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)
26 Natura Somogyiensis Hyrcanian Mixed Forests ecoregion is an area of lush lowland and montane forests near the southern shores of the Caspian Sea of Iran. The ecoregion’s climate is humid subtropical. In middle altitude locations it is oceanic and in the mountains, humid continental. The Alborz mountain range is the highest mountain range in the Middle East which captures the moisture of the Caspian Sea. The natural forest vegetation is temperate deciduous broadleaved forest. The dominant species of Hyrcanian forest is of Oriental Beech ( Fagus orientalis). The main types of trees contain Fagus orientalis, Quercus persica, Q. macranthera, Buxus hyrcana, Castanea sativa, Carpinus betulus and C. orientalis. Also some conifers may be found in these forests. Fig. 1: Iran location in the Middle East Material and methods Samplings were carried out in Mazandaran province in May 2012 and March 2013. Mazandaran province is located in northern Iran. The leaf litter, soil and dead wood were collected from forests in Savadkooh, Behshahr, Neka and Noor regions. The animals were extracted by Berlese funnel and Collembola species were preserved in 75% alcohol. The specimens were cleared in KOH and mounted in Hoyer’s medium and identified. The sampling sites (showed by stars in Fig. 2) are including:
