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Using subterranean fauna in the Canary Islands as a simplified natural laboratory, we explored how the interplay of eco-evolutionary processes shape taxonomic and functional diversity patterns in oceanic archipelagos through geological times. First, we demonstrated an overall convergence in the trait spaces of subterranean communities across islands, yet with variability according to each island’s ontogenetic state—young, mature, or senescent. Next, we showed that the reduced species contribution to the island’s traits space in mature islands is a consequence of an optimisation of the use of the available niche space driven by species interactions. Finally, we link those lines of evidence showing that species interactions select a non-random combination of traits in mature islands. Collectively, our results provided a mechanistic description of the drivers of diversity in oceanic islands by suggesting causal relationships between species functional properties and island diversity metrics accounting for their geological age.

Most of our understanding of island diversity comes from the study of aboveground systems, while the patterns and processes of diversification and community assembly for belowground biotas remain poorly understood. Here, we take advantage of a relatively young and dynamic oceanic island to advance our understanding of ecoevolutionary processes driving community assembly within soil mesofauna. Using whole organism community DNA (wocDNA) metabarcoding and the recently developed metaMATE pipeline, we have generated spatially explicit and reliable haplotype-level DNA sequence data for soil mesofaunal assemblages sampled across the four main habitats within the island of Tenerife. Community ecological and metaphylogeographic analyses have been performed at multiple levels of genetic similarity, from haplotypes to species and supraspecific groupings. Broadly consistent patterns of local-scale species richness across different insular habitats have been found, whereas local insular richness is lower than in continental settings. Our results reveal an important role for niche conservatism as a driver of insular community assembly of soil mesofauna, with only limited evidence for habitat shifts promoting diversification. Furthermore, support is found for a fundamental role of habitat in the assembly of soil mesofauna, where habitat specialism is mainly due to colonization and the establishment of preadapted species. Hierarchical patterns of distance decay at the community level and metaphylogeographical analyses support a pattern of geographic structuring over limited spatial scales, from the level of haplotypes through to species and lineages, as expected for taxa with strong dispersal limitations. Our results demonstrate the potential for wocDNA metabarcoding to advance our understanding of biodiversity., This work was supported by projects CGL2015-74178-JIN (AEI, Spain/FEDER, EU) and SOILBIODIV (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015; award no.: 705639) awarded to CA, CGL2017-85718-P and PID2020-116788GB-I00 (AEI, Spain/FEDER, EU) and 2017RCE03 (Fundación CajaCanarias/Obra Social “La Caixa”) awarded to BCE. PA was additionally funded through a Junior Leader Fellowship (LCF/BQ/PR21/11840006) by “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No847648. We extend our gratitude to the regional governments of Andalucía, Canarias, and the local council (Cabildo) of Tenerife for facilitating collecting of samples, and to Jesús Arribas for assistance with field sampling and drawings of habitats.

Heriaeus buffoni (Audouin, 1826) is reported for the first time from the Canary Islands, where it was found on Lanzarote. This also represents the first record of the genus in the archipelago. All individuals were collected with pitfall traps installed in nitrophilous synanthropic shrub vegetation near urban areas. Species identification was based on male genitalia only as females were not sampled. A map including all known records from Lanzarote, drawings of the pedipalps and photographs of living and preserved specimens are presented., The authors are indebted to Laura Brito Fernández, Cristina Calero García, Malena García Díaz, Matías Hernández González, Alejandro Leira Molina, Daniel Maldonado Egusquiza and Patricia Morera Ferrer, partners of the “Arrecife: biociudad” project of the “Arrecife Avanza” agreement, for their help during the fieldwork. In addition, we would like to thank the Canarian Government for providing a sampling permit (No Ref. Expte. 2021/17012) that allowed us to carry out this survey. We are also grateful to Tobias Bauer for his help on a preliminary version of the manuscript and for kindly taking photos of the specimen. We wish to thank Sylvain Lecigne as well as an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments that improved the quality of the manuscript. D.S. was funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación through an FPI PhD fellowship (PRE2018-083230) and M.Á.Z. was funded by the Arrecife local council through the program “Nuevas Oportunidades de Empleo NOE-COVID” promoted by the European Social Fund+ (ESF+).

