Cave Life Photos
All photos are copyrighted by the photographers. Do not re-post them without written permission.
Map "Biodiversity Levels of Karst Landforms in the United States." David Culver and the World Wildlife Fund. "Biodiversity hot spots" are noted on the map (Mammoth Cave, Kentucky; Edwards Plateau and Aquifer, Texas and others).
18 June 2007
Cave Life Photos by Taxon
Note: See home page for photos of cave biologists at work.
Phylum Porifera (sponges)
Class Demospongiae
Higginsia ciccaresei, a new subterranean sponge recently collected and described from an anchihaline cave (Zinzulusa Cave) in south Italy. © G.L. Pesce, Italy.
Phylum Platyhelminthes (flatworms)
Class Turbellaria (planarians)
Order Tricladida
Family Kenkiidae
Macrocotyla glandulosa (Hyman), the Pink planarian, a stygobite known only from Devil's Icebox Cave, Boone County, Missouri. By William R. Elliott, 2004.
Sphalloplana evaginata Kenk, a blind planarian from Berome Moore Cave, Perry County, Missouri, about 10 mm long. There are four known stygobitic planarians in Missouri: two Macrocotyla and two Sphalloplana. By William R. Elliott, 2002.
Phylum Nematomorpha
Class Gordiodea
Order Gordioida
Horsehair, or gordian worm in McDonald Cave, Shannon County, Missouri. A parasite in camel crickets and other insects, the adult emerges from the body wall of the insect when it comes near water. The adult is free-living in freshwater and harmless to humans. By William R. Elliott, 1999.
Phylum Mollusca (mollusks: snails, bivalves etc.)
Class Gastropoda (snails, slugs)
Order Mesogastropoda
Family Hydrobiidae
Antrobia culveri, the Tumbling Creek cavesnail, is a stygobite (aquatic troglobite) known only from Tumbling Creek Cave, Taney County., Missouri. This species is endangered. By David C. Ashley, 2000.
Antrobia culveri, the Tumbling Creek cavesnail, about 2 mm diameter. By David C. Ashley, 2005.
Fontigens aldrichi, stygophile, Mossy Spring Cave, Washington County, Missouri. By William R. Elliott, 2004.
Physa sp., stygophilic snail, Devil's Icebox (cave), Boone County, Missouri. By William R. Elliott, 2004.
Physa spelunca (1 mm), Lower Kane Cave, Big Horn County, Wyoming. John Holsinger collected this stygobitic cavesnail from the cave stream in June 1969. It was subsequently described by Ruth Turner and Bill Clench in The Nautilus, vol.. 88, no. 3 (1974). The stream was thermal (temp. 21-22 °C) and spring-fed at the rear of the cave. There was a strong sulphurous odor, microbial mats, and clusters of oligochaetes (probably tubificids). The cave stream emerges as a spring just below the entrance and feeds into the Big Horn River. By Megan Porter and others, who re-collected and photographed the species in 2001.
Order Stylommatophora
Family Polygyridae
Inflectarius inflectus (Say), troglophile, a terrestrial snail, about 5 mm, known from a wide variety of habitats in all cave zones. It is most often found in leaf litter and is also known from Illinois, Kentucky, and Alabama. Formerly in the genus Mesodon. By James E. Gardner, 1980s.
Triodopsis sp., a terrestrial snail, often found in cave entrances, trogloxene or troglophile, about 20 mm diameter. Bear Cave, Crawford County, Missouri. By William R. Elliott, 2002.
