We describe Bollmanella amorensis sp. nov. from Labor of Love Cave, White Pine County, Nevada, United States. From cave explorations in Great Basin National Park and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in White Pine Co., Nevada, we provide new records of Idagona lehmanensis Shear, 2007, and Nevadesmus ophimontis Shear, 2009, and ecological notes on Labor of Love Cave, a list of species encountered, and remarks on the distinctiveness of caves in the Great Basin Desert.
A new troglomorphic species of the genus Otostigmus Porat, 1876 has been discovered in two hypogenic caves in Serra da Bodoquena National Park, a hotspot for Brazil’s subterranean fauna. This represents the second troglobitic Otostigmus species in the world. The newly described species, Otostigmus (Parotostigmus) troglobius sp. nov ., was based on molecular and morphological data. Although the specimens do not occur in the same cave, species delimitation analysis using a mitochondrial marker Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit I (COI) grouped the new species into a congruent MOTU. Morphologically, the new species closely resembles O. tidius Chamberlin, 1914 due to the median keels on the tergites and the short, incomplete sutures on the sternites. The new discovery underscores the importance of conserving the caves in Serra da Bodoquena.
The biodiversity of two caves in the Bavarian Alps, one at low altitude (Angerlloch) and the other at high altitude (Schrecksattel Ice Cave), was studied, with particular attention paid to the relative abundance of trogloxene, troglophile, and troglobitic species. Two excursions were organised for each cave to collect specimens and set pitfall traps for three months. A total of 32 species were identified in the Angerlloch and 16 in the Schrecksattel Ice Cave. Greater total biodiversity was observed in Angerlloch, but most of this fauna consisted of non-troglomorphic trogloxene species. In the Schrecksattel Ice Cave, only 16 species were found, but some of these were more highly adapted to life underground. Our results indicate that the low-altitude cave attracts a greater diversity of species with a low degree of cave adaptation, whereas the high-altitude cave harbours fewer species overall but has a more specialised troglobitic fauna. The results and species lists are presented herein. Furthermore, the occurrence of the springtail Protaphorura septempapillata (Palissa, 1986) was documented for the first time in the Schrecksattel Ice Cave, representing the second cave record for this species beyond its type locality.
Karst groundwater ecosystems can rely on organic matter (OM) sourced from the surface, but dependance on this can be unreliable depending on how surface water recharges the subsurface. Instead, autochthonous, chemolithoautotrophically-produced OM can also support karst ecosystems. The reduced compounds fueling chemolithoautotrophy can be derived from both OM decomposition and mineral dissolution. The relative contributions of allochthonous versus autochthonous OM to stygofaunal food webs remain unassessed in most settings. Here, we examined OM contributions to metazoan communities in the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer (Texas, USA). Geochemical gradients corresponded to variations in microbial community compositions, and biomass-weighted metabolic profiling provided evidence for chemolithoautotrophic OM production, particularly in sulfidic wells where heterotrophic contributions to fine particulate OM (FPOM) were the lowest. Chemolithoautotrophic contributions to OM were calculated using Bayesian isotope mixing models of bulk stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of FPOM, with chemolithoautotrophic contributions as high as 44.8% in one groundwater well. However, bulk delta C-13 of metazoan assemblages were not strongly depleted (<-35 parts per thousand), and Bayesian isotope mixing models indicated diets primarily supported by allochthonous OM instead of chemolithoautotrophic OM. The dampened isotopic evidence for chemolithoautotrophy may be due to the hydrologic dynamics of the Barton Springs segment, where rapid recharge and relatively short groundwater residence times likely promote allochthonous OM use by stygofauna. These findings highlight the importance of hydrologic context in determining energy pathways in subterranean food webs and have implications for understanding the vulnerability of stygobiontic communities to changes in land use, including urban development.
Two new taxa of the earthworm genus Amynthas Kinberg, 1867 are described from northwestern China: Amynthas longnanensis sp. nov . from Longnan, Gansu Province, and Amynthas pectiniferus guanzhongensis ssp. nov . from Weinan, Shaanxi Province. Both belong to the A. sieboldi group, characterized by three pairs of spermathecal pores in 6/7–8/9. Species delimitation based on COI barcoding (ASAP and GMYC) and phylogenetic analysis using mitogenomic protein-coding genes (PCGs) support their recognition as distinct lineages. The mitogenomic phylogeny reveals that the A. sieboldi group as currently defined is not monophyletic. The new findings fill a distributional gap of Amynthas in northwestern China and provide new morphological and molecular data for understanding earthworm diversity.
