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searchable PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

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The fauna of the cave remains somewhat imperfectlyknown, but 20 species, of which two are troglobites,have been identified. The two troglobites areflatworms of the genus Dugesia and a blind populationof the fish Poecilia sphenops Valenciennes.Troglophiles recorded from the cave include thetrichodactylid crab Trichodactylus (Rodriguezia)bidens Bott, the chernetid pseudoscorpion Lustrochernes?minor Chamberlin, an undescribed amblypygidof the genus Phrynus, an araneid spider of thegenus Tetragnatha, the mysmenid spider Maymenamayana (Chamberlin and Ivie), the nesticid spidersEidmannella pallida (Emerton) and Gaucelmus calidusGertsch, and a hemipteran of the genus Belostoma.Teapa, Tabasco.-This region is located near thetown of Teapa in south-central Tabasco along theborder of Chiapas. Contreras V. (1958) has discussedthe geology of this region and reported thepresence of the Sierra :\1adre Limestone. The karstin this area is well developed with lapiez, pinnacles,towers, and other <strong>for</strong>ms occurring in abundance.The known caves all occur at elevations of about40 meters, but immediately to the south the mainmass of the mountains of Chiapas rises to more than2,700 meters. Many caves are known to exist in thisregion from which numerous species of bat have beenreported. Only five caves, however, have been studiedwith respect to their invertebrate fauna. With the exceptionof the large, semi-commercial Grutas delCocona, all are small and of limited interest. Grutasdel Cocona, however, is an extensive horizontal cavewith almost one kilometer of passage. The cave is afossil resurgence and deep lakes occur there withoccasional running water in the back portions of thecave.Although 59 species have been reported from thecaves of the Teapa region, 23 of these are bats. Theremaining fauna is particularly rich and includeseight troglobites. Three aquatic troglobites areknown: the dimarcusid flatworm Opisthobursa mexicanaBenazzi, the bogidiellid amphipod Bogidiellatabascensis Villalobos, and the palaemonid shrimpMacrobrachium acherontium Holthuis. The shrimpand flatworm are endemic to this region, and theamphipod has been tentatively identified from cavesin Chiapas. The terrestrial troglobites are the hyidpseudoscorpion Mexobisium maya Muchmore, theschizomid Schizomus pecki Rowland, the amblypygidParaphrynus chiztun (Rowland), the glomeridesmidmilliped Glomeridesmus sbordonii Shear,and the histerid beetle Troglobacanius maya V0­mero. With the possible exception of G. sbordoniiwhich has been tentatively identified from a cave inChiapas, all of these species are endemic to the Teaparegion. All are also closely related to other speciesfrom eastern and southern Mexico. Glomeridesmussbordonii is of interest in being the only troglobiticmember of the order Glomeridesmida in the NewWorld. The genus Troglobacanius is otherwise knownonly from caves in San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas.The troglophile fauna includes a schizomid Schizomustrilobatus Rowland, an amblypygid of thegenus Phrynus, the mysmenid spider Maymenamayana (Chamberlin and Ivie), the oonopid spiderTriaeris patellaris Bryant, the pholcid spider Modisimusiviei Gertsch, the pyrgodesmid milliped Cry~tyma cocona Shear, nicoletiid thysanurans, the leiodidbeetle Ptomaphagus (Adelops) tabascensis Sbordoni,and the scydmaenid beetle Scydmaenus teapanusFranz. These species all belong to generacommon to southern and eastern Mexico.Augustine, Cayo, Belize.-This region is located inwest-central Belize on an outcrop of Cretaceous­Eocene limestone to the west of the Maya Mountainsand south of the Rio On. Elevations in this regionrange from 400 to 500 meters. Very little work hasbeen done and there is confusion about how manycaves have been studied. Seven names have beenapplied to caves in the area, but some of these areprobably synonymous. The caves <strong>for</strong> which evenfragmentary descriptions are available are associatedwith streams, the most notable of which is the RioFrio which passes through the region. The geologyof the general area has been briefly discussed byDixon (1957).The fauna of the Augustine region is poorly knownand of 35 species reported, only 23 are closely associatedwith caves. The only troglobite known is ahyid pseudoscorpion, Mexobisium goodnight Muchmore.Other troglophiles include the mysmenidspider Maymena mayana (Chamberlin and Ivie), thescytodid spider Loxosceles yucatana Chamberlinand Ivie, the opilionids Erginulus serratipes (Cambridge)and Cynortina acanthotibialis Goodnight andGoodnight, the pyrgodesmid miIlipeds Myrmecodesmusbrevis Shear and Rettenmeyeria cryptymoidesShear, and the leiodid beetles Dossochaetus hetschkoiReitter and Ptomaphagus (Adelops) barbaraePeck. Of particular interest is the presence in thecaves of large numbers of psychodid flies, some ofwhich are apparently troglophilic. The most abundantof these are Lutzomyia beltrani (Vargas andDiaz Najera), 1. deleoni (Fairchild and Hertig), 1.shannoni (Dyar), and 1. trinidadensis (Newst.). Thefauna of this region is typical of that of southernMexico, although the presence of psychodid flies51

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