Cave dwelling springtails (Collembola) of Hungary: a review

Abstract

A historical review of Hungarian cave springtail studies is given. All literature concerning this field is compiled and the species are listed along with their ocalities. In spite of the relatively low number of caves investigated regarding their Collembola fauna, 67 species have been reported from Hungarian caves until now. Eleven taxa are endemic to the cave or karst system where they were described from, which indicates highly promising perspectives for further biospeleological research in Hungary. The listed species are discussed in relation to the collembolan fauna of neighbouring countries and an attempt is made to discern zoogeographical patterns within the country.

Keywords

• Biospeleology
• troglobiont
• faunistics
• endemism
• subterranean