searchable PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

. 1-----,, ,", ,\'"I/I~" )/Fig. I.-Physiographic provinces of Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize: 1, Baja California; 2, Buried Ranges; 3, Sierra MadreOccidental; 4, Basins and Ranges; 5, Edwards Plateau; 6, Sierra Madre Oriental; 7, Gulf Coastal Lowlands; 8, Central Mesa;9, Neovolcanic Plateau; 10, Sierra Madre del Sur System; 11, Pacific Coastal Lowlands; 12, Chiapas-Guatemala Highlands;13, Yucatan Peninsula.Arkansas (McDaniel and Smith, 1976), Florida(Warren, 1961; Peck, 1970), Georgia (Holsinger andPeck, 1971), Hawaii (Howarth, 1972, 1973), Illinoisand southeastern Missouri (Peck and Lewis, 1977),Kentucky (Barr, 1967b; Barr and Kuehne, 1971),Missouri (Craig, 1975, 1977), New Jersey (Nicholas,1976), New Mexico (Barr and Reddell, 1967; Welbourn,1978), Oklahoma (Black, 1971), Pennsylvania(Holsinger, 1976), Tennessee (Barr, 1961), Texas(Reddell, 1965b, 1966b, 1967e, 1970a, 1970b,1970c; Reddell and Mitchell, 1969; Mitchell andReddell, 1971; Lundelius and Slaughter, 1971),Virginia (Holsinger, 1963), volcanic caves of westernNorth America (Peck, 1973b), West Virginia (Holsingeret al., 1976), and Canada (Peck and Fenton,1973). Our knowledge of the fauna of tropical andsubtropical America is much more limited (Peck,1974b). Preliminary reports have now been publishedon the cave fauna of Puerto Rico (Peck, 1974a),Jamaica (Peck, 1976), Cuba (Orghidan et al., 1973,1974; Silva Taboada, 1974), and Panama (Peck,1971a). No summaries exist for the cave fauna of theremainder of the islands of the West Indies, thecountries of Central America, nor any part of SouthAmerica.It is safe to assume that far less than half of thecave-inhabiting species of Mexico, Guatemala, andBelize are now known. In Mexico, which has been farmore intensively studied than the other two countries,only a few areas are well known. The Sierra de Guatemalain Tamaulipas, the Sierra de EI Abra in San LuisPotosi and Tamaulipas, and the Yucatan Peninsulaare the only regions in Mexico where a significantpercentage of the fauna is known. Due to the outstandingwork of the Italian biospeleologists much ofChiapas is now well collected, but a majority of theirmaterial remains unstudied. The cavernicole fauna ofwestern, southwestern, and parts of southern Mexicoremain completely unknown. Of the 13 physiographicprovinces (see Fig. 1) into which this regionmay be divided, no collections other than hats or hatassociatedparasites have been made in Baja California,the Buried Ranges, the Central Mesa, or the PacificCoastal Lowlands. The cavernicole fauna of the2