SPRINGTAILS (COLLEMBOLA) IN THE SUBPOLAR LANDSCAPES OF THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

An overview of published and new information on the collembolan fauna and assemblage structure in the polar desert zone is presented. Up to now, 71 springtail species from 37 genera and 11 families have reliably been registered within the zone. 11 species have been added to the previously known fauna of the Franz Josef Land, while the very north of Novaya Zemlya has been surveyed for the first time. Even the much better known fauna of the Bolshevik Island (Severnaya Zemlya) has been enriched by 3 species. The known species richness of springtails of the Ellef Ringnes Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is also increased from 8 to 13 species. Most genera in each of the study regions of the polar desert zone include 1, more rarely 2 species, with Folsomia and Hypogastrura being the only exceptions. Species with circumpolar distribution patterns account for more than 60% of the total list, but only 10 species are common to all three provinces. This obviously indicates a certain regional specificity. Apart from this, the faunas of different provinces (and regions within a certain province) differ markedly in the proportion of species with more southern distribution patterns. Nevertheless, the collembolan assemblages in all three provinces of the polar desert zone are rather similar at the structural level, this being a direct consequence of the general depletion of the complexes against the background of a high general abundance and a weakened habitat restriction of mass species.