Coleção de Referência de Fauna de Solo

The Soil Fauna Reference Collection of the Instituto de Biologia do Solo contain a comprehensive assemblage of animals, primarily from the class Collembola (Arthropoda: Hexapoda). It includes specimens from Brazil and key biogeographical regions such as the Neoarctic, Paleoarctic, and Indomalayan. The collection, which plays a pivotal role in the study of cave springtails in the country, comprises over 25,000 specimens. These are categorized into troglobites, troglomorphs, holotypes, paratypes, and adult individuals. The specimens are preserved using multiple methods: many are diaphanized and mounted on microscope slides for optical microscopy, while others are preserved in alcohol or are metal-coated and mounted on stubs, ready for analysis by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).