International Journal of Advances in Science Engineering and Technology, ISSN(p): 2321 –8991, ISSN(e): 2321 –9009 Volume-7, Issue-1, Jan.-2019, http://iraj.in SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPORTANCE OF THE “EMIL RACOVITA” INSTITUTE OF SPELEOLOGY CENTIPEDE COLLECTION

1CATALIN S. BABA, 2ANDREI GIURGINCA, 3DUMITRU MURARIU

1,3Faculty of Biology, University of , Splaiul Independenţei 91-95, Sector 5, 050095, Bucharest, 1,2 “Emil Racovița” Institute of Speleology, 13 Septembrie Str., no. 13, Sector 5, 050711, Bucharest, Romania E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract - The Centipede Collection of the “Emil Racovița” Institute of Speleology is one of the most important Chilopoda collections from Romania as many distinguished specialists contributed to it's wealth of valuable specimens, functioning for a long time as a basis for many taxonomical, faunistic and ecological studies. We provide the current content of the collection: 75 species, including type material for 7 species and several endemic and rare taxons.

Keywords - Centipede Collection, Type Material, Collection Relevance.

I. INTRODUCTION and applied science by providing raw data. Moreover, because a cornerstone of the scientific process is The biological collections make innumerable repeatability, specimens used in scientific contributions to science and society in areas as investigations should be cataloged and vouchered in divergent as homeland security, public health and collections to ensure that species identifications can safety, monitoring of environmental change, and be confirmed and the results interpreted correctly traditional taxonomy and systematics. However, these (Ruedas et al., 2000). Also, as centralized storehouses contributions are widely underappreciated by the of reference material, collections act as “biological public and by policymakers, resulting in insufficient libraries”, namely as sites of accumulated knowledge financial support for maintenance and improvement and resources that eliminate the need for costly, time- of biological collections (Suarez & Tsutsui, 2004). consuming (and not rarely risky) fieldwork (Suarez The biological collections play a crucial role in fields &Tsutsui, 2004). at the forefront of biological sciences as corner stones in biodiversity and its loss, biological invasions and Concerning the Chilopoda, generalist predators with global climate change and in monitoring important ecosistem functions e.g. being key players environmental change (Suarez &Tsutsui, 2004). in most terrestrial food webs (Klarner & al., 2017), As such, natural history collections have long been there are two such “biological libraries” within indispensable resources for studies of Earth’s Romania, namely two major scientific collections of biodiversity, and the need to maintain them has centipedes. One is preserved at the Zoological recently taken on a greater urgency (Davis, 1996; Museum of the Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj- Ponder et al., 2001). Three broad areas of study Napoca and contains most of the Zachiu Matic related to species decline and the loss of biodiversity Collection. It houses a number of 4582 specimens have become crisis disciplines and depend heavily on sampled from various parts of the country between the baseline information that museum collections 1950 and 1973. Some of them were collected from offer: species’ response to habitat loss and , Bulgaria, Turkey, Spain, former Yugoslavia, fragmentation, biological invasions, and the Greece, Hungary, Austria, Korea and the Islands of consequences of global climate change (Suarez & Crete and Saint Helena (Dușa et al., 1986). The Tsutsui, 2004). second collection is housed at “Emil Racoviță” Institute of Speleology (ERIS) and comprise The contribution of the biological collections in collections from multiple scientists that worked studies on the effects of climate change fall primarily within or collaborated with the institute: Ștefan into two categories: ones that document changes in Negrea, Cornelia Dărăbanțu and Victoria Ilie. the distribution of species through time (including their extinction) and ones that document changes in An essential part of every zoological collection is the biology of particular species in response to represented by the type material. Both the above climate changes and habitat loss (Shaffer, Fisher & mentioned collections are the sole ones in Romania Davidson, 1998; Suarez & Tsutsui, 2004). preserving Chilopoda type material, which From another point of view, the prominence of significantly increases their value and underlines the references to biological collections in peer reviewed importance of keeping a good evidence of the publications is a testimony to the contribution they specimens contained within. make to scientific knowledge. While it is obvious that Our aim is to asses the current state of the ERIS scientific collections are essential for taxonomic Chilopoda Collection: the type material and the work, they make significant contributions to basic number of species contained, the stages of it's

Significance and Importance of The “Emil Racovita” Institute of Speleology Centipede Collection

36 International Journal of Advances in Science Engineering and Technology, ISSN(p): 2321 –8991, ISSN(e): 2321 –9009 Volume-7, Issue-1, Jan.-2019, http://iraj.in development, as well as adding some previously Lithobius (L.) decapolitus Matic, Negrea , Prunescu, collected material left unidentified by Ștefan Negrea. 1962: Holotype - 1♂, Allotype - 1♀; collected by Negrea Șt. on 4 June 1956 in the Sălitrari Cave, II. MATHERIALS AND METHODES Orșova (Banat). Paratype - 7♂, 3♀; collected by Tabacaru I. on 4 June 1956 in the Sălitrari Cave, The entire registered centipede collection of ERIS Orșova (Banat). Paratype – 3♂, 1♀, 1 larvae; was added to an excel file database. Within the collected by Negrea Șt. and Tabacaru I. in October database, the material was categorized following the 1953 in the Grigore Decapolitu Cave. Paratype – 8♂, reserchers who identified the species and established 8♀, 4 larvae; collected by Dumitrescu M. and the main periods in the accumulation of the material. Orghidan T. on 6 September 1952 in the Grigore We have revised and corrected the species Decapolitu Cave, under stones and wood. Paratype – identification according to the latest species names of 1♂; collected by Mituțoiu on 3 February 1958 in the European centipedes and used only the species Grigore Decapolitu Cave. Paratype - 5♂; collected by accepted in Europe's main zoological taxonomic Dumitrescu M. and Orghidan T. on 9 June 1951 in index (Fauna Europaea), the electronic database of all the Grigore Decapolitu Cave, the right ascendant known centipedes (ChiloBase2.0) and the latest corridor. Paratype - 2♂; collected by Tabacaru I. on revisions and catalogs (e.g. Bonato & Minelli, 2014; 24 July 1957 in the Lazului Cave, Motrul Sec Valley, Ion, 2016; Negrea, 2006). Despite this, there are still 600 m altitude. Paratype - 5♂, 1♀ agenitalis, 1♀ species with controversial taxonomic status. matur junior, 1♀ praematurus, 2 larvae II, 3 larvae III, 1 larvae IV; collected by Dancău D., Negrea Șt. A series of preserved specimens belonging to the and Tabacaru I. on 24 March 1958 in the Muierilor Geophilomorpha, collected in the 1971-1973 interval, Cave, lower and upper level, Pârâului Galben Valley, left unidentified by Ștefan Negrea, were examined, 750 m altitude, Baia de Fier, Oltenia. Paratype – 3 ♀, identified and registered in the collection. 2 larvae III, 1 larvae IV; collected by Dancău D., Decu V. and Tabacaru I. on 21 July 1957 in the III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Pârlazului Cave, Cheile Sohodolului, 500 m altitude, Runcu, Oltenia. Paratype - 1♂, 1♀; collected by The ERIS centipede collection comprises 4379 Dancău D., Decu V., Decu A. and Tabacaru I. on 21 specimens, representing cca. 75 species belonging to July 1957 in the Laptelui Cave, Cheile Sohodolului, 9 families, the majority of them from Romania, 450 m altitude, Runcu, Oltenia. Paratype – 1♂, 2♀; especially from the karstic regions. A small part collected by Dancău D., Decu V., Decu A. and originated from Spain and Cuba, but the focus of our Tabacaru I. on 31 July 1957 in the Isverna Cave, 600 paper is only on the Romanian centipedes. The m altitude, Oltenia. collection is divided in the following sections: the Negrea collection, the Dărăbanțu collection, the Ilie Lithobius (L.) decui Matic & Negrea, 1966: Holotype collection and more recently material identified by - 1♂; collected by Decu V. and Burghele A. on 22 the authors of this paper (Table 1). July 1962 in the Crovul Mare din fața Radului, Vârtoape. The Negrea Collection comprises 874 individuals (30 valid species) all of them belonging to the order Lithobius (L.) dumitrescui Matic & Negrea 1966: Lithobiomorpha. It represents the largest cave Sintype - 1♀; collected by Negrea Șt. on 29 May dwelling centipede collection from Romania as the 1964 near Mangalia Lake, southern shore. vast majority of the specimens were sampled from Lithobius (M.) microps spelaeus Negrea, 1961: junior caves or near the caves in the 1951-1971 period. synonym of Lithobius burzenlandicus Verhoeff, Based on this material, its author published numerous 1931: Holotype - 1♂, Allotype - 1♀, Paratype - 2♂, papers including the catalog of cavernicolous 2♀; collected by Samson P., Terza El. And Radulescu centipedes from Romania (Negrea, 1994). C. on 25 July 1957 in the Ferice Cave. Lithobius (S.) orghidani Matic & Negrea, 1966: Also, it is the sole collection containing type material: Holotype - 1♀; collected by Dumitrescu M., Harpolithobius oltenicus Negrea, 1962: Holotype - Orghidan T. and Avram Șt. on 27 May 1962 at 1♂; collected by Tabacaru I. on 12 July 1960 in The Fântâna Socilor. Cornetul Vârcanilor Cave. Allotype - 1♀; collected by Tabacaru I. on 21 July 1957 in the Laptelui Cave. Lithobius (S.) alexandrinae Matic & Negrea, 1973: Paratype – 1♀; collected by Decu A. and Decu. V. on Holotype - 1♂; collected by Negrea Al. on 10 March 15 July 1960 in the Cave Number 8 from the Lupșa 1967 at the Cetățuia Forest. Valley. Paratype – 1♀; collected by Orghidan T., However there is still a lot of material collected by Tabacaru I., Decu V. and Dancău D. on 20 December Negrea Șt., which is still in need to be recorded and 1958 in Gura Plaiului Cave. organized.

Significance and Importance of The “Emil Racovita” Institute of Speleology Centipede Collection

37 International Journal of Advances in Science Engineering and Technology, ISSN(p): 2321 –8991, ISSN(e): 2321 –9009 Volume-7, Issue-1, Jan.-2019, http://iraj.in

Significance and Importance of The “Emil Racovita” Institute of Speleology Centipede Collection

38 International Journal of Advances in Science Engineering and Technology, ISSN(p): 2321 –8991, ISSN(e): 2321 –9009 Volume-7, Issue-1, Jan.-2019, http://iraj.in

Table1. Species of the ERIS Centipede Collection

The Dărăbanțu Collection comprises 563 individuals of ERIS, targeting less investigated areas like urban (21 valid species) collected between 1951 and 1970 and plains locations (Giurginca & Baba, 2016, and represents the basis for the contribution of Giurginca et al., 2017). Giurginca A. added 194 Dărăbanțu to the volume “Fauna of Romania” (Matic, individuals (14 valid species), Baba Șt. added 861 1972). All species from this collection belong to the individuals (30 valid species). order Geophilomorpha. Unlike the Dărăbanțu One of the authors (Baba Șt.) has recently added to collection mentioned by Dușa & al, 1986, there is no the collection material left unidentified by Șt. Negrea: type material within the Dărăbanțu ERIS collection, 12 species from 38 new locations mainly from Banat but it includes unpublished material documenting 16 and Dobrogea and a few from Moldova. new locations for 7 species. The centipede collection of ERIS includes The Ilie Collection contains 1743 specimens (54 valid approximately 50% of the endemic species of species) collected between 1999 and 2006. Unlike the Romania; following our estimation there are also 16 previous two collections, it includes species from all rare species (Table 1). An assessment of the four orders of the Chilopoda. Similarly with the Romanian centipede literature reveals there are 59 previous collection, it has no type specimens but it peer review papers based on the ERIS Centipede presents some unpublished material. The collection is Collection. representative mostly for the Banat karst areas while The collection represented the starting point for a the previous two collections focus on the entire study aiming to identify the state of research of the country. Romanian centipede fauna. A database with 2627 In the recent years the authors of this paper locations for every recorded species was generated contributed substantially to the centipede collection and processed in geographic information system

Significance and Importance of The “Emil Racovita” Institute of Speleology Centipede Collection

