News from the western front: occurrence of Mediterranea depressa (Sterki, 1880) (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Oxychilidae) in the Vosges and Jura Mountains (north-eastern France)

We report here the first record of Mediterranea depressa (Sterki, 1880) in the north-eastern quarter of France, in the Vosges and Jura massifs. After the fortuitous discovery of some shells attributed to M. depressa in the southern Vosges Mts., an extensive sampling campaign was carried out both in the Vosges and in the Jura Mts. In total, about 20 shells and seven live specimens were found at eight localities, which, according to the present state of our knowledge, represent its north-western range limit. The species was found exclusively under stones of rocky slope screes on siliceous and calcareous substrates. Some of these habitats could be described as Mesovoid Shallow Substratum. It is not clear whether the rarity of the species is an effect of under-sampling or of its small size and unusual habitat or/and to intrinsic rarity due to isolated populations at the distribution limits of the species. The extreme north-eastern quarter of France constitutes an oceanic-continental transition zone where about thirty gastropod species from Central and Eastern Europe are currently documented at the western limit of their ranges.

Cryptic subterranean diversity in Collembola indicates that Hot Spot in ferruginous rock may have serious implications in Brazilian conservation policy.

A super diverse hot spot of subterranean Collembola in ferruginous rock caves and Mesovoid Shallow Substratum is revealed by the analysis of cryptic 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 49 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, contrasting with the conservation policy for subterranean fauna in metallogenic areas in Brazil which prioritizes the caves instead the cave species, which may be extremely detrimental to the fauna in the shallow subterranean habitats not accessible to humans.

Neelipleona and Symphypleona (Collembola) from a Sampling in the Mesovoid Shallow Substratum of the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (Madrid and Segovia, Spain): Taxonomy and Biogeography

Megalothorax minimus (Neelidae) and Sphaeridia pumilis (Sminthurididae) had already been identified in surface sampling from Sierra de Guadarrama. In Europe, Sminthurinus gisini (Katiannidae) seems to be associated with environments at specific altitudes, and has little representation in this sampling. Pygmarrhopalites custodum Baquero and Jordana sp. nov. (Arrhopalitidae) coexists with two previously identified surface occurring species of the same family (P. elegans and Arrhopalites caecus). However, P. custodum is more abundant, indicating that it occupies an ecological niche tending to troglophile in the mesovoid shallow substratum (MSS). Moreover, it is also more abundant in the MSS of higher altitude corresponding to the bioclimatic zones cryo-oro-Mediterranean and oro-Mediterranean supra forest. Allacma cryptica Baquero and Jordana sp. nov. (Sminthuridae), is another species that had not been previously detected on the surface in the study area. A. cryptica is an addition to a genus which has eight described species. Gisinurus malatestai (Sminthuridae) appears well represented in the MSS, being a species present very occasionally in the Mediterranean area. Two species of the genera Sminthurides (Sminthurididae) and Fasciosminthurus (Bourletiellidae) have been found, but they could not have been identified to the species level. Finally, a few specimens of Dicyrtomina minuta (Dicyrtomidae), an abundant species on the surface, have been captured.

Two new species of the genus Laemostenus Bonelli sg. Antisphodrus Schaufuss from Turkey (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Sphodrini)

Two new species of the genus Laemostenus Bonelli sg. Antisphodrus Schaufuss of the bodemeyeri species-group are described, illustrated and compared with the related species: Laemostenus (Antisphodrus) bozdagensis sp. nov. (Type locality Manisa, Bozdağlar) and Laemostenus (Antisphodrus) binboga sp. nov. (Type locality Kayseri, Sarız, Binboğa Dağları). These new species were collected with subterranean pitfall traps in the mesovoid shallow substratum (MSS). Additional faunistic and systematic comments, identification key and check-list for Turkish species of the bodemeyeri species group are also presented. Distribution of the bodemeyeri species group is mapped.