AIM: Habitat diversity has been linked to the diversity and structure of island communities, however, little is known about patterns and processes within habitats. Here we aim to determine the contributions of habitat type and inferred dispersal frequency to the differences in taxonomic structure between assemblages in the same island habitat. LOCATION: The Macaronesian archipelagos (Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands and Cabo Verde). TAXON: Spiders (Araneae). METHODS: We established forest and dry habitat sites (each with five plots) on two islands per archipelago. We collected spiders using standardised sampling protocols. We tested the differences in beta diversity separately for each habitat and for each inferred category of ballooning (an aerial dispersal strategy) frequency across geographic scales through nested non-parametric permutational multivariate analyses of variance. We then tested whether ballooning and habitat influenced heterogeneity in species composition (dispersion in beta diversity) in the two habitat types. We analysed the effects of habitat and ballooning on species abundance distribution (SAD) and rarity by fitting Gambin models and evaluating the contribution of ballooning categories to SAD. RESULTS: Communities of the same archipelago and habitat were taxonomically more similar, and beta diversity increased with geographic scale, being greater in dry habitats. There was greater species replacement among assemblages in dry habitats than in forests, with greater differences for rare ballooners. There were no differences in SAD between habitats although dry habitat sites seemed to harbour more species with low abundances (rare species) than forests. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: Habitat type does not only condition the differences between spider assemblages of the same habitat but also the scale at which they occur. These differences may be determined by the heterogeneity in the physical structure of each habitat as well as how much this structure facilitates aerial dispersal (ballooning), and should be considered in theories/hypotheses on island community assembly as well as in conservation strategies. The Government of the Canary Islands, Grant/Award Number: SE-12/02, SE-12/03 and SE-12/04; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Grant/Award Number: FCT-PTDC/BIABIC/0054/2014, DL57/2016/CP1375/CT0003 and UIDB/00329/2020-2024; FEDER, Grant/Award Number: 0003/2011 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The genus Baezia Alonso-Zarazaga & García, 1999 is endemic to the Canary Islands, where four species were known to date. Based on morphological evidence, three new species of Baezia are described in this study: Baezia aranfaybo García & López, sp. nov. from El Hierro island, and Baezia madai García & Oromí sp. nov. and Baezia tizziri García & Andújar, sp. nov. from La Palma island. Notes on their biology, habitat, and distribution are presented. The number of taxa in this endemic Canarian genus increases to seven eyeless species. One species has been reported from the soil (endogean environment), with the other six associated with caves and the mesovoid shallow substratum (hypogean or subterranean environment). Frequent association with the presence of roots suggests that species of Baezia may inhabit the continuum represented by the endogean and hypogean environments. Identification key to the seven species are provided., This study was partly supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science (MINECO) (CGL2015-74178-JIN and CGL2017-85718-P).

The arthropod fauna associated with seven endemic dendroid Euphorbia was sampled and studied in the Canary and Madeira archipelagos. The stem-diameter of the plants was considered, along with their genetic affinity, habitat and number of localities and islands where present. The arthropod assemblages and richness found on each Euphorbia species were statistically analysed, to determine which variables influenced the survey results. A total of 179 arthropod species were found, identified, and classified into characteristic or accompanying fauna, according to their relationship with the plants and their types of diet. Faunal assemblages and arthropod species richness differed among the Euphorbia species, each thus showing a strong and almost unique host relationship. Species richness increased with the architectural complexity of the host-plant species and number of localities and islands where present. The similarity of faunal assemblages was mainly related to stem diameter. Among diet types, a great number of exclusive and/or endemic taxa associated with this plant genus were xylophages. Our survey revealed that rich arthropod communities are associated with the genus Euphorbia, especially on its rare endangered species, and highlights the need to protect their host plants. This in turn will contribute to the conservation of their arthropod communities and their ecosystem functions., This study was financed by a Spanish MMA Grant (Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales, 025/2007), and partially by a Spanish MCINN Grant (CGL2009-08256) and a Netbiome Project (ISLAND-BIODIV) of the European Fund for Regional Development and the Canary Agency for Research. David Hernández-Teixidor held a PhD grant awarded by the Canary Government, 85% financed from the European Social Fund, and then a Spanish FPU fellowship. DHT is currently funded by the Cabildo de Tenerife, under the TFinnova Programme supported by MEDI and FDCAN funds. The manuscript was edited by Guido Jones, also funded by the Cabildo de Tenerife under the same programme.

