Mikhail Potapov

Cryptic Diversity in the Ubiquist Species Parisotoma notabilis (Collembola, Isotomidae): A Long-Used Chimeric Species?

Parisotoma notabilis is the most common species of Collembola in Europe and is currently designated as ubiquist. This species has been extensively used in numerous studies and is considered as well characterized on a morphological ground. Despite the homogeneity of its morphology, the sequencing of the barcoding fragment (5′ end of COI) for several populations throughout Europe and North America revealed four distinct genetic lineages. The divergence found between these lineages was similar to the genetic distance among other species of the genus Parisotoma included in the analysis. All four lineages have been confirmed by the nuclear gene 28S. This congruence between mitochondrial and nuclear signals, as well as the geographical distribution pattern of lineages observed in Europe, supports the potential specific status of these lineages. Based on specimens from the type locality (Hamburg), the species name was successfully assigned to one of these lineages. This finding raises several problems as Parisotoma notabilis has been widely used in many ecological studies. Accumulation of new data for the different lineages detected, especially ecological information and life history traits, is needed to help resolve this situation.

Global Collembola on Deception Island

Abstract Three new non-indigenous springtail species are recorded in recent collections made on Deception Island, South Shetland Islands, maritime Antarctic: Deuteraphorura (Deuteraphorura) cebennaria (Gisin) (Collembola: Onychiuridae), Mesaphorura macrochaeta Rusek (Tullbergiidae), and Proisotoma minuta Axelson (Isotomidae). One of these, D. (D.) cebennaria, is described. Additionally, two new indigenous species, Mesaphorura macrochaeta Rusek and Proisotoma minuta Axelson, are also recorded. The total number of Collembola species now known from the island is 14, comprised of eight native species and six non-indigenous species. This number of non-indigenous species recorded at Deception Island compares with only a single non-indigenous springtail recorded at any other maritime or continental Antarctic location. The reason underlying this high level of occurrence of non-indigenous species on Deception Island is likely to be a combination of the islands high level of human visitation and the presence of relatively benign terrestrial habitats associated with areas of geothermal activity. Two of the new records represent species recently assessed as being of the highest risk to become invaders in the less extreme environments of the subantarctic, thereby emphasising the importance and urgency of adopting and applying effective biosecurity measures to protect the unique and vulnerable ecosystems of this region. Also documented are the impacts on the soil fauna of the island from human trampling, which drastically reduced densities of both native and non-indigenous species to 1% of the abundance typical of non-trampled sites.

Ecological significance of parthenogenesis in collembola

The occurrence of parthenogenesis in springtails of the Palaearctic was studied. Parthenogenetic species were recorded in all main phylogenetic lines and were more abundant in the families that included species with euedaphic life forms. Among Onychiuridae and Isotomidae, the fraction of species capable of reproducing without males was about 10–15%. The deep soil dwellers showed weaker capacities for aggregation in experiments. The parthenogenetic species comprise the majority of collembolan populations in different biotopes, up to 78% in forest soils and 50% in chernozems. Occupation of deep soil horizons and expansion of distribution ranges appear to be the result of biological progress of the species which have switched to parthenogenesis.

Cylindropygus ferox gen. n., sp. n.: A new member of the Cryptopygus complex (Collembola, Isotomidae) from central France

Cylindropygus, a new genus of isotomid Collembola, is described. It differs from all other genera of Isotomidae by a unique combination of characters (abdominal segments V and VI fused, eyes absent, postantennal organ present and elongate, S‐chaetotaxy, and absence of foil chaetae) and two remarkable features: a modified labium, with papillae A, B, D bearing strong spines; and a swollen, globular accp3 chaeta on Abd.V. Cylindropygus ferox sp. n. is common in forest soils of central France.

Intraspecific Phenotypic Variation and Morphological Divergence of Strains of Folsomia candida (Willem) (Collembola: Isotomidae), the "Standard" Test Springtaill

We describe and compare the external morphology of eleven clonal strains and one sexual lineage of the globally distributed Folsomia candida, known as “standard” test Collembola. Of the 18 morphological characters studied, we measured 14 to have significant between-strains genetic variations, 9 of these had high heritabilities (>78%). The quantified morphological polymorphism was used to analyse the within-species relationships between strains by using both a parsimony analysis and a distance tree. These two detailed morphological phylogenies have revealed that the parthenogenetic strains grouped themselves into two major clades. However the exact position of the sexual strain remains unclear and further analysis is needed to confirm its exact relationship with the parthenogenetic ones. The two morphologically based clades were found to be the same as the ones previously described using molecular analysis. This shows that despite large within-strain variations, morphological characters can be used to differentiate some strains that have diverged within a single morphospecies. We discuss the potential evolutionary interpretations and consequences of these different levels of phenotypic variability.

Taxonomy of the Cryptopygus complex. I. Pauropygus - a new worldwide littoral genus (Collembola, Isotomidae)

Abstract In this paper, we describe the new genus Pauropygus gen. n. which includes three minute species, blind and unpigmented, living in interstitial littoral habitats in tropical or subtropical countries. Two of these species are new to science (type species Pauropygus projectus sp. n. from New Caledonia and Pauropygus pacificus sp. n. from China); the third one, originally described in the genus Cryptopygus (Cryptopygus caussaneli Thibaud, 1996), has a larger pantropical distribution. We synonymize here Cryptopygus riebi Barra, 1997 from South Africa with Pauropygus caussaneli. Two paratypes of the Mexican species Cryptopygus axayacatl Palacios & Thibaud, 2001 turned also to be Pauropygus caussaneli, while the holotype and remaining paratypes of this species support its placement in Proisotomodes. Among the Cryptopygus complex, Pauropygus gen. n. is easily recognized by characters of mouthparts (presence of two large projections on pleural fold, basolateral field with 6 chaetae, modified mouthparts) and reduced sensillar chaetotaxy (tergal sensilla 2-3,0-1/0-1,0-1,1-2,1-2,1-3, microsensilla reduced in number: 00/0-100, with sensilla situated in p-row on the abdomen). Small size, absence of eyes and pigment are also shared by all its species. The three species belonging to the genus differ by sensillar chaetotaxy.

New records for the Georgian springtail fauna (Collembola)

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Springtail communities (Collembola) of Eastern European broad-leaf forests

The fauna and communities of Collembola in Eastern European broad-leaf forests are analyzed. A list of species and dominants, the local diversity and abundance, the range of life forms, and vertical distribution are described. Special attention is paid to the problems of dynamics and representativeness of ecological samplings. The population density of springtails is relatively low in broad-leaf forests; the local species richness is similar to that in coniferous forests and averages 25–30 species. In spite of some differences, the springtail populations of broad-leaf and coniferous forests can be assigned to the same type of community, namely that of Eastern European forests.

First record of the littoral family Isotogastruridae (Collembola) in Asia

Abstract The new species Isotogastrura trichaetosa sp. n. isdescribed from a sand beach of Hainan, South China. It differs from all its congeners by 3+3 axial setae on Abd. IV (vs. 2+2) and by the presence of a pair of tubercles on Abd.VI. The geography of this strictly littoral genus is discussed.

The use of macrochaetotaxy in taxonomy of palaearctic Folsomia (Collembola, Isotomidae).

Summary Data on the number of macrochaetae of the main segments (Th. II–Abd. IV) of the body in 76 species of Folsomia are summarised. Only thoracic tergites II—III show variation in number of macrochaetae, as the conditions 1,1, 2,2 and 1,2 were found in the material studied. The last variation was seen in three groups of species, and has probably been derived independently.