Unique and fragile diversity emerges from Brazilian caves – two new amphibious species of Xangoniscus Campos-Filho, Araujo & Taiti, 2014 (Oniscidea, Styloniscidae) from Serra do Ramalho karst area, state of Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

Two new troglobitic species of Xangoniscus are described from two caves of Serra do Ramalho karst area, Bambuí geomorphological group, state of Bahia. Xangoniscus lapaensissp. nov. is described from Gruna Boca da Lapa cave, and X. loboisp. nov. from Gruna da Pingueira II cave. Both species are blind and depigmented and show amphibious habits, as observed for all species of Xangoniscus described until now. Xangoniscus lapaensissp. nov. occurs in travertine pools fed by water of the upper aquifer, and X. loboisp. nov. occurs in a small stream, an upper vadose tributary. Both species occur in fragile microhabitats. Ecological and behavioral data, conservation remarks, and IUCN conservation assessments are included to provide background data for conservation efforts in this unique karst area.

A new species of Chaimowiczia from the karstic Serra do Ramalho plateau, Brazil (Oniscidea, Synocheta, Styloniscidae)

“…Here another species of Chaimowiczia is described for a cave in the Bahia state, which consists in a troglobite, as well as most of the styloniscids found in Brazil (Cardoso et al 2021). Such description rises to 25 the number of troglobitic styloniscidean species known for Brazilian caves (Cardoso et al 2020a(Cardoso et al , b, 2021Campos-Filho et al 2022).…”

First amphibious Crinocheta (Isopoda, Oniscidea) from the Neotropics with a troglobitic status: a relictual distribution

“…To date, Brazil holds the highest diversity of species in the Neotropical region, comprising more than 250 species (see Campos-Filho et al 2018 , 2019 , 2020 ; Cardoso et al 2020a , 2020b , 2021 ). Among them, more than 40 are considered obligatory cave-dwellers (troglobites), grouped in the families Armadillidae , Philosciidae , Pudeoniscidae , Scleropactidae and Styloniscidae ( Campos-Filho et al 2018 , 2019 , 2020 , 2022a , 2022b , 2022c , 2023 ; Cardoso et al 2020a , 2020b , 2021 ; Cardoso and Ferreira 2023 ; López-Orozco et al in press). Moreover, Styloniscidae comprise the highest number of troglobitic species, some of which have amphibious habits (e.g., Xangoniscus spp.…”

“…Most of the amphibian species of Oniscidea found in caves belong to the Section Synocheta , primarily from the families Styloniscidae and Trichoniscidae ( Vandel 1973 ; Taiti and Gruber 2008 ; Bedek et al 2011 ; Taiti and Xue 2012 ; Tabacaru and Giurginca 2013 ; Campos-Filho et al 2014 , 2019 , 2022a , 2022b , 2022c ; Souza et al 2015 ; Cardoso et al 2020a , 2021 ; Bastos-Pereira et al 2022 ; Reboleira et al 2015 ). In Crinocheta , this type of habit has been described in the family Olibrinidae , which includes species found in caves and marine littoral environments in the genera Castellanethes Brian, 1952, Olibrinus Budde-Lund, 1912 and Paradoniscus Taiti & Ferrara, 2004 ( Taiti and Ferrara 2004 ; Taiti and Gardini 2022 ; Moutaouakil et al 2023 ).…”

Shedding light into Brazilian subterranean isopods (Isopoda, Oniscidea): expanding distribution data and describing new taxa

“…In the last years, our knowledge on the diversity of Oniscidea from subterranean environments has increased considerably (e.g. Bedek et al 2011, 2019; Taiti 2014; Reboleira et al 2015; Kashani et al 2016; Campos-Filho et al 2019, 2020, 2022a; Cardoso et al 2020a, b; Bastos-Pereira et al 2017, 2022; Taiti & Montesanto 2018, 2020; Taiti et al 2018; Taiti & Cardoso 2020). The diversity of terrestrial isopods in subterranean environments is closely related to favourable habitat conditions, such as high humidity, the occurrence of substrate heterogeneity, and a variety of micro-habitats (Fernandes et al 2016, 2019; Reboleira et al 2022).…”

“…In Brazil, more than 220 species of Oniscidea are known, of which 79 were recorded in caves. Among them, 38 are considered troglobites (obligatory cave-dwellers) and several are troglophiles (facultative cave-dwellers) (Trajano & Carvalho 2017; Campos-Filho et al 2018a, 2019, 2020, 2022a, b, c; Fernandez et al 2019; Cardoso et al 2020a, 2020b, 2021, 2022a, 2022b, 2023; Bastos-Pereira et al 2022). However, for some Oniscidea taxa, these subterranean categories were not properly assigned due to the lack of efficient sampling outside caves.…”