Geographic isolation substantially contributes to species endemism on oceanic islands when speciation involves the colonisation of a new island. However, less is understood about the drivers of speciation within islands. What is lacking is a general understanding of the geographic scale of gene flow limitation within islands, and thus the spatial scale and drivers of geographical speciation within insular contexts. Using a community of beetle species, we show that when dispersal ability and climate tolerance are restricted, microclimatic variation over distances of only a few kilometres can maintain strong geographic isolation extending back several millions of years. Further to this, we demonstrate congruent diversification with gene flow across species, mediated by Quaternary climate oscillations that have facilitated a dynamic of isolation and secondary contact. The unprecedented scale of parallel species responses to a common environmental driver for evolutionary change has profound consequences for understanding past and future species responses to climate variation., This research was supported by Spanish MINECO grants CGL2013‐42589‐P and CGL2017‐85718‐P, co‐financed by FEDER and awarded to B.C.E, and by the ERA‐Net Net‐Biome research framework, financed through Canary Island Government ACIISI grants SE‐12/04 and SE‐12/02, co‐financed by FEDER and awarded to P.O. and B.C.E respectively. A.S.‐C. was funded by the Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional through the FPU PhD fellowship (FPU014/02948). J.P. was funded by the MINECO through the Juan de la Cierva Program ‐ Incorporation (IJCI‐2014‐19691) and Ramón y Cajal Program (RYC‐2016‐20506), and Marie Sklodowska‐Curie COFUND, Researchers' Night and Individual Fellowships Global (MSCA grant agreement No 747238, 'UNISLAND').

The amphi-Atlantic distributions exhibited by many thalassoid stygobiont (obligate subterranean) crustaceans have been explained by fragmentation by plate tectonics of ancestral shallow water marine populations. The amphipod stygobiont genus Pseudoniphargus is distributed across the Mediterranean region but also in the North Atlantic archipelagos of Bermuda, Azores, Madeira and the Canaries. We used species delimitation methods and mitogenome phylogenetic analyses to clarify the species diversity and evolutionary relationships within the genus and timing their diversification. Analyses included samples from the Iberian Peninsula, northern Morocco, the Balearic, Canarian, Azores and Madeira archipelagoes plus Bermuda. In most instances, morphological and molecular-based species delimitation analyses yielded consistent results. Notwithstanding, in a few cases either incipient speciation with no involvement of detectable morphological divergence or species crypticism were the most plausible explanations for the disagreement found between morphological and molecular species delimitations. Phylogenetic analyses based on a robust calibrated mitochondrial tree suggested that Pseudoniphargus lineages have a younger age than for other thalassoid amphipods displaying a disjunct distribution embracing both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. A major split within the family was estimated to occur at the Paleocene, when a lineage from Northern Iberian Peninsula diverged from the rest of pseudoniphargids. Species diversification in the peri-Mediterranean area was deduced to occur in early Miocene to Tortonian times, while in the Atlantic islands it started in the Pliocene. Our results show that the current distribution pattern of Pseudoniphargus resulted from a complex admix of relatively ancient vicariance events and several episodes of long- distance dispersal.

Wing polymorphism has been reported for several carabid beetles. Traditionally, a great number of ecological and evolutionary studies have focused on this peculiarity, which has implications on dis...