Phylum Arthropoda (arthropods: jointed legs, exoskeleton)
Class Arachnida (arachnids: 8 legs)
Order Araneae (spiders)
Family Leptonetidae
Neoleptoneta myopica (Gertsch),
the endangered Tooth Cave spider, Travis County, Texas. This troglobitic
spider is known from only four caves near Austin; it has a body length
of 1.6 mm and a carapace 0.7 mm long. The first leg is 6.1 X the carapace
length. The spider has six "obsolescent" eyes, that is they
are nearly absent and have no dark pigment. Leptonetids are minute spiders
with six eys, commonly found in caves and similar habitats. Some leptonetid
in Europe and the USA are completely eyeless, but most members of the family
have small eyes. N. myopica is a sedentary aerial spider that hangs
from a small tangle or sheet web on long, thin legs, and preys on microarthropods.
© Robert & Linda Mitchell,
Tooth Cave, Texas, USA.
Family Nesticidae
Nesticus barri Gertsch, from caves of SE Tennessee and NE Alabama. ©Alan Cressler.
Family Tetragnathidae
Meta americana, in Great Onyx Cave, Kentucky. This is a common troglophile in North America. © William R. Elliott, Great Onyx Cave, Kentucky, USA
Order Opiliones (harvestmen)
Suborder Laniatores
usually live in leaf mould in the tropics, but two families are found in US caves. These arachnids have their pedipalps modified into raptorial appendages which can grasp the prey by folding like a jack-knife; quite often these palps are armed with strong spines. Their legs may be short or long.
Families Assamidae, Cosmetidae, Gonyleptidae, Oncopodidae, Triaenonychidae Some of these families may have cave species.
Family Cladonychiidae
Banksula melones, a troglobite with small eyes, McLean's Cave (now submerged), Tuolumne County, Sierra Nevada, California, USA © William R. Elliott
Phalangodes armata Telkampf, troglobitic phalangodid harvestman, White Cave, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. © Thomas C. Barr., late 1960s or early 1970s, from 35mm film (Nikon F3). It is not clear whether this species belongs in Phalangodes or Erebomaster.
Phalangodes armata Telkampf. By Rick Olsen, Mammoth Cave National Park.
Speleomaster pecki, Arco Tunnel, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Butte County, Idaho. By William R. Elliott, July 1999.
Family Phalangodidae
Texella reddelli Ubick & Briggs, 1992, an endangered troglobite, Little Bee Creek Cave, Travis County, Texas. By William R. Elliott, 1994.
Texella reyesi, an endangered, troglobite from Central Texas. Red imported fire ants are among several threats that this species faces. By William R. Elliott, Thor Cave, Texas, USA
Hoplobunus boneti (Goodnight and Goodnight, 1942), troglobite, Sótano de la Tinaja, San Luís Potosí, Mexico. By William R. Elliott, 1972.
Stygnopsis robustus
(Goodnight and Goodnight), 1971, troglobite, Cueva del
Volcancillo, Veracruz, Mexico. By William R. Elliott, 1973.
Troglostygnopsis inops
troglobite, Cueva de la Mina, Tamaulipas, Mexico. By Robert
W. and Linda Mitchell.
Suborder Palpatores
(Some biologists have divided this into the Suborders Dyspnoi and Eupnoi. See below. These are the "common or garden" daddy-long-legs, so-called because of their extremely long legs which feature prominently in their biology (as locomotion, prey capture, sensory organs).
Group Dyspnoi
Families Acropsopilionidae, Ischyropsalidae, Nemastomatidae, Trogulidae may have cave species.
Group Eupnoi
Family Phalangiidae (daddy longlegs)
Family Sclerosomatidae (daddy longlegs)
Daddy longlegs congregation Large congregation of Leiobunum townsendii, a daddy longlegs harvestman, Gorman Cave, San Saba County, Texas. Trogloxene. Rune Burnett (left) and Keith Heuss. By William R. Elliott, 1993.
Leiobunum townsendii, one of the common daddy longlegs, a trogloxene that exits the cave night to scavenge or feed on aphids. This one has a cave cricket leg, and its legs have chiggers (red dots) that specifically parasitize this species. Leiobunum is not a spider; it lacks silk and venom glands and is a member of the Order Opiliones, the "harvestmen", not to be confused with "daddy longlegs spiders", which are true spiders. By Robert & Linda Mitchell, Texas, USA
Leiobunum group Close-up of a group a daddy longlegs harvestmen, Rattlesnake Cave, Hays County, Texas. They often bounce up and down and emit an alarm odor when disturbed. By William R. Elliott, 1993.
