Singular fauna of Entomobryidae (Collembola) from "land of passes" in the Himalayas, India

Abstract

The present study of collembolan fauna is based on collections made during Aug-Sep 2008 from Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir, India, as a part of the "Cold Desert Expedition" of Zoological Survey of India. Ladakh, which means "land of many passes", is in northwestern India, bordering on China (Xinjiang and Tibet), and on its northwest it borders on Pakistan. The collembolans were collected from different parts of Ladakh district. The collections were mainly made through aspirators from leaf litter, mosses, under stones, a flower garden, agricultural fields, an embankment of a river, wetland and sand dunes. For the genera Corynothrix and Himalanura, an artic-alpine disjunction was found. Lepidocyrtus (Allocyrtus) lepidornatus was referred for a third time after 2 previous references from Philippines and Borneo. Seven new species belonging to Entomobryidae family are described: Entomobrya diskitensis sp. nov., E. ladakhi sp. nov., E. choudhurii sp. nov., E. mehtai sp. nov., Himalanura baijali sp. nov., Seira nidarensis sp. nov. and S. hazrai sp. nov.