11.07.2015 Views

searchable PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

searchable PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

searchable PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

three undescribed species of isopod: a cirolanidbelonging to the genus Speocirolana, an asellid of thegenus Caecidotea, and a stenasellid of the genusMexistenasellus. The terrestrial troglobite fauna includesan undescribed genus and species of chactidscorpion; a second species of this genus is knownfrom the San Nicolas de los Montes region. Threeundescribed species of pseudoscorpion have beenfound; these belong to the genera Aphrastochchonius,Typhloroncus, and Paravachonium. The troglobiticspider fauna includes a tarantula of the genusSchizopelma and the leptonetid Leptoneta isolataGertsch. The latter species is also known from Gru tasde Villa de Garcia, Nuevo Leon. Other troglobites, allundescribed endemics, include an opilionid of thegenus lloplobunus, a scolopendrid centipede of thegenus Newportia, several as yet undeternlined milli·peds, and three species of carabid beetle of the genusMexaphaenops. The highly cave-adapted leiodidbeetle, Ptomaphagus (Adelops) mckenziei Peck, isknown only from caves in this region.The troglophile fauna includes undescribed spidersof the genera Euagrus, Cicurina, Tegenaria, Nesticus,and Ctenus. The spiders Eidmannella pallida (Emerton),Coryssocnemis abernathyi Gertsch, Modisimusrainesi Gertsch, and M. reddelli Gertsch are abundantin the caves of the region. The troglophile millipedfauna, though not well studied, includes species ofthe genera Cleidogona, Myrmecodesmus, Strongylodesmus,and Sphaeriodesmus. Other troglophiles ofinterest include the collembolans Pseudosinellareddelli Christiansen and Pseudosinella sp., the carabidbeetle Platynus (iHexisphodrus) n. sp., and theleiodid beetle Dissochaetus aztecus Szymczakowski.Both the troglobite and troglophile fauna is typicalof that of the Sierra Madre Oriental.Cuetzalan, Puebla.-This is one of the major karstregions in Mexico but remains poorly known. Theregion is bounded on the south by the Rio Apulcoand on the north by the Rio Tecuantepec. It extendsfrom near Cuetzalan on the east to Zapotitlan on thewest Elevations range frolll about 250 meters tomore than 2,000 meters. Drainage is almost entirelysubterranean with floodwaters entering many caves;active streams running from the higher elevationsfrequently enter sumidero-type cave entrances.Springs are numerous along the banks of the RioTecuantepec. <strong>Cave</strong>s tend generally to be large tnmkchannels containing active streams (Davis, 1974;I{eddell, 1974: Sprouse, 1979). Several caves are long,with one surveyed <strong>for</strong> more than 10 kilometers.The fauna of the area is not yet well known systematically,and the 87 species determined from the 20investigated caves are only a small percentage ofthose which will eventually be known. The only aquatictroglobite from the region is the widespread cirolanidisopod Speocirolana pelaezi (Bolivar). The onlyterrestrial troglobite thus far described is the endemicspirobolellid milliped Reddellobus troglobius Causey.Other troglobites include an ideoroncid pseudoscorpion,a schizomid of the genus Schizomus, anamblypygid of the genus Paraphrynus, a tarantula ofthe genus Schizopelma, a leptonetid spider of thegenus Leptoneta, a pholcid spider of the genus Metagonia,a glomerid milliped of the genus Glomeroides,an undescribed genus and species of the millipedfamily Trichopolydesmidae, and a collembolan of thegenus Acherontides.The streams in the caves of this region su pport anabundance of troglophilic crayfish, including Procambarus(Paracambarus) ortmanni (Villalobos), P.(Villalobosus) n. sp., and P. (V.) xochitlanae lIobbs.Terrestrial troglophiles of interest include a vaejovidscorpion of the genus Vaejovis, a species of the amblypygidgenus Paraphrynus, an agelenid spider ofthe genus Tegenaria, a ctenid spider of the genusCtenus, a mysmenid spider of the genus Maymena,the nesticid spiders Eidmannella pallida (Emerton)and Gaucelmus calidus Gertsch, pholcid spiders ofthe genera Coryssocnemis and Pholcophora, the uloboridspider Philoponella signatella (Roewer), a cleidogonidmilliped of the genus Cleidogona, a pyrgodesmidmilliped of the genus Myrmecodesmus, arhachodesmid milliped of the genus Strongylodesmus,a sphaeriodesmid milliped of the genus Sphaeriodesmus,a collernbolan of the genus Pseudosinella,the psocid Psyllipsocus ramburii Selys-Longchamps,cixiid homopterans, an undescribed species of carabidbeetle of the genus Platynus (Mexisphodrus), andstaphylinid beetles of the genera Belonuchus andllomaeotarsus. The fauna of the region appears to betypical of that of the Sierra Madre Oriental.Xicotepec. Puebla.-This region is located near thetown of Xicotepec; it is poorly known and defined.Biological records are available <strong>for</strong> four caves in thisarea, but only two have been visited by AMCS members.The latter caves are small horizontal passages ina cliff face. No troglobites are known from this region,and of the 11 species recorded only three are probabletroglophiles: the amJadiIIid isopod Venezillollamasi Rioja, the nesticid spider Eidmannella pal/ida(Emerton), and the psocid Psyllipsocus ramburiiSelys-Longchamps.Ahuacatlan, Queretaro.-This region is located inone of the western ranges of the Sierra Madre Orientaljust west of the town of Jalpan. All of the cavesknown from the region are <strong>for</strong>med in the EI Abra(=EI Doctor) Limestone. The geology of the region30

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!