THE COLLEMBOLAN FAUNA (HEXAPODA: COLLEMBOLA) OF THE "PRIVOLZHSKAYA LESOSTEP" RESERVE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES IN THE PENZA REGION

Abstract

Background. Currently, data on Collembola in various natural and climatic zones of the European part of Russia have been accumulated. However, information on the Collembolan fauna of undisturbed landscapes of the forest-steppe zone is rather fragmentary. The purpose of this work is an inventory of the Collembolan fauna in the "Privolzhskaya Lesostep" Nature Reserve, which is located in the south-west of the Volga Upland. Materials and methods. Collembolan communities were surveyed in 1999–2022 in the Nature Reserve and adjacent territories of the Penza region. Soil samples were taken according to the standard methods; microarthropods were extracted through the Tullgren funnels. Results. Altogether, 181 species of Collembola have been identified, 45 species are given for the first time for the fauna of the Middle Volga region. When generalized with our data, the faunistic complex of this region includes more than 200 species of Collembola. Conclusions. The collembolan fauna in the studied natural landscapes of the Eastern European forest-steppe is characterized by a predominance of soil forms (more than 45 %) and a high diversity of Onychiuridae (29 species from 10 genera) and Tullbergiidae (21 species from 11 genera). The third part of the fauna consists of species with European (25 %) and Eastern European (9 %) distribution; many of them are rare, living in deep soils, located on the border of their biogeographic distribution area or have a disjunctive distribution pattern.

Keywords

• forest-steppe
• forest-steppe zone
• soil fauna
• old-age landscapes
• refugiums
• chernozems
• deep-soil species
• rare species