Order Pseudoscorpiones (pseudoscorpions)
Family Neobisiidae
Australinocreagris grahami, a pseudoscorpion , is a tiny predator that feeds on microarthropods. © William R. Elliott, McLean's Cave (now submerged), California, USA
Order Scorpiones
Family Diplocentridae
Diplocentrus anophthalmus Francke, troglobite, Actún Chukum, Yucatán, Mexico. By William R. Elliott, 1975.
Family Euscorpiidae
Troglocormus willis Francke, troglobite, Cueva de las Calenturas, Tamaulipas, Mexico. By William R. Elliott, 1980.
Family Superstitionidae
Sotanochactas elliotti (Mitchell), the most troglomorphic scorpion in the world, discovered by William R. Elliott in 1969 Sótano de Yerbaníz, San Luís Potosí, Mexico. Only three specimens are known of this very rare species. Originally placed in a new genus Typhlochactas, the species now is in a monotypic genus. Photo by Robert W. Mitchell, 1970.
Sotanochactas elliotti (Mitchell), drawing by Robert W. Mitchell, 1970.
Family Vaejovidae
Pseudouroctonus reddelli, a troglophilic scorpion from Texas, has eyes and dark pigment but is found almost entirely in caves, where it feeds on cave crickets. © William R. Elliott, Kickapoo Cavern, Texas, USA.
Order Acarida (mites)
Suborder Prostigmata
Family Rhagidiidae
Rhagidia gelida Thorell, one of the largest rhagidiid mites, about 1.5 mm long. This is not a cave-dwelling species, but the slide is very typical of a rhagidiid mite. This one is cannibalizing a member of its own species. Numerous species of rhagidiids are found in caves, arctic tundra, the tropics, and even Antarctica. They prey on collembolans (springtails), and may be found lurking wherever springtails are found in caves (near dung or even on pool surfaces.) Some troglobitic rhagidiids have extremely long legs and are well over 1 mm long. Many cavernicole species are relicts of circumboreal distributions during the Pleistocene. © Miloslav Zacharda, Czech Republic.
Class Chilopoda (centipedes)
Order Lithobiomorpha
A small centipede from a California cave. Cave centipedes often are soil-dwelling predators of small arthropods, so it is difficult to know if they are cave-adapted. © William R. Elliott, California, USA
Class Crustacea
Order Decapoda (decapods: crayfish, lobsters, shrimp, crabs)
Family Cambaridae
Cambarus setosus, Bristly cave crayfish, Wood Cave, Christian County, Missouri. By William R. Elliott, 2002.
Orconectes pellucidus, a troglobitic crayfish. By Chip Clark, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA
Orconectes stygocaneyi Hobbs, a stygobitic cave crayfish (female) from Caney Mountain Conservation and Natural Area, Ozark County, Missouri. This species is the first stygobitic Orconectes from west of the Mississippi River. Its closest relative is O. pellucidus of Kentucky. These crayfishes may have been isolated in caves since the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene. By William R. Elliott, 1999.
Family Palaemonidae
Palaemonias ganteri, the Kentucky blind shrimp, an endangered species that lives in the Mammoth Cave System. The species is threatened by altered flooding patterns and pollution from the Green River. © Chip Clark, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA
Family Pseudothelphusidae
Typhlopseudothelphusa acanthochela
, H.H. Hobbs, III, troglobitic land crab from Belize. By Joseph J. Hobbs, 2002.Order Amphipoda (amphipods, scuds)
Family Allocrangonyctidae
Allocrangonyx hubrichti, male 15 mm long, with long uropods, a rare species in Missouri and Arkansas. By James E. Gardner.
