In recent years, it has been discovered that the endemic earthworm Carpetania elisae (formerly Hormogaster elisae) consists of a complex of at least six cryptic species. Studying the relationships between these new cryptic species and other soil animal communities may be important to understand their functional role in the soil, and eventually to detect possible differences that may help in the delimitation of these species. We have studied the effects of two of these cryptic species (species I from El Molar [Ce1] and species II from El Tomillar [Ce2]) on soil microarthropod communities. Several laboratory experiments were performed with both cryptic species, in the soils of both localities inhabited by these earthworm species, to determine their effects on soil microarthropod communities. Both earthworm species grew quite well throughout the experiment in their original soil, but while Ce1 grew up well when cultivated in the opposite soil from El Tomillar, Ce2 cultivated in the soil from El Molar survived but did not grow. Ce1 from El Molar showed a clear negative effect on microarthropods from El Molar and El Tomillar, whereas Ce2 from El Tomillar had a clear negative effect on soil microarthropods from its original soil but not on the ones from the opposite soil of El Molar. This paper demonstrates differences of both cryptic species on their effects on soil community, which suggest that they may play different roles in the soil system. Several mechanisms likely involved on the effect of earthworms on soil arthropods are discussed, being the competition for organic matter the most probable one in the case of these endogeic earthworms.

中文翻译：

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蚯蚓的神秘物种对土壤节肢动物的影响是否不同？伊比利亚半岛中心的 Carpetania elisae 综合体案例

近年来，人们发现地方性蚯蚓 Carpetania elisae（以前称为 Hormogaster elisae）由至少六个隐秘物种的复合体组成。研究这些新的隐匿物种与其他土壤动物群落之间的关系对于了解它们在土壤中的功能作用并最终发现可能有助于界定这些物种的可能差异可能很重要。我们研究了这些隐匿物种中的两个（来自 El Molar [Ce1] 的物种 I 和来自 El Tomillar [Ce2] 的物种 II）对土壤微节肢动物群落的影响。在这些蚯蚓物种栖息的两个地方的土壤中，对这两种隐匿物种进行了几次实验室实验，以确定它们对土壤微节肢动物群落的影响。在整个实验过程中，两种蚯蚓在其原始土壤中都生长得很好，但是在与 El Tomillar 相对的土壤中培养时，Ce1 生长良好，而在 El Molar 的土壤中培养时，Ce2 存活但没有生长。El Molar的Ce1对El Molar和El Tomillar的微节肢动物有明显的负面影响，而El Tomillar的Ce2对来自其原始土壤的土壤微节肢动物有明显的负面影响，但对El Molar相对土壤的微节肢动物没有明显的负面影响。本文论证了两种隐性物种对土壤群落影响的差异，这表明它们可能在土壤系统中发挥不同的作用。讨论了几种可能涉及蚯蚓对土壤节肢动物影响的机制，