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Campodeinae is the most diverse subfamily of Campodeidae diplurans and inhabits soils and subsurface ecosystems. These are distributed in the Palearctic area, clearly rarifying towards northern latitudes. The major taxonomic characters are chaetotaxy, shape and complexity of pretarsal structures, and secondary sexual characters. This monograph provides a taxonomic revision of the subfamily Campodeinae in the Euro-Mediterrnean region, based on extensive literature review and new material studied. It comprises detailed morphological descriptions and illustrations together with habitat and distribution data of 161 species and 14 subspecies from 10 genera: Campodea Westwood, 1842, Edriocampa Silvestri, 1933, Eutrichocampa Silvestri, 1902, Helladocampa Condé, 1984, Libanocampa Condé, 1955, Litocampa Silvestri, 1933, Oreocampa Condé, 1950, Podocampa Silvestri, 1932, Remycampa Condé 1952, and Spaniocampa Silvestri, 1933. With 116 species Campodea is the most diverse and widely distributed genus in the studied area.
Diplura is a group of entognathous hexapods, often considered a sister group to insects. They play an important role in recycling organic matter in soil and subterranean terrestrial ecosystems. The Campodeidae is the most diverse family, divided into four subfamilies. The subfamily Plusiocampinae has a subterranean life-style with many species distributed in the Euro-Mediterranean area. The incertae sedis tachycampoids ("lignée Tachycampoïde") is a group within the family Campodeidae that share with the Plusiocampinae a strong preference for subterranean habitats and several morphological characters, such as slender body shape, elongated appendages, considerable increment in the number of antennomeres and cercal articles, and complexity of sensorial structures. The present monograph provides a taxonomic revision of the subfamily Plusiocampinae and the genera belonging to the tachycampoid lineage from Europe and the Mediterranean region. It comprises detailed morphological descriptions and illustrations together with data on the habitats and distributions of 87 species, 10 subspecies and 11 affinis forms. Seven new species are described among those, namely: Plusiocampa (Plusiocampa) apollo Sendra, Giachino & Vailati sp. nov., P. (P.) chiosensis Sendra & Gasparo sp. nov., P. (P.) dublanskii Sendra & Turbanov sp. nov., P. (P.) hoffmanni Sendra & Paragamian sp. nov., P. (P.) rhea Sendra sp. nov., P. (P.) ternovensis Sendra & Borko sp. nov. and P. (Venetocampa) ferrani Sendra & Delić sp. nov.
A new species of the genus Spinaethorax Papáč & Palacios-Vargas, 2016, recently erected for two cave species in Mexico, is described from a Vietnamese cave. It differs from the Mexican species most noticeably by the dorsal chaetotaxy of the head (number and morphology of chaetae), the shape of S-chaetae on the third antennomere, the dorsal chaetotaxy of the abdomen and the chaetotaxy of the dens. The pattern of special τ-chaetae is described for the first time in the genus. The affinities between Spinaethorax and the other genera of Neelipleona are discussed. Spinaethorax is propably closely related to Neelus Folsom, 1896. A table of the differential characters is provided for the three known species of Spinaethorax. Spinaethorax appears to be restricted to caves, but its presence in Vietnam indicates that this genus has a much larger distribution than previously recognized.
Gastrotricha is a cosmopolitan phylum of aquatic and semi-aquatic invertebrates that comprises about 820 described species. Current knowledge regarding freshwater gastrotrichs inhabiting caves is extremely poor and there are no extant data regarding freshwater Gastrotricha from Montenegro. We describe a new species from Obodska Cave, which is also the first record of a gastrotrich from this region. Due to its unusual habitat and morphological characteristics, this species may be important when considering the evolution and dispersion routes of Chaetonotidae Gosse, 1864 (sensu Leasi & Todaro 2008). We provide morphometic, molecular and phylogenetic data for the new species, together with photomicrographs and drawings.