Family Crangonyctidae
Bactrurus brachycaudus, a phreatobite, Devil's Icebox Cave, Boone County, Missouri. By William R. Elliott. 2004.
Crangonyx forbesi, a widespread, stygophilic amphipod in the Ozark region. Common in springs and caves. Lone Hill Onyx Cave, Washington Co., Missouri. By William R. Elliott.
Crangonyx packardi, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. By Chip Clark.
Stygobromus ozarkensis, Tumbling Creek Cave, Taney County, Missouri, is a stygobite found in the Springfield Plateau of southwestern Missouri and adjacent parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma. By William R. Elliott, 1998.
Order Isopoda (isopods)
Family Asellidae
Caecidotea sp., a blind, aquatic, asellid isopod from Texas. Note the eggs at the posterior end. © William R. Elliott, Texas, USA
Lirceolus n.sp., an isopod on a stick underwater. © Bill Tucker, Phantom Lake Cave, Texas, USA
Family Cirolanidae
Cirolanides texensis, a small, aquatic isopod from Central Texas. This species is a marine relict. © William R. Elliott, Twin Pits Cave, Texas, USA
Family Trichoniscidae
Brackenridgia sp., an amphibious isopod from Mexico. © William R. Elliott, Cueva de la Capilla, San Luís Potosí, Mexico
Brackenridgia cavernarum Ulrich is a troglobitic, terrestrial isopod from caves on the western edge of the Edwards Plateau and and along Balcones Fault Zone of Texas. © William R. Elliott & Joe Ivy, Headquarters Cave, Texas, USA.
Class Diplopoda (millipedes, diplopods)
Order Polydesmida
Family Paradoxosomatidae
Oxidus gracilis (Koch), troglophile, Missouri. By Lawrence Ireland, Big Bear Cave, Texas County, Missouri, 2002.
Family Polydesmidae
Speodesmus bicornourus Causey, troglobitic millipede, about 12 mm long, Tooth Cave, Travis County, Texas. This species exhibits geographic variation. By William R. Elliott, 1984.
Speodesmus echinourus Loomis, a troglobitic millipede, Wyatt Cave, Edwards County, Texas. Widespread in the Edwards Plateau. By William R. Elliott, 1974.
Speodesmus ivyi vs. falcatus Comparison of two cave millipedes from central Texas. Speodesmus ivyi is a 6-mm-long species found in caves near San Antonio. It has short legs and is adapted for burrowing in soil. It is a relatively new troglobite, or perhaps it still is a deep soil and crack dweller, representing an early stage of cave adaptation. On the same scale is Speodesmus falcatus, a species from caves a short distance away, but never in the same cave. S. falcatus is more troglomorphic—three times as large as S. ivyi and having much longer appendages. Gigantism occurs in some troglobites that were derived from soil fauna. Within caves they may adapt to the humid atmosphere and with longer legs be able to traverse larger areas in search of food. See Elliott's 2004 Speodesmus TX paper in Papers by Elliott (home page).
Speodesmus n.sp., a millipede who probably feeds on bacteria and fungi on moist cave soils. By William R. Elliott, Cave X, Texas, USA
Family Rhachodesmidae
, a troglobitic millipede, Cueva de la Mina, Rancho del Cielo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. By William R. Elliott, 1981. Male (see single pair of legs on segment 7). Note the yellow ozopores on the margins of the paranota. This species ranges in color from pale blue-green to white, and is closely related to a blue species, S. conspicuus , found on the surface.Order Chordeumatida
Suborder Cleidogonoidea
Family Trichopetalidae
(Loomis), Tumbling Creek Cave, Taney Co., Missouri. © William R. Elliott, August 2001. In 2003 Shear removed this troglobitic Missouri species from Scoterpes to the new genus Causeyella.Scoterpes copei Packard, troglobitic millipede, White Cave, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. © Thomas C. Barr, late 1960s or early 1970s, from 35mm film (Nikon F3).
