Range expansion of two invasive springtails on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Phillips, Laura, Janion-Scheepers, Charlene, Houghton, Melissa, Terauds, Aleks, Potapov, Mikhail, Chown, Steven L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2017
• Subjects: Collembola; Dispersal; DNA barcode; Soil fauna; Taxonomy; 1100 Agricultural and Biological Sciences; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Macquarie Island
• Online Access: https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:637832

Collembola are an important group of indigenous terrestrial invertebrates in the sub-Antarctic region and, compared to the most continental regions, their limited diversity is well known. Several invasive species, introduced by humans, have also established in the region, with some of these widespread while others are more restricted to disturbed areas. In this study, we report the spread of two non-indigenous Collembola species on Macquarie Island. Protaphorura fimata (Gisin, 1952) (Collembola:Poduromorpha: Onychiuridae) and Proisotoma minuta (Tullberg, 1871) (Entomobryomorpha:Isotomidae) are both cosmopolitan species that have been present on the island for several decades, but restricted to the area around the research station. Here, we report their spread up to 3 and 11 km, respectively, from the research station. We discuss the implications of this finding for biosecurity across the Antarctic region. We also document the presence of a new non-indigenous species, Parisotoma notabilis (Schaffer, 1896) (Entomobryomorpha:Isotomidae).