Two new dipluran species of the family Campodeidae have been unearthed in the Canary Islands. Remycampa herbanica sp. nov. was found in a highly threatened lava tube on Fuerteventura island. It is related to the soil-dwelling northwest African Remycampa launeyi that also inhabits four of the Canary Islands. The two known Remycampa species are characterized by a torsion of the labial palps. They differ chiefly in the distribution of macrosetae and in the features of cave adaptation of R. herbanica, i.e. elongation of body and appendages, and a higher number of olfactory chemoreceptors with a coniform shape unique within campodeids. Spaniocampa relicta sp. nov. was collected in the mesovoid shallow substratum (MSS) and has been assigned to a formerly monotypic genus that includes the soil-dwelling Spaniocampa prima from the Republic of Guinea. The two species differ in the number of abdominal macrosetae. Females of S. relicta sp. nov. have small setae arranged in groups along the posterior border of the first urosternite. These structures of unknown function have never been described in other campodeid species. Sequencing the COI barcode region of R. herbanica has been produced but it proved insufficient to identify closest relatives. The two new hexapods from subterranean habitats raise the Canarian campodeid fauna to six species. Five of them are living in soil and/or MSS, whereas the cave-adapted R. herbanica is known only from a single, particularly endangered lava tube distant from other caves.

[Aim] To obtain nuclear and mitochondrial phylogenies of Macaronesian Rhopalomesites weevils and test the monophyly and time of origin of two species groups feeding on Euphorbiaceae and other plants. Additionally, to investigate the population structure within species, and its associations with geographical isolation versus trophic selection. [Location] Macaronesian Islands and the British Isles. [Methods] Maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses were undertaken using mitochondrial (cox1 and cytb) and nuclear (ITS-2 and 28S RNA) genomic sequences. Ancestral Rhopalomesites host plant associations and divergence times were inferred from Bayesian analyses and population data. [Results] Evidence was found for two Rhopalomesites clades. One was associated with Euphorbia host plants, having vicariant species in the Madeira and Canary archipelagos. In this lineage, an ancestral association with Euphorbia mellifera in the two island groups was deduced, which has subsequently undergone shifts to related host plant species in marginal areas. The second clade was found to be an ecological generalist, exploiting decaying wood from the Lauraceae or other forest trees – is also present on such islands along with the Azores and parts of Atlantic Western Europe. [Main conclusions] The results point to a quasi-parallel colonization by the two ecologically distinct lineages in Macaronesia, dating to the early Pliocene, followed by allopatric isolation according to the presence of suitable habitats on particular islands in more recent times., This study was financed by a Spanish MMA grant (Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales, 025/2007), and partially by a Spanish MCINN grant (CGL2009-08256) and a Netbiome Project (ISLAND-BIODIV) of the European Fund for Regional Development and the Canary Agency for Research. David Hernández-Teixidor held a PhD grant awarded by the Canary Government, 85% financed from the European Social fund, and then by a Spanish FPU fellowship. We appreciate the funding provided to the ULL by the Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información, financed 85% by the European Social Fund.

The genus Barretonus Roudier, 1958 is a genus endemic to Macaronesia, described from the archipelago of Madeira where four species are known to date. In this study, two new species of Barretonus, B. auarita García & Oromí sp. nov. (from La Palma, Canary Islands) and B. daute García & Andújar sp. nov. (from Tenerife, Canary Islands), are described based on morphological and molecular evidence (mtCOI), and additional notes on their biology and ecology are provided. Morphology of the new species is compared with the other representatives of the genus, and their phylogenetic relationships with a Barretonus representative from Madeira and species from additional genera within the Cossoninae are shown. This work increases the number of species of the genus Barretonus from four to six anophthalmous or microphthalmous species with an endogean lifestyle, and incorporates the Canary Islands into its Macaronesian range of distribution., This study was partly supported by the Spanish Ministry of Sciences (MINECO) (CGL2015-74178-JIN and CGL2017-85718-P).