39 International Journal of Advances in Science Engineering and Technology, ISSN(p): 2321 –8991, ISSN(e): 2321 –9009 Volume-7, Issue-1, Jan.-2019, http://iraj.in (GIS) using the 10 km EEA grid resolution with 2550 Chilopoda): issues and advances”, Acta Zoologica grid cells corresponding to Romanian territory and Bulgarica (accepted on 27.04.2018). [2] L. Bonato, A. Minelli, “Chilopoda Geophilomorpha of only 451 of them with data, mostly (75.83%) with Europe: a revised list of species, with taxonomic and less than 6 species, meaning that approximately 80% nomenclatorial notes”, Zootaxa vol.3770, no.1, pp.1–136, of the Romanian territory is poorly investigated 2014. although some of these areas have suitable conditions [3] L. Bonato, A. Chagas Junior, G.D. Edgecombe, J.G.E. Lewis, A. Minelli, L.A. Pereira, R.M. Shelley, P. Stoev for a high centipede diversity (Baba et al., 2018). & M. Zapparoli, “ChiloBase 2.0 - A World Catalogue of The spatial statistical analysis validated the Centipedes (Chilopoda)”, available at supposition of a strongly biased sampling for http://chilobase.biologia.unipd.it, 2016. Romania and highlighted the hotspots of increased [4] P. Davis, “Museums and the Natural Environment: The Role of Natural History Museums in Biological sampling efforts. Most hotspots are in the western Conservation”, London: Leicester University Press, half of the country and in Dobrogea, overlapping with 1996. the Romanian karst areas, while the greatest part of [5] L. Dușa, P. Gherghel, D.F. Sârbu, “Scientific collections the eastern half is less investigated (Baba et al., in The Zoological Museum of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca”, Studia Univ. Babeș-Bolyai, 2018). Biologia, vol.31, no.1, pp.63-68, 1986. [6] H. Enghoff, “Fauna Europaea: Chilopoda”, Fauna IV. CONCLUSIONS Europaea version 2018.01, available at http://www. faunaeur.org, 2018. [7] A. Giurginca, Ș.C. Baba, “Edaphic Oniscidea, The centipede collection of ERIS represents a Diplopoda and Chilopoda from Pădurea Călugărească significant catalogue of the centipede fauna of (South-Eastern Romania)”, Ecologica Montenegrina, Romania, comprising approximately 65% of the vol.7, pp.417-424, 2015. centipede species recorded in our country. [8] A. Giurginca, Ș.C. Baba, C.M. Munteanu, “New data on the Oniscidea, Diplopoda and Chilopoda from the urban As a consequence, it allows us not only to accurately parks of Bucharest”, North-Western Journal of Zoology, pinpoint the areas in need of investigation but also a vol.13, no.2, pp.234-243, 2017. precise monitoring of the potential loss of centipede [9] C.M. Ion, “A Catalogue of the Geophilomorpha Species biodiversity as a species’ response to habitat loss (Myriapoda: Chilopoda) of Romania”, Travaux du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa”, vol.58, and/or fragmentation due to human disturbances in no.1-2, pp.17-32, 2016. conjunction with climate change. In addition, the [10] B. Klarner, H. Winkelmann, V. Krashevska, M. collection allows us to document the changes in the Maraun,R. Widyastuti, S. Scheu, “Trophic niches, distribution of species through time but also to diversity and community composition of invertebrate top predators (Chilopoda) as affected by conversion of evaluate their ability to adapt and exploit anthropic tropical lowland rainforest in Sumatra (Indonesia)”, habitats up to the point of inhabiting urban parks. PLoS ONE, vol.12, no.8, pp.1-17, 2017. Moreover, as a result of its high number of rare [11] Z. Matic, “Clasa Chilopoda, Subclasa Epimorpha”, in and/or endemic species, the centipede collection of Fauna RSR, Editura Academiei RSR, vol.6, no.2, pp. 224, 1972. ERIS-through the richness both in the number of [12] Ș. Negrea, “Chilopodes (Chilopoda) cavernicoles de species and the number of individuals from each Roumanie connus jusqu’à présent”, Travaux du species-represents the basis for numerous peer Muséumd’Histoire Naturelle “GrigoreAntipa”, vol.34, reviewed papers ensuring not only a correct species pp.265-283, 1994. [13] Ș. Negrea, “A catalogue to the Lithobiida, Scutigerida identification but also the description of species new and Scolopendrida species (Myriapoda: Chilopoda) of to science and future taxonomic reviews. Romania”, Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa”, vol.49, pp.93-118, 2006. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS [14] W.F. Ponder, G.A. Carter, P. Flemons, R.R. Chapman, “Evaluation of museum collection data for use in biodiversity assessment”, Conservation Biology, vol.15, This paper was supported by Programme 1, Project 1 pp.648–657, 2001. of the “Emile Racovitza” Institute of Speleology of [15] L.A. Ruedas, J. Salazar-Bravo, J.W. Dragoo, T.L. Yates, the . The authors are greatly “The importance of being earnest: What, if anything, constitutes a “specimen examined? ””, Molecular indebted to Mrs. Marinela Lăzăreanu conservator- Phylogenetics and Evolution, vol.17, pp.129–132, 2000. restorer and Dr. Eugen Nițu the curator of the [16] H.B. Shaffer, R.N. Fisher, C. Davidson, “The role of collection of the “Emil Racoviță” Institute of natural history collections in documenting species Speleology for her help. declines”, Trends in and Evolution vol. 13, pp.27–30, 1998. [17] A.V. Suarez, N.D. Tsutsui, “The value of museum REFERENCES collections for research and society”, Bioscience, vol. 54, no.1, pp.66-74, 2004. [1] Ș.C. Baba, A. Giurginca, D. 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Significance and Importance of The “Emil Racovita” Institute of Speleology Centipede Collection

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