Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Válogatott tanulmányok IX. - Natura Somogyiensis 24. (Kaposvár, 2014)
Yoosefi Lafooraki E. - Shayanmehr M.: New records of Neelipleona for the Iranian springtail fauna (Collembola)
Natura Somogyiensis 24 25-30 Kaposvár, 2014 New records of Neelipleona for the Iranian springtail fauna (Collembola) Elham Yoosefi Lafooraki* & Masoumeh Shayanmehr Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Crop Sciences, Sari University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Sari, Iran, Po. Box 578.; ‘Corresponding author’s email: eyoosefi@ymail.com Yoosefi Lafooraki, E. & Shayanmehr, M.: New records of Neelipleona for the Iranian springtail fauna (Collembola). Abstract: Three new species of Collembola belonging to genus Megalothorax Willem, 1900 (new genus for Iran) are recorded for the fauna of Iran. M. willemi Schneider & D'Haese, 2013 and M. perspicillum Schneider & D'Haese, 2013 have recently described and known from Belgium and France respectively. In this survey they were collected from Mazandaran province in northern Iran and are first record for the Middle East (and the second record in the world). Also M. incertus Börner, 1903 is recorded for the first time from Iran. The specimens were found in the soil, litter and dead wood from four localities in Caspian Hyrcanian Mixed Forests. Keywords: Megalothorax, Neelidae, Iran. Introduction Previously globular springtails were known as order Symphypleona. The family Neelidae was created by Folsom (1896) based on description of Neelus murinus Folsom, 1896 (Kovaó & Papac 2010). In 1971, Massoud erected three suborders within order Collembola: the Arthropleona, the Neelipleona and Symphypleona (Bretfeld 1999). At present time most collembologists have accepted class Collembola with four orders including Entomobryomorpha, Poduromorpha, Symphypleona and Neelipleona. Neelipleona is the smallest of the four order of Collembola (Schneider & D'Haese 2013). There are little literatures or taxonomic keys for Collembola species from Asian countries especially from those of the Middle East. The study of Collembola fauna of Iran is poorly known, too. Iran is a country in western Asia and in the Middle East with a 1,648,195 km2 of area (Fig. 1). The first record of the springtails for Iranian fauna was Sminthurus viridis Linnaeus, 1758 found by Farahbakhsh (1961). The most extensive study on Collembola was carried out by Cox (1982) who collected and identified 70 species of 30 genera and five families. Until now only 1 species of Neelipleona is recorded from Iran. The only record of Neelidae in Iran, Neelus murinus (Folsom 1896) was found by Cox (1982) form Central, Mazandaran and East Azarbaijan. In this investigation some new species are added to the Iranian springtails fauna. This survey was carried out in Mazandaran province in northern Iran. Because of its geographical location between the Caspian Sea and Alborz mountains, this province has a humid, moderate Caspian weather and thus a rich faunistic and floristic diversity. The Caspian
