungus-garden-growing chamber of the colony. In addition, we observed a possible defensive behavior on the part of workers when C. innominatus individuals were present in the fungus garden chamber. Thus, this is the first record of C. innominatus living in association with early colonies of A. sexdens.                          Cyphoderus innominatus Mills, 1938 (Collembola: Paronellidae) foi observado pela primeira vez nas primeiras colônias de formigas cortadeiras Atta sexdens rubropilosa , Forel, 1908 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Essas colônias foram coletadas em 6 de fevereiro de 2019, em uma área de transição entre a Mata Atlântica e o Cerrado, localizada no município de Botucatu, São Paulo, Brasil. Um total de quatro colônias coletadas teve uma densidade populacional média de 227, de C. innominatus , ea maioria dos últimos foram encontrados em áreas periféricas dentro da câmara de cultivo do jardim de fungo da colônia. Além disso, observamos um possível comportamento defensivo por parte dos trabalhadores quandoC. innominatus estava presente presentes na câmara do jardim de fungos. Assim, este é o primeiro registro de C. innominatus vivendo em associação com colônias iniciais de A. sexdens rubropilosa .

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Two new species of Cyphoderus Nicolet are described from northern Brazil: C. mucrominimus sp. nov. from Curionópolis, Pará; and C. mucrostrimenus sp. nov. from Parauapebas, Pará. These species belong to tridenticulati and bidenticulati groups respectively. The chaetotaxy of head and whole body are described and an identification key for the species with recorded distribution in Brazil is provided.

A new proposal for taxonomic species description is presented to replace the traditional descriptive texts. This is an attempt to enhance the species description rate and to make the description output available to other scientific disciplines, machine learning, lucid identification keys, big data analysis and its applications. The method consists in presenting the description of the overall morphology in a coded matrix, following a character list with detailed observed conditions for each character. The method is supposed to be dynamic and open to amendments and new data addition as they become available. We test the new method describing five new species of Collembola Symphypleona of the genus Pararrhopalites as a generalized model and made the coded output available. We conclude that a coded taxonomic description is an advance to the traditional taxonomic text, with potential to enhance the global descriptions rate. The generated data is a dynamic matrix that can be expanded with any data that becomes available, also it can be easily used in other fields of science, allowing non-experts to access the data for phylogenetic, biogeographic, ecological studies and big data analysis. Furthermore, it is a step forward to a general template to semi-automated taxon recognition and auxiliary tools for species description using machine learning.