The different characteristics of three lava tubes in Tenerife, Canary Islands, are analysed. Cueva del Viento-Sobrado, Cueva de Felipe Reventon and Cueva de los Roques were formed by an eruption of Pico Viejo volcano 27,000 years ago. Geological features of this basaltic lava flow and special topographic aspects of its caves are explained. Ecological traits of lava tubes in general are considered, noting the importance for the cave-dwelling animal community of the plant roots that reach them. The present successional state and conservation status of the three lava tubes are also discussed. Two of the caves are among the world’s richest caves in troglobionts and are the most diverse of known volcanic caves. A list of the 50 troglobiont species found in these caves is provided, with information on their taxonomy and trophic roles and the existence of related epigean species. Finally, the possible alternative hypotheses for the origin of the troglobionts of Tenerife are commented.

Understanding patterns of community structure and the causes for their variation can be furthered by comparative biogeographic analyses of island biotas. We used woody plant data at the local scale to investigate variations in species rarity, alpha, beta, and gamma diversity within and between three islands from the oceanic archipelagoes of Azores, Canaries and Mascarene. We used standardized protocols to sample ten 50 m × 50 m forest plots in each of the three islands with contrasting climate and regional species pools: Terceira (Azores), Tenerife (Canaries), and Reunion (Mascarene Islands). Occupancy frequency distributions and species abundance distributions were used to investigate rarity. The partitioning of beta diversity in a distance-decay framework was used to test for spatial patterns of community composition. Rarity was much more pronounced in the highly diverse islands of Tenerife and Reunion than in the regionally poorer island of Terceira. The number of species rose faster with increasing sample area in both Tenerife and Reunion. The slope of the species rank abundance curve was steeper in Terceira whereas the richer island assemblages approached a lognormal model. Compositional changes according to spatial distance were mostly due to replacement of species in Terceira and Reunion. Our results point to important differences in the community structure of Terceira, which is the less diverse and temperate region in comparison to Tenerife and Reunion which are highly diverse., This research was supported by the ERA-Net Net -Biome research framework, financed through the: Canary Islands Government ACIISI grants SE-12/02 (PO), SE-12/03 (JCC), SE-12/04 (BE), co-financed by FEDER; Portuguese FCT-NETBIOME grant 0003/2011 (PB); French ANR-NETBIOME grant n°11-EBIM-001-01 (CT); Région Reunion council for research activities (DS), Universitéde La Reunion contract DGADD/PE/20120585 (DS). CR, FR and IRA were supported by grants from Fundação da Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT-SFRH/BPD/91357/2012, FCT-PTDC/BIA-BIC/119255/2010, FCT-SFRH/BPD/102804/2014 respectively. MF has been funded by Direcção Regional da Ciência e Tecnologia, DRCT-M3.1.7/F/002/2011 and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-CNPq (401045/2014-5), Programa Ciência sem Fronteiras; the current MF’s contract is supported by the Universidad de Alcalá. The work of LBD in this manuscript was performed within the scope of the project MOMENTOS (PTDC/BIA-BIC/5558/2014).