Three new subterranean species of Baezia (Curculionidae, Molytinae) for the Canary Islands

The genus Baezia Alonso-Zarazaga & García, 1999 is endemic to the Canary Islands, where four species were known to date. Based on morphological evidence, three new species of Baezia are described in this study: Baezia aranfaybo García & López, sp. nov. from El Hierro island, and Baezia madai García & Oromí sp. nov. and Baezia tizziri García & Andújar, sp. nov. from La Palma island. Notes on their biology, habitat, and distribution are presented. The number of taxa in this endemic Canarian genus increases to seven eyeless species. One species has been reported from the soil (endogean environment), with the other six associated with caves and the mesovoid shallow substratum (hypogean or subterranean environment). Frequent association with the presence of roots suggests that species of Baezia may inhabit the continuum represented by the endogean and hypogean environments. Identification key to the seven species are provided.

Two new dipluran species unearthed from subterranean habitats of the Canary Islands (Arthropoda, Hexapoda, Entognatha)

Two new dipluran species of the family Campodeidae have been unearthed in the Canary Islands. Remycampa herbanicasp. nov. was found in a highly threatened lava tube on Fuerteventura island. It is related to the soil-dwelling northwest African Remycampa launeyi that also inhabits four of the Canary Islands. The two known Remycampa species are characterized by a torsion of the labial palps. They differ chiefly in the distribution of macrosetae and in the features of cave adaptation of R. herbanica, i.e. elongation of body and appendages, and a higher number of olfactory chemoreceptors with a coniform shape unique within campodeids. Spaniocampa relictasp. nov. was collected in the mesovoid shallow substratum (MSS) and has been assigned to a formerly monotypic genus that includes the soil-dwelling Spaniocampa prima from the Republic of Guinea. The two species differ in the number of abdominal macrosetae. Females of S. relictasp. nov. have small setae arranged in groups along the posterior border of the first urosternite. These structures of unknown function have never been described in other campodeid species. Sequencing the COI barcode region of R. herbanica has been produced but it proved insufficient to identify closest relatives. The two new hexapods from subterranean habitats raise the Canarian campodeid fauna to six species. Five of them are living in soil and/or MSS, whereas the cave-adapted R. herbanica is known only from a single, particularly endangered lava tube distant from other caves.

On the ecology and biology of two endogean millipedes (Diplopoda: Julida: Julidae) endemic to the Western Rhodope Mtn., Bulgaria

Mountain slopes covered with stone debris have been of special interest for zoologists since the pioneer work of Juberthie et al. (1980) who defined and described the Milieu Souterrain Superficiel, most popularly referred to in English as the Mesovoid Shallow Substratum (MSS). Today this particular habitat is classified as one of the several types of MSS, namely the colluvial MSS. In a number of recent publications, the MSS is considered as one of the Superficial Subterranean Habitats (SSHs) within a broader concept of the subterranean domain. According to a widely accepted idea, the SSHs are different in their nature but are all characterized by the absence of light which is regarded as the main factor responsible for the occurrence of troglomorphic fauna in these habitats, along with epigean species that are able to live in such conditions. The present study focuses on two julid millipedes — Typhloiulus orpheus Vagalinski, Stoev & Enghoff, 2015 and a yet undescribed genus and species of the tribe Typhloiulini — occurring in the transitional layer of fine rubble between the soil stratum and the MSS in limestone taluses in the Western Rhodope Mtn. It was revealed that the spatial distributions of the two species in the studied sites were remarkably confined and follow the same pattern, which is suggested to reflect narrow microhabitat specialization. This assumption is further supported by certain traits in the morphology and biology of the two diplopods. It can be concluded that both T. orpheus and the new genus and species are essentially stenotopic endogean elements with strict requirements for an aphotic, mesophilous, limestone environment. Given the specific ecological conditions, which differ from both the overlying soil layer and the underlying colluvial MSS, together with the existence of certain narrowly adapted species, it is worth considering the recognition of the intermediate “microvoid” breakstone layer as a separate shallow subterranean habitat.