Subterranean biota of the European part of Russia: A review

Abstract

The endogean flora and fauna of European Russia, including those of the northwestern Caucasus, but excluding those of Crimea, presently comprise at least 389 species or subspecies (some still unidentified) from 229 genera (a few still unidentified), 150 families, 75 orders, 48 classes and 25 phyla, among which 96 species or subspecies represent presumed stygo-or troglobionts. The taxonomically most diverse phylum is Arthropoda which encompasses the bulk of the fauna, in particular due to crustaceans, beetles and collembolans. Whereas the troglofauna of northern Russia is completely devoid of such strongly cave-adapted animals, in the Urals, Cis-Urals and central Russia there are a few, but the greatest diversity of hypogean species in the region is observed in the northwestern Caucasus, in particular its maritime western part, as an "Ice Age" refugium of nemoral biota rich in karst.

Two new stygobiotic species of the genus Proasellus (Crustacea: Isopoda: Asellidae) from the North Caucasus

“…However, Proasellus remains a fragmentary studied group within the west Palaearctic isopods. In Trancaucasia, for instance, only four species were described while the true diversity of this group was shown to be considerably higher (Turbanov et al, 2016;Golovatch et al, 2018;Palatov, Sokolova, 2019;Palatov, Chertoprud, 2020). All currently known Caucasian species of the genus Proasellus were described from the ground waters of the Black Sea coast by Ya.A.…”

An unexpected new cave-dwelling species of the genus Leucogeorgia Verhoeff, 1930 (Diplopoda: Julida: Julidae) from the Chechen Republic, Caucasus, Russia

“…Given the caves of the North Caucasus have not been studied as thoroughly as the caves of the western Caucasus [Turbanov et al, 2016a, b, c;Golovatch et al, 2018], it is reasonable to expect discoveries of new troglomorphic invertebrates in that area. This will shed additional light on the zoogeographic links of the North Caucasus to the other regions of the eastern Mediterranean.…”

To the knowledge of the biology and distribution of Monopis crocicapitella (Clemens, 1860) (Lepidoptera: Tineidae), with remarks on cavernicolous Lepidoptera

“…Despite the earlier reviews [Kniss, 2001;Mukhanov, Kapralov, 2010;Turbanov et al, 2016b;Golovatch et al, 2018], the question concerning the ecological classification of these species remains open. To solve this problem, we used the ecological classification of B.…”