Finished projects
Morphological analysis and description of new springtail species and molecular study of the terrestrial isopods
An inventory of cave fauna of the Krka National Park has been carried out over several years, resulting in detailed insight into the subterranean diversity of the region. During this research springtails (Collembola) have been sampled also in the entrance part of the caves and in soil and litter in front of the cave to gather comparative data for a more accurate ecological classification of the cave springtails. A new epigean species of the genus Lepidocyrtus has been sampled and peculiar dance-like behavior was observed. It is assumed that the dance-like behavior is related to the search for food, which would be the first record of such behavior among springtails. The aim of this project is to describe the new species and the dance-like behavior.
Another taxonomic group that is included in this project is the terrestrial isopods of the genus Alpioniscus. By the morphological study it has been shown that population of species Alpioniscus balthasari from the cave Stara Jametina is different from the population form the type locality from Cetina spring area, and from the populations of hydropower plant Miljacka and area of Kistanje. The second aim of the project is to test with molecular methods if the observed morphological differences represent differential characters on the species level.