Order Spirobolida
Family Spirobolidae
Narceus americanus, a large, trogloxenic millipede hibernating on the warm ceiling of Big Barn Hollow Cave, Texas County, Missouri. © William R. Elliott, March 2001.
Order Spirostreptida
Family Cambalidae
Cambala speobia Chamberlin, troglobitic millipede, Fawcett's Cave, Edwards County, Texas. By William R. Elliott, 1975. This species is the most common troglobite in Texas, and probably was isolated in caves relatively recently.
Coiling in response to light despite the lack of eyes. Cambala speobia Chamberlin, troglobitic millipede, Fawcett's Cave, Edwards County, Texas. By William R. Elliott, 1975.
Class Insecta (6 legs)
Order Coleoptera (beetles)
Family Carabidae (ground beetles)
Neaphaenops telkampfi telkampfi is a troglobitic ground beetle who feeds exclusively on cave cricket eggs, which it sniffs out and digs up. © Chip Clark, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA.
Nelsonites walteri Valentine A troglobitic beetle of the Cumberland plateau in Tennessee. ©Thomas C. Bar By
Rhadine exilis (Barr and Lawrence) is a troglobitic ground beetle known only from the San Antonio area, Bexar County, Texas. It has been petitioned to go on the endangered species list. In some caves it competes with two other Rhadine beetles (R. infernalis ewersi and R. howdeni) for cave cricket eggs and nymphs, although the three species are usually found in different areas of the cave. © William R. Elliott & Joe Ivy, Headquarters Cave, Texas, USA.
Rhadine howdeni (Barr and Lawrence) is a troglophilic ground beetle that lives in the twilight zone of many Texas caves. It is larger and more robust than the troglobitic Rhadine with which it sometimes competes. © William R. Elliott & Joe Ivy, Headquarters Cave, Texas, USA.
Rhadine infernalis ewersi (Barr) is a troglobitic ground beetle known only from the San Antonio area, Bexar County, Texas. It has been petitioned to go on the endangered species list. In some caves it competes with two other Rhadine beetles (R. exilis and R. howdeni) for cave cricket eggs and nymphs, although the three species are usually found in different areas of the cave. © William R. Elliott & Joe Ivy, Headquarters Cave, Texas, USA.
Rhadine persephone Barr, the endangered Tooth Cave ground beetle. This troglobitic beetle is known from 15 or 20 caves near Austin, Texas. A member of the Tribe Agonini, the genus Rhadine contains more than 60 eyed and eyeless species in the Great Plains westward to California and south to Oaxaca, Mexico. Eleven species are troglobites that are found mostly in caves of the Balcones Escarpment of Central Texas, and are members of the subterranea species group. The perlevis group contains eyed, troglophilic members in caves of the nearby Edwards Plateau. R. persephone is a member of a "robust" subgroup in the subterranea group. At least three different pairs of robust and slender troglobitic species live together in some caves. These beetles seem to all depend on Ceuthophilus cave crickets for food, as eggs or young crickets. This species is about 8 mm long with a pronotum (neck-like part of thorax) about 0.7 times as wide as long. The beetle has tiny eye rudiments. © Robert & Linda Mitchell, Tooth Cave, Travis County, Texas, USA.
Rhadine subterranea (Van Dyke), a troglobitic beetle, feeding on a cave cricket egg, which it has excavated from a limestone soil. This species is more troglobitic and more slender than R. persephone. The sepcies is more widespread than R. persephone, and so it has not been placed on the endangered species list. © Robert & Linda Mitchell, Beck Ranch Cave, Texas, USA.
