Introduction to Class of Collembola as Soil Mesofauan from Semeskandeh Mixed Forest (Hyrcanian Region)

Collembola are most abundant decomposer soil living arthropoda in forest ecosystems. They are among the best indicators within the soil mesofauna to determine the health and sustainability of forest ecosystems. The Hyrcanian forests, most of which are located in Iran, are among the most valuable forests on Earth, which, despite their climatic diversity, unique plant and animal species, are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Despite the very important role of Collembola in ecological processes of forests, including the decomposition of organic matter and nutrient cycles but the role of these small arthropods in the Iranian Hyrcanian forests has not been much studied. The study was conducted to investigate and identify the fauna of Collembola in the forest soils to introduce their importance for forest ecologists in Iran.

The research was carried out at a station in the Samsakandeh mixed forest of Sari as part of the temperate deciduous forests of the Hyrcanian region. For studying collembolan fauna in soil and leaf litter of the forest, in 2016-2017, soil and leaf litter samples were collected from different locations by soil core (depth 10 cm) and pitfall traps. The springtails were extracted by Berlese funnel and were identified after preparing microscopic slides with available keys.

In sum, 25 species belonging to 21 genera from 9 families were collected and identified as species level. The specimens of Lepidocyrtus, Sminthurinus, Neanura, Sphyrotheca and Dicyrtoma identified as genus level.

Six species including Entomobrya obscurella (Brown, 1926), Heteromurus gigans (Mari Mutt & Stomp, 1980), Heteromurus variabilis (Martynova, 1974), Orchesella spectabilis (Stach, 1960), Pseudachorutes corticicolus (Schaffer, 1897) and Protaphorura ombrophila (Stach, 1960) were reported for the first time for Iran fauna. Two species, Neelus murinus (Folsom, 1986) and Pseudachorutes subcrassus Tullberg, 1871, are re-reported to the Samsakandeh mixed forest, 38 years after the first Cox report (1982).