Southern Spain is currently under threat of desertification as a consequence of global climate change, which pressures on fragile ecosystems such as caves. The organisms living in these extremely stable environments are particularly sensitive and prone to extinction, therefore they can be used as bioindicators for climate change. Cyanobacterial mats form peculiar and vulnerable micro-ecosystems at the entrance of caves and house a diversity of protists. Amongst them, Arcellinida testate amoebae have been traditionally used as bioindicators for environmental quality, notably because their narrow ecological tolerance and their key ecological position as top predators of the microbial foodwebs. We report here two new species of Arcellinida found in the cyanobacterial mats of cave Hundidero, in Sierra de Grazalema, Malaga province, whose traits suggest a narrow tolerance for changes in humidity. We provide a formal description for Difflugia alhadiqa sp. nov. and Heleopera baetica sp. nov. based on morphometrics and 18S rRNA gene data, and propose using the presence of these species to indicate the good health of the cyanobacterial mats, like miner’s canaries for local climate.

由于全球气候变化，西班牙南部目前正面临荒漠化的威胁，这对洞穴等脆弱的生态系统造成压力。生活在这些极其稳定的环境中的生物特别敏感且容易灭绝，因此它们可以用作气候变化的生物指标。蓝藻垫在洞穴入口处形成奇特且脆弱的微生态系统，并容纳各种原生生物。其中，Arcellinida testate amoebae 传统上被用作环境质量的生物指标，特别是因为它们的生态耐受性较窄，并且它们作为微生物食物网的顶级捕食者的关键生态地位。我们在此报告了在马拉加省格拉萨莱马山洞 Hundidero 的蓝藻垫中发现的两种新的 Arcellinida 物种，其特征表明对湿度变化的容忍度很小。我们提供了一个正式的描述Difflugia alhadiqa sp. 十一月 和Heleopera baetica sp。十一月 基于形态测量学和 18S rRNA 基因数据，并建议使用这些物种的存在来表明蓝藻垫的良好健康状况，如当地气候的矿工金丝雀。