Family Pselaphidae
Texamaurops reddelli Barr & Steeves, the endangered Kretschmarr Cave mold beetle. Pselaphids are "short-winged mold beetles" found in rotting wood, moss, ant and termite nests, and caves. The European and North American cave faunas include many species. This genus and species was described in 1963. The long-legged beetle is about 3 mm long and lacks metathoracic wings. The eyes are essentially absent, reduced to small knobs with six vestigial eye facets. The species is known from only four caves; like the Tooth Cave spider and the Tooth Cave ground beetle, this species is endangered by surrounding land development, loss of nutrient inputs, red imported fire ants, and pollution. The genus name may change soon. © Robert & Linda Mitchell, Kretschmarr Cave, Texas, USA.
Order Collembola (springtails)
Family Entomobryidae
A collembolan, or springtail. These tiny insects may be abundant on wood, feces, fungus, and other organic materials in the cave. © William R. Elliott, California, USA
Order Diptera (flies)
Family Mycetophilidae
A fungus gnat larva hangs on its web, which it uses to catch flying insects. Several species are common in North American caves. © William R. Elliott, Sótano de la Tinaja, San Luís Potosí, Mexico
Order Orthoptera (crickets & grasshoppers)
See Key to Orthoptera by Daniel Otte, with a completely digitized key to Hubbell's 1936 monograph on Ceuthophilus.
Family Phalangopsidae The tropical “slender cave crickets” formerly were classified with the Gryllidae.
"Amphiacusta" A "slender cave cricket", possibly Amphiacusta bolivari, troglophile, Sótano de Soledad, Veracruz, Mexico. This species may now be in another genus. By William R. Elliott, December 1973.
Arachnomimus Mexico
Mayagryllus Guatemala and Belize
Paracophus coecus Hubbell, blind cricket, Cueva de la Mina, Rancho del Cielo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. By William R. Elliott, January 1981.
Family Rhaphidophoridae (cave and camel crickets)
Subfamily Ceuthophilinae “camel crickets”
Argyrtes Hidalgo, Mexico, caves.
Ceuthophilus Scudder, 1863 Many species occur in North American caves, but species richness is higher in the eastern USA. Many are not cave dwellers, some are trogloxenes, and a few are troglophiles, such as C. cunicularis (Texas) and C. longipes (New Mexico). None are troglobitic.
Ceuthophilus cluster Little Smittle Cave, Wright County, MO. By David C. Ashley, July 26, 2000.
Ceuthophilus sp. B, a common cave cricket in Central Texas, is an undescribed species that lives in many caves with Ceuthophilus secretus (below). It has smaller populations than the latter. Both are trogloxenes that feed outside the cave at night. © William R. Elliott & Joe Ivy, Eagles Nest Cave, Texas, USA
Ceuthophilus cunicularis, a common cave cricket in Central Texas, is a trogloxene or troglophile that rarely leaves the cave. It scavenges on the floor of the cave. It has a smaller body size and smaller eyes, so it is somewhat more cave adapted than the other two Ceuthophilus species with which it lives. © William R. Elliott & Joe Ivy, Eagles Nest Cave, Texas, USA
Ceuthophilus secretus, a common cave cricket in Central Texas, exits the cave after sunset to scavenge on carrion, feces, and sometimes ripe Texas persimmons and injured cave crickets. It is a trogloxene. Some populations exceed 5,000. © William R. Elliott & Joe Ivy, Eagles Nest Cave, Texas, USA
Ceuthophilus gracilipes, a female camel cricket, Davis Cave, Caney Mountain Conservation Area, Ozark County, Missouri. By William R. Elliott.
Ceuthophilus gracilipes molting in Round Spring Cavern, Shannon Co., Missouri. By William R. Elliott, May 1999.
Ceuthophilus species molting, Five Points Cave, Jackson County, Alabama. By Alan Cressler.
Exochodrilus Hubbell, 1972 Two species occurs in caves in the higher elevations of the Sierra de Guatemala, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
Farallonophilus Rentz, 1972 Occurs in caves on the Farallon Islands, California.
Leptargyrtes Querétaro, Mexico, cave.
Pristoceuthophilus Rehn, 1903 Coahuila, Mexico to California. caves.
