The present state of the art of biospeleology in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union: A review of the cave (endogean) invertebrate fauna

Abstract

Representatives of 17 phyla, 38 classes, 90 orders and 278 families of invertebrates which contain at least 308 species or subspecies of mostly presumed stygo- or troglobionts and no fewer than 735 species or subspecies of stygo- or troglophiles are currently known to populate the caves and subterranean waters of Russia and other countries of the former USSR. The main evolutionary burst in the endogea, including the MSS (milieu souterrain superficiel, or mesovoid shallow stratum), is due to arthropods, primarily crustaceans, collembolans and beetles. The major centres of taxonomic diversity among stygo- and troglobionts thereby remain the Caucasus (181, or almost 59%) and the Crimea (44, or over 14%), both montane "glacial" refugia of nemoral biota rich in karst, whereas the contributions of the other major regions, sometimes strongly karstified as well, are considerably smaller, gradually decreasing in the series Central asia (35, or more than 11%), the Far East (33, or nearly 11%), the Ukrainian Carpathians together with Podolia (12, or almost 4%), the Russian Plain (7, or over 2%), the Urals and Cisuralia (7, also more than 2%) to Siberia (5, or 1.6%). The problem of inventorying is still among the most topical in assessing the stygo- and troglofaunas of the territories in question. an as complete bibliography list as possible pertaining to this problem is also presented.