Islands harbour evolutionary and ecologically unique biota, which are currently disproportionately threatened by a multitude of anthropogenic factors, including habitat loss, invasive species and climate change. Native forests on oceanic islands are important refugia for endemic species, many of which are rare and highly threatened. Long-term monitoring schemes for those biota and ecosystems are urgently needed: (i) to provide quantitative baselines for detecting changes within island ecosystems, (ii) to evaluate the effectiveness of conservation and management actions, and (iii) to identify general ecological patterns and processes using multiple island systems as repeated ‘natural experiments’. In this contribution, we call for a Global Island Monitoring Scheme (GIMS) for monitoring the remaining native island forests, using bryophytes, vascular plants, selected groups of arthropods and vertebrates as model taxa. As a basis for the GIMS, we also present new, optimized monitoring protocols for bryophytes and arthropods that were developed based on former standardized inventory protocols. Effective inventorying and monitoring of native island forests will require: (i) permanent plots covering diverse ecological gradients (e.g. elevation, age of terrain, anthropogenic disturbance); (ii) a multiple-taxa approach that is based on standardized and replicable protocols; (iii) a common set of indicator taxa and community properties that are indicative of native island forests’ welfare, building on, and harmonized with existing sampling and monitoring efforts; (iv) capacity building and training of local researchers, collaboration and continuous dialogue with local stakeholders; and (v) long-term commitment by funding agencies to maintain a global network of native island forest monitoring plots., We would like to thank all colleagues who supported this work for their inspiration in discussing the importance of island biodiversity monitoring within the project MACDIV (FCT-PTDC/BIABIC/0054/2014). Data were derived from previous projects NETBIOME-MOVECLIM (M2.1.2/F/04/2011/NET), NETBIOME-ISLANDBIODIV (NETBIOME/0003/2011). For the development of this paper the work of CR, MB, AG and IRA was partly supported respectively by grants FCT-SFRH/BPD/91357/2012, FCT-SFRH/BPD/86215/2012, FCT-SFRH/BPD/100017/2014 and FCT-SFRH/BPD/102804/2014. AMCS was supported by a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (IEF 331623 ‘COMMSTRUCT’) and by a Juan de la Cierva Fellowship (IJCI-2014-19502) funded by the Spanish ‘Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad’. MF was funded by the Direcção Regional da Ciência, Tecnologia e Comunicações (DRCT) (M3.1.7/F/002/2011) and by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-CNPq (401045/2014-5), program Ciência sem Fronteiras funded by the University of Alcalá (Spain). SPR is supported by CNPq/Brazil. LBA’s worked on this manuscript within the project MOMENTOS (PTDC/BIA-BIC/5558/2014). GIMS will be implemented in La Réunion, with the DIVINES project (POE 2014-2020 FEDER) granted to DS and CAP at the University of La Réunion and to BL at the National Park of La Réunion.

1. The large flightless grasshopper Acrostira bellamyi Uvarov, endemic to the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), inhabits two different environments: the xeric euphorb shrubland, as is typical for congeneric Canarian species, and the humid laurel forest, a novel habitat for the genus. 2. We investigate genetic, morphological, and ecological variation among individuals of A. bellamyi from the two habitats. DNA sequence data were used to evaluate whether grasshoppers from the two environments represent distinct lineages. Morphological and trophic analyses were performed to assess phenotypic differentiation between the two different habitats. 3. Population genetic analyses support the hypothesis that the euphorb shrubland is the ancestral habitat for this species. Female laurel forest specimens are larger than those inhabiting the euphorb shrubland, and some external body parts exhibit significant morphometric differences between the two populations. Diet of shrubland individuals is completely different from that of laurel forest individuals. Although in each habitat they consume the most abundant plants, individuals are able to select food plants, which appear to be explained by their nutrient content. 4. Our results suggest that A. bellamyi has colonised laurel forest from shrubland, and that this habitat shift has resulted in genetic, morphological, and ecological changes, perhaps as an adaptation to this new habitat.

The knowledge of the family Nicoletiidae in the Canary Islands was limited to two reports of Proatelurina pseudolepisma (Grassi, 1887), a species which belongs to the subfamily Atelurinae. This study provides new data on the occurrence of representatives of Nicoletiidae on these islands and descriptions of two endemic troglobic taxa: Canariletia holosterna gen. n. et sp. n., from the island of Gran Canaria, and Coletinia majorensis sp. n., found in Fuerteventura. The latter belongs to a group of species whose males have asymmetric antennae, so it is compared with those Coletinia of this group. Canariletia gen. n. shows a unique combination of characters inside Nicoletiidae, so its position within this family is discussed, considering the new genus as incertae sedis, but probably related to the Palaearctic and Afrotropical genera included in the subfamily Coletiniinae sensu Mendes, 1988.

