First record of a possible predatory collembolan species, Dicyrtoma fusca (Collembola: Dicyrtomidae), in New Zealand
- Authors: Greenslade, Penelope , Boyer, Stéphane , Sheilds, Morgan , Wratten , Steve
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Austral Entomology Vol. 56, no. 3 (2016), p. 332-338
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Specimens of a previously unrecorded collembolan species were found in a field margin of a commercial dairyfarm near Christchurch, New Zealand. They were consistently observed apparently feeding on egg batches ofthe light brown apple moth Epiphyas postvittana, which were being used as bait to assess predation rate by poten-tial biocontrol agents. The collembolan specimens were identified as the European species Dicyrtoma fusca basedon published morphological descriptions of this species. DNA sequence data of the New Zealand specimens clus-tered with sequence data from GenBank of this species from Norway and England, confirming that D. fusca pop-ulations in New Zealand originated from Europe. A GenBank sequence had previously identified a collembolanspecies from Estonia as this species, but its position in the phylogeny indicates that it is a different species. Somemorphological variations observed in arrangement of macrochaetae on the head were shown by sequence data tobe intraspecific differences only.
New records of springtails in New Zealand pasture: how well are our pastoral invertebrates known?
- Authors: Greenslade, Penelope , Boyer, Stéphane , Wratten , Steve
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 56, no. 2 (2013), p. 93-101
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Twenty-four collembolan species are recorded from improved pastures and clovers in New Zealand, of which 17 can be named to species or probable species, the others only to genus. Of the 17 named species, nine have been recorded before from New Zealand but the other eight are new records for the country. All named species are considered as introduced to New Zealand, probably originally from Europe and are unlikely to colonise native habitats. As all named species reported as new records can be abundant at times, this indicates poor knowledge of a major part of New Zealand's agricultural fauna. Collembola are a group of important microarthropod detritivores that make a significant contribution to ecosystem services. The absence so far of quantification of the contribution this and other soil groups make to ecological resilience and function is a serious problem.