Five million years in the darkness: A new troglomorphic species of Cryptops Leach, 1814 (Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha) from Movile Cave, Romania

Abstract

A new species of Cryptops Leach, 1814, C. speleorexsp. nov., is described from Movile Cave, Dobrogea, Romania. The cave is remarkable for its unique ecosystem entirely dependent on methane- and sulfur-oxidising bacteria. Until now, the cave was thought to be inhabited by the epigean species C. anomalans, which is widespread in Europe. Despite its resemblance to C. anomalans, the new species is well-defined morphologically and molecularly based on two mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I COI and 16S rDNA) and one nuclear (28S rDNA) markers. Cryptops speleorex sp. nov. shows a number of troglomorphic traits such as a generally large body and elongated appendages and spiracles, higher number of coxal pores and saw teeth on the tibia of the ultimate leg. With this record, the number of endemic species known from the Movile Cave reaches 35, which ranks it as one of the most species-rich caves in the world.

The genomics of phenotypically differentiated Asellusaquaticus cave, surface stream and lake ecotypes

“…The interesting convergent feature of body pigment and eye loss in cave environments spans across the tree of life, including numerous species of millipedes (e.g., Liu & Wynne, 2019; Vahtera et al, 2020), crustaceans (e.g., Carlini & Fong, 2017), insects (overview provided in Howarth, 2009), fish (e.g., Protas et al, 2006), amphibians (e.g., Hervant et al, 2001) and mammals (e.g., Simoes et al, 2019). Similarly, body pigment and eye loss have been found in several A .…”

The overview of lithobiomorph centipedes (Chilopoda, Lithobiomorpha) from caves of Slovenia

“…As top predators and K-strategists (Albert 1983;Vahtera et al 2020), lithobiomorph centipedes might have an specific position in subterranean ecosystems, however, their role in communities is still understudied. Different surface species might be part of different communities and are presumably more interconnected with community at cave entrances, while exclusively subterranean species are likely part of the communities deeper in caves (Novak et al 2012;Cuff et al 2021).…”

“…In the Balkans, the first described subterranean centipede was Lithobius stygius Latzel, 1880 from Postojnska jama, in Slovenia (Latzel 1880). Most of the subterranean species belong to the order Lithobiomorpha, however, some troglobiotic Geophilomorpha and Scolopendromorpha have been described as well, also from the Balkans (Stoev et al 2015;Shear and Krejca 2019;Vahtera et al 2020).…”

Adaptations to Subterranean Environments

“…The insular nature of caves has also resulted in a high proportion of endemic species, sometimes with species known from just one specific cave . Examples include 23% of amphipods and 31% of beetles in known from single subterranean sites in the Western Balkans (Bregovićet al, 2019), the guano moth (Kangerosithyris kotumarensis) found only in Kotumsar Cave in India (Biswas, 2010), the centipede (Cryptops speleorex) found only in Movile Cave in Romania (Vahtera et al, 2020) and the West Virginia Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus subterraneus) known only from General Davis Cave in the US (Grant et al, 2022). However, it is worth noting that caves may be less insular than we think, as many individual caves are linked together through a vast network of small fissures in the karst .…”