Cave Beetles Research Articles

Occurrence of a Troglobitic Pseudanophthalmus Outside a Cave (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

A specimen of troglobitic Pseudanophthalmus is recorded for the first time from an epigean situation at the mouth of Kyle Spring Cave in Jackson Co., Alabama. The beetle was apparently washed out of subterranean solutional networks by vernal flooding. The discovery is significant because it suggests a mechanism of accidental dispersal of troglobitic beetles between unconnected cave systems. Although troglobitic cave beetles of the tribe Trechini have been known in North America for 125 years, and although thousands of specimens belonging to approximately 150 species have been collected, none has ever been previously recorded outside of a cave. On 17 March 1964 a single female Pseudanophthalmus sp. was collected (by Peck) from beneath a rock 15 m from the resurgence of Kyle Spring Cave, in Mud Creek Valley, Jackson Co., Alabama. The species is described in a paper by Barr (in preparation). It is known from caves in northeastern Jackson Co., Alabama, and caves of Crow Creek Valley and Sinking Cove, Franklin Co., Tennessee, where it has been taken in damp situations along underground streams. Apparently it is most closely allied with P. intermedius Valentine and other species of the intermedius group. Kyle Spring Cave in Mud Creek Valley represents the outlet of a cave system not freely accessible to human entry. The cave is penetrable as a crawlway for a distance less than 200 feet. Heavy rains had occurred two to three days before the beetle was collected. Mud and debris along the banks of the stream issuing from the cave indicated severe flooding. It is concluded that the beetle had been washed outside of the subterranean openings in which it normally lived by the force of the flood. The rock beneath which it was found was a flat, angular limestone fragment about 250 x 275 mm, overlying a damp root mat. The weather on 17 March was clear and mild (ambient air temperature approximately 17 C), and the beetle became active as soon as the rock was removed. Speciation and dispersal of Pseudanophthalmus and related genera have been of considerable interest to systematists (Barr 1959, 1960; Jeannel 1949; Krekeler 1959; Valentine 1945). The degree of isolation of these insects varies considerably from one cave system to another, depending upon local stratigraphy and geologic structure of the limestone regions which they inhabit. Large rivers sometimes pose a barrier to the dispersal of Pseudanophthalmus. The Ohio River, for example, is apparently a highly effective barrier to P. tenuis Horn (Indiana) and its allopatric sibling, P. barberi Jeannel (Kentucky). Yet smaller rivers the Red River of the Tennessee1 This study was supported by a grant from the National Science Founda-

The Status and Affinities of Duvaliopsis Jeannel (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

The genus Duvaliopsis was established by Jeannel (I928) for a small group o.f endogeno.us, ano,phthalmous trechines trom the Carpathian Mountains and the Transylvanian Alps ,o.f Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. Although earlier authors had classified them with Anophthalm,us Sturm, Trechus Clairville, or Duvalius Delarouz6e (formerly considered a subgenus of Trechus), Jeannel (1928) clearly demonstrated their morphological similarity to Trechoblemus Ganglbauer and to North American cavernicole trechines of the genera Pse.udanophthalmus and Neaphaenops. Duvaliopsis, Pseudanophthalmus, and Neaphaenops were placed in a s6rie phyl6tique de Trechoblemus, united by the common possession o.f certain .characters (I) the mentum is fused to. the prementum; (2) the recurrent portion of the apical groove o.f the elytro.n is usually .connected to or directed t,o.ward the 3rd longitudinal stria; (3) the copulatory sclerites (o.f which there are one or two) are placed laterally (anisotopic), rather than ventrally (isotopic), in the internal sac; and (4) the anterior tibiae are pubescent on the ,outer side. Subsequent to I928, additional genera in North America and Japan have been described which sho.uld probably be allied with this. series (Valentine 1952, Yoshida and Namura 19.52, U6no 1956 and 1958, Barr I96O). In the eastern United States, the largest and most widely distributed genus of cave beetles is Pseudanophthalmus, species .o.f which are no.w known from Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Although found only in caves up to the present time, a few Virginia species have rudimentary eyespots, suggesting comparative recency of adopting a wholly subterranean mode of life. The absence of epigean trechines from North America which seem to share a relatively recent ancestry with Pse.udanoDhthalmus and other cave genera has provoked considerable speculation on the history and evolution of the, group. Trechofdes fasciatus Mo.tschulsky, from the Oligocene Baltic amber, could belong either to Lasiotrech,us or Trechoblemus (Jeannel, 928). This fossil demon

A New Genus of Cave Beetle (Carabidae: Trechini) from Southwestern Virginia with a Key to the Genera of the Trechini of North America North of Mexico

A New Genus of Cave Beetle (Carabidae: Trechini) from Southwestern Virginia with a Key to the Genera of the Trechini of North America North of Mexico