Aim: The majority of documented extinctions world-wide in the last four centuries are of species endemic to islands. However, the phenomenon of delayed extinctions as a result of habitat loss has rarely been assessed on oceanic islands. In this study, we tested whether extinction debt (ED), in general, occurs on islands and for which taxonomical groups this phenomenon is most pronounced by assessing ED for multiple endemic taxa and for each of the main altitudinal ecosystems in a well-studied oceanic archipelago. Location: Canary Islands. Methods: We characterized habitat preferences for all endemic species of several taxonomic groups (vascular plants, ground and darkling beetles, flies and land snails). Using generalized linear mixed models and available data about habitat distributions, we tested for all taxa and habitat types to determine whether past habitat area better explained current richness of habitat specialists than current habitat area. If so, an extinction debt can be assumed. Results: For all five major habitat types and five taxonomic groups studied, present-day richness of habitat specialists fitted better with past than current habitat area, evidencing habitat-and taxon-specific extinction debts. This pattern was consistent for both long-lived vascular plants and short-lived invertebrates. Single island endemics in each taxonomic group showed steeper slopes of the species–area relationship (SAR) compared to archipelago endemics indicating higher sensitivity to habitat loss which might increase sizes of ED. Conclusion: Despite differences in species’ generation times, plants and invertebrates showed delayed extinctions after habitat destruction in the Canary Islands. Our SAR approach suggests that a considerable number of Canary Island endemics will eventually become extinct in the future without further habitat loss. The case of the Canary archipelago is probably not unique. Hence, we interpret our results as a warning for island conservationists that the worst of the extinction crisis on oceanic islands might be yet to come. Conservation actions should focus on habitat restoration to attenuate or reverse current extinction processes. Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Universidad de La Laguna

Obtaining fundamental biodiversity metrics such as alpha, beta and gamma diversity for arthropods is often complicated by a lack of prior taxonomic information and/or taxonomic expertise, which can result in unreliable morphologically based estimates. We provide a set of standardized ecological and molecular sampling protocols that can be employed by researchers whose taxonomic skills may be limited, and where there may be a lack of robust a priori information regarding the regional pool of species. These protocols combine mass sampling of arthropods, classification of samples into parataxonomic units (PUs) and selective sampling of individuals for mtDNA sequencing to infer biological species. We sampled ten lowland rainforest plots located on the volcanic oceanic island of Réunion (Mascarene archipelago) for spiders, a group with limited taxonomic and distributional data for this region. We classified adults and juveniles into PUs and then demonstrated the reconciliation of these units with presumed biological species using mtDNA sequence data, ecological data and distributional data. Because our species assignment protocol is not reliant upon prior taxonomic information, or taxonomic expertise, it minimizes the problem of the Linnean shortfall to yield diversity estimates that can be directly compared across independent studies. Field sampling can be extended to other arthropod groups and habitats by adapting our field sampling protocol accordingly., This research was supported by the ERA‐Net Net‐Biome research framework, financed through Canary Island Government ACIISI grants SE‐12/02 (PO) and SE‐12/04 (BE), cofinanced by FEDER; Portuguese FCT‐NETBIOME grant 0003/2011 (PB); French ANR‐NETBIOME grant n°11‐EBIM‐001‐01 (CT); Région Réunion council for research activities (DS); Université de La Réunion contract DGADD/PE/20120585 (DS). BCE was also supported by Spanish MINECO grant CGL2013‐42589‐P, cofinanced by FEDER, and Spanish MAGRAMA grant S20141203_002597 from the Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales.

Using a series of standardized sampling plots within forest ecosystems in remote oceanic islands, we reveal fundamental differences between the structuring of aboveground and belowground arthropod biodiversity that are likely due to large-scale species introductions by humans. Species of beetle and spider were sampled almost exclusively from single islands, while soil-dwelling Collembola exhibited more than tenfold higher species sharing among islands. Comparison of Collembola mitochondrial metagenomic data to a database of more than 80 000 Collembola barcode sequences revealed almost 30% of sampled island species are genetically identical, or near identical, to individuals sampled from often very distant geographic regions of the world. Patterns of mtDNA relatedness among Collembola implicate human-mediated species introductions, with minimum estimates for the proportion of introduced species on the sampled islands ranging from 45% to 88%. Our results call for more attention to soil mesofauna to understand the global extent and ecological consequences of species introductions., This research was supported by the ERA‐Net Net‐Biome research framework, financed through: Canary Island Government ACIISI grants SE‐12/02 (PO), SE‐12/03 (JCC), SE‐12/04 (BE), cofinanced by FEDER; Portuguese FCT‐NETBIOME grant 0003/2011 (PB); French ANR‐NETBIOME grant no 11‐EBIM‐001‐01 (CT); Région Réunion council for research activities (DS), Université de La Réunion contract DGADD/PE/20120585 (DS). B.C.E. was also supported by Spanish MINECO grant CGL2013‐42589‐P, co‐financed by FEDER, and Spanish MAGRAMA grant S20141203_002597 from the Organismo Autonomo Parques Nacionales.