Typhloceuthophilus Hubbell, 1940 Skelley and Kovarik (2001) found this blind, pallid cave cricket in burrows of the pocket gopher, Geomys pinetus (Rafinesque), during an arthropod survey in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. See http://www.fcla.edu/FlaEnt/fe84p552.pdf , Paul E. Skelley and Peter W. Kovarik. 2001. Insect surveys in the Southeast: Investigating a Relictual entomofauna. Florida Entomologist 84(4):552-555. Florida State Collection of Arthropods, FDACS-DPI, P.O. Box 147100, Gainesville, Fl 32614-7100.
Subfamily Hadenoecinae The “cave crickets” are exclusively troglophilic in Kentucky, Alabama and surrounding areas.
Euhadenoecus Hubbell, 1978
Euhadenoecus adelphus Hubbell and Norton, 1978
Euhadenoecus fragilis Hubbell and Norton, 1978
Euhadenoecus insolitus Hubbell and Norton, 1978
Euhadenoecus puteanus (Scudder, 1877)
Hadenoecus Scudder, 1863
Hadenoecus barri Hubbell and Norton, 1978
H. cumberlandicus Hubbell and Norton, 1978
Hadenoecus jonesi Hubbell and Norton, 1978, Russell Cave, Alabama. By William R. Elliott, Oct. 1999.
H. opilionides Hubbell and Norton, 1978
Hadenoecus subterraneus (Scudder, 1861), troglophile, Mammoth Cave area, Kentucky. By Chip Clark, ca. 1985.
Hadenoecus subterraneus mating Great Onyx Cave, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. By William R. Elliott, 1981.
Hadenoecus subterraneus on U-Haul Photo of U-Haul truck depicting a cave cricket (but upside-down). By William R. Elliott.
Order Thysanura (silverfish)
Family Nicoletiidae (subterranean silverfish)
Texoreddellia texensis (Ulrich) is a troglobitic silverfish from caves throughout the Edwards Plateau and Balcones Fault Zone of Texas. In some caves it is abundant on wet rocks and mud, and may be an ecological substitute for cave millipedes. © William R. Elliott & Joe Ivy, Headquarters Cave, Texas, USA.
Phylum Chordata (chordates)
Subphylum Vertebrata (vertebrates)
Class Amphibia (frogs & salamanders)
Order Anura (frogs)
Family Hylidae (treefrogs)
Hyla crucifer crucifer, the Northern spring peeper. © William R. Elliott, Davis Cave, Ozark County, Missouri, USA
Family Ranidae (true frogs)
Rana clamitans, the green frog in its bronze phase. © William R. Elliott, Moles Cave, Missouri, USA
Rana palustris, the pickerel frog commonly overwinters in eastern and midwestern US caves. © William R. Elliott, Powder Mill Creek Cave, Missouri, USA
Order Urodela (salamanders)
Family Plethodontidae
Eurycea longicauda, the long-tailed salamander. © William R. Elliott, Merritt Rock Cave, Missouri, USA
Eurycea lucifuga, a colorful entrance zone troglophilic "cave salamander", common in the Midwest and eastern USA. © William R. Elliott, Great Onyx Cave, Kentucky, USA
Missouri E. lucifuga © William R. Elliott, Round Spring Cavern, Missouri, USA
Eurycea new species, a troglobitic salamander from the Buttercup Creek Karst, near Austin, Texas. © William R. Elliott, Ilex Cave, Texas, USA.
Gyrinophilus palleucus palleucus, the Tennessee cave salamander. There are three subspecies. © William R. Elliott, Russell Cave, Alabama, USA
Gyrinophilus, Central Basin subspecies, Tennessee This subspecies of G. palleucus as yet unnamed; its largest known population is in Snail Shell Cave. ©Thomas C. Barr
Plethodon glutinosus or albagula? Some taxonomic confusion about these two species exists. New studies are underway. © William R. Elliott, Missouri, USA
Typhlomolge rathbuni, the famous Texas blind salamander, which inhabits the San Marcos Pool of the Edwards Aquifer. This was the first species listed as endangered in the USA in 1967.
