Collembola (Hexapoda) of Malaise traps from two localities in Tlaxcala, Mexico

Abstract

Springtails (Collembola) from two temperate forest sites, “Ejido Los Búfalos” (LB) and “Bosque Mágico de Piedra Canteada, Santuario de la Luciérnaga” (PC), in Tlaxcala state, central Mexico, were sampled monthly with Malaise traps. More than 38,000 specimens from 10 species were collected and studied. Although abundance values between both study sites were highly different, no significant effect of locality and sampling date was found according to a two-way ANOVA unbalanced test because of the high variance between recorded data. Shannon’s diversity index for LB was H’=0.61 and for PC was H’=1.08, with a significant difference in diversity between both sites. Most abundant springtails were Entomobryidae: Seira sp. (n=21,091 individuals in LB and n=6,424 in PC), Americabrya arida (6,214 and 2,860), and Willowsia mexicana (19 and 852); few Neanuridae: Pseudachorutes (241 and 169); Isotomidae: Isotoma (2 and 3); Katiannidae: Polykatianna (45 and 22); and Tomoceridae: Pogonognathellus flavescens (45 and 93). Two genera were only found at PC, Dicyrtomidae: Ptenothrix (31) and Entomobryidae: Lepidocyrtus (4). This is the first study to record abundance values of these high magnitudes for springtails captured with Malaise traps. Results are compared with previous studies at Mexican and French localities, respectively; Entomobryidae was the most abundant family captured with this method