A Synopsis of the Cave Beetles of the Genus Pseudanophthalmus of the Mitchell Plain in Southern Indiana (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

Thirteen species and subspecies of cave beetles of the genus Pseudanophthalmus Jeannel have been reported from the Mitchell Plain of southern Indiana. Horn (1871, 1883), Jeannel (1931, 1949), and Krekeler (1958) have described and illustrated the majority of these forms in considerable detail. The present paper is intended to be used in conjunction with the papers of Jeannel (1949) and Krekeler (1958), and no attempt has been made to repeat descriptions of forms which have been adequately treated by these authors. The discovery of a lost species in Wyandotte Cave and a nearby cavern necessitates a new combination and the changing of several trinomials. A new species, from Lawrence County, is described. For reasons stated in an earlier paper (Barr, 1959) the writer has applied the polytypic species concept to the systematics of Pseudanophthalmus and other genera of troglobious carabids. An alternative taxonomic approach was offered by Krekeler (1958), who regarded each morphologically distinct cave population (or group of similar populations in closely associated caves) as genetically isolated. The specimens upon which the present paper is based were collected in Crawford, Harrison, Lawrence, Monroe, Orange, Owen, and Washington Counties, Indiana, during the summer of 1957 and the fall of 1958. Dr. Carl H. Krekeler, Valparaiso University, whose recent (1958) paper is the most important single contribution to our knowledge of Indiana anophthalmids, provided a topotype P. morrisoni and a paratype P. youngi donaldsoni for examination. One P. morrisoni and six P. youngi donaldsoni were collected for the writer by Mr. Thomas L. Poulson. Deep appreciation is expressed to Mr. Lewis D. Lamon, Corydon, Indiana, and to Miss Leona Hert, Springville, Indiana, for assistance in collecting the material discussed below. Mr. Robert Louden, manager of Wyandotte Cave, was most courteous and helpful. Dr. Harold J. Grant, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, kindly compared the writer's topotypes with Horn's types of Anophthalmus eremita and A. tenuis. Five species groups and six species are recognized in the present study, four of the groups being monotypic. The species may be separated by the following key.

Speciation in Cave Beetles of the Genus Pseudanophthalmus (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

The carabid cave fauna of North America has been known since the midnineteenth century through the work of Erichson (1844), Motschoulsky (1862), Leconte (1863), Horn ('1868, 1871, 1883), Hubbard (1880), Garman (1892), and Barber (1928). Jeannel (1920) distinguished the North American genus Pseudanophthalmus from the European genus Anophthalmus. Jeannel's monograph of the Trechinae (1928) and his subsequent description (1931) of additional anophthalmid species collected by him in American caves encouraged an extensive study of this unique group by Valentine (1931, 1932, 1937, 1945, 1948, 1952). It was felt that an extension of Valentine's excellent work, involving careful examination and analysis particularly of aedeagal structures, would provide further valuable information concerning the speciation pattem of this genus.

Horologion, a New Genus of Cave Beetles

The following description deals with a unique genus of small, eyeless ground beetle, a single specimen of which was taken by the author from a tiny cave near Lewisburg, W. Va. Situated in the valley of the Greenbrier River, this cave is in richly cavernous country featuring numerous sink-holes, tunnellike subterranean waterways and passages—caverns in early stages of formation. The author has visited 7 of the many caves known to occur within 20 miles of this spot, but in spite of diligent searches and extensive trapping here and elsewhere, no second representative of the genus has yet been brought to light. Since the habits of this beetle are not sufficiently well known to assure the collector of success in its capture, and because it is such an aberrant form, the author has taken the liberty of presenting it from the material at hand—a single, perfect male specimen.

Two Cave Beetles Not Before Recorded

Two Cave Beetles Not Before Recorded

The Cave Beetles of Kentucky

Previous articleNext article FreeThe Cave Beetles of KentuckyA. S. Packard, Jr.A. S. Packard, Jr. Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The American Naturalist Volume 10, Number 5May, 1876 Published for The American Society of Naturalists Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/271651 Views: 163 Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Matthew L. Niemiller, Kurt Helf, Rickard S. Toomey Mammoth Cave: A Hotspot of Subterranean Biodiversity in the United States, Diversity 13, no.88 (Aug 2021): 373.https://doi.org/10.3390/d13080373Stewart B. Peck, Alfred F. Newton An Annotated Catalog of the Leiodidae (Coleoptera) of the Nearctic Region (Continental North America North of Mexico), The Coleopterists Bulletin 71, no.22 (Jun 2017): 211.https://doi.org/10.1649/0010-065X-71.2.211Aleksandra Kilian Phylogenetic Analysis of Camiarinae (Coleoptera: Leiodidae) Based on Larval Morphology, Annales Zoologici 62, no.11 (Mar 2012): 11–68.https://doi.org/10.3161/000345412X633667