By Robert & Linda Mitchell, Artesian Well & Ezell's Cave, Texas, USA
Eurycea spelaea, formerly Typhlotriton spelaeus, the Grotto Salamander or "Ozark blind salamander", spends its youth as an aquatic larva with gills in spring cave entrances. It metamorphoses to an adult, loses its gills, and retreats into the dark zone as skin grows over the decreasingly functional eyes. © William R. Elliott, Stansberry-January Cave, Oklahoma, USA
Class Mammalia (fur & milk)
Order Chiroptera (bats)
Family Molossidae (free-tailed bats)
A Mexican free-tailed bat flight in Texas stays together a long distance from the cave. Such flights may travel hundreds of miles and up to an altitude of 3,000 m to feed on insects at night. © William R. Elliott, Davis Blowout Cave, Texas.
Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana-a creche of Mexican free-tailed bats. The adults are brown, young pups are gray. The mothers go out at night to feed, but must find their own babies when they return to the cave so they can nurse them. The bats use a combination of spatial memory, personalized calls, and personalized odors to find their own out of millions of young. Born in May or June, the bats are ready to migrate to Mexico by October or November. By William R. Elliott, Davis Blowout Cave, Texas.
Family Phyllostomidae (leaf-nosed bats)
Macroderma gigas, the Ghost bat or False Vampire Bat, is endangered. Perhaps only 2000 still exist, certainly no more than 4000. They roost in caves and abandoned mine workings in Northern regions of Australia (above the Tropic of Capricorn), Gulf region of Queensland, Cape York Peninsula, Pine Creek in the Northern Territory, and the Kimberley region in Western Australia. Body approximately 20 cm long. Diet: cannabilistic, carnivorous, able to capture small frogs, lizards, bats (Miniopterus sp), and small birds up to the size of a dove or small pigeon. © Andrew Robson, Australia
Family Vespertilionidae (evening bats)
Pipistrellus subflavus, the eastern pipistrelle bat, usually roosts alone. The smallest North American cave bat, it hibernates in chilly cave entrances in Texas, but deeper in Kentucky and Virginia caves. © William R. Elliott, Thor Cave, Texas, USA
Myotis velifer, the cave myotis bat, is one of the common cave bats in Texas and New Mexico. By William R. Elliott, River Styx Cave, Texas.
Class Agnatha (jawless fishes)
Order Petromyzoniformes
Family Petromyzonidae (lampreys)
Brook lamprey, probably Ichthyomyzon gagei, Southern brook lamprey, accidental or trogloxene, Russell Cave, Alabama, by David C. Ashley, October 1999.
Class Teleostomi (bony fishes)
Family Characidae (tetras, piranhas, etc.)
Astyanax jordani, the Mexican cavefish, a tetra from San Luís Potosí and Tamaulipas, México. By William R. Elliott, 1977.
Order Scorpaeniformes
Family Cottidae (sculpins)
Grotto sculpin, Cottus sp., a cavefish from Perry County, Missouri. A somewhat cave-adapted fish related to the Banded sculpin (Cottus carolinae), which lives in both surface streams and springs in the eastern United States. Grotto sculpin display characteristics similar to other cave-adapted fish species, with varying degrees of reductions in eye size, pigmentation, and pelvic fin ray number. By A.J. Hendershott, Missouri Department of Conservation, 2006.
Order Percopsiformes
Family Amblyopsidae (cavefishes and swampfishes)
Amblyopsis rosae, Ozark cavefish, Ben Lassiter Cave, McDonald County, Missouri. By Jim Rathert, Missouri Department of Conservation, 1995.
Typhlichthys subterraneus, Southern cavefish, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. By Chip Clark.