Copyright © 2011 International Journal of Speleology. An overview of the obligate hypogean fauna in Portugal (including Azores and Madeira archipelagos) is provided, with a list of obligated cave-dwelling species and subspecies, and a general perspective about its conservation. All the available literature on subterranean Biology of Portugal since the first written record in 1870 until today has been revised. A total of 43 troglobiont and 67 stygobiont species and subspecies from 12 orders have been described so far in these areas, included in the so-called Mediterranean hotspot of biodiversity. The subterranean fauna in Portugal has been considered moderately poor with some endemic relicts and it remains to be demonstrated if this fact is still true after investing in standard surveys in cave environments. The major problems related to the conservation of cave fauna are discussed, but it is clear that the protection of this specialized fauna implies an adequate management of surface habitats.

The development of molecular techniques as a taxonomic tool and their integration with information provided by other disciplines, has enhanced species discovery, facilitated species delimitation and produced invaluable data for inferring species phylogenies. Here, we provide an example of how DNA sequence data, together with morphometric, distributional and ecological information, assist in identifying and diagnosing previously overlooked lineages. The nocturnal, ground-dwelling spider genus Dysdera has colonized all the Macaronesian archipelagos, and has undergone a major diversification in the Canary Islands. A recent molecular phylogenetic analysis of Dysdera species from the eastern Canary Islands revealed deep genetic divergences among some populations, suggesting the existence of cryptic taxa. Here, we combine data from mitochondrial and nuclear loci with morphological and ecological evidence to delimit and formally describe three previously overlooked species: D. aneris sp. nov., endemic to the Sal...

Eight polymorphic microsatellite loci for the subterraneous microphtalmous Palmorchestia hypogaea (Amphipoda: Talitridae) were isolated from a genomic library enriched for AG, AC and AAC repetitive elements. The number of alleles ranged from 2 to 8 per locus with the observed heterozygosity ranging from 0.00 to 0.94 in the two studied populations. These variable markers will be useful in evaluating gene flow and population structure within the subterranean populations and should provide valuable information about the importance of dispersal through the underground in the dynamic of cave biotas.

We describe Speleonectes atlantida n. sp. as the third species of Remipedia that was found outside the main distribution area of this group in the Caribbean region. S. atlantida was collected by cave divers equipped with closed circuit rebreathers from the far interior of the Tunel de la Atlantida, an anchialine volcanic lava tube, on the Canarian island of Lanzarote. The new species occurs in sympatry with S. ondinae, to which it is morphologically closely related. S. atlantida can be distinguished from S. ondinae by a more slender habitus and smaller pleurotergites in the posterior trunk. The valid status of S. atlantida as a new species of Remipedia could be corroborated by intra- and interspecific comparisons of 16S rDNA and CO1 sequence data.

The Corona lava tube on the Canarian island of Lanzarote is a unique subterranean ecosystem comprising both dry and submerged cave sections with a total length of almost 8 km. Here, we present the results of a diving exploration of the lava tube that took place from 11 to 25 March 2008. Environmental characteristics are given for ecologically disparate sections of the cave, including the Cueva de los Lagos, the Jameos del Agua, and the Tunel de la Atlantida. Moreover, we compare various habitats within the lava tube, and discuss the origin of the diverse hypogean fauna, including new species of remipede crustaceans and polychaete worms discovered during the expedition.