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PREFACEThe present volume is the second in a series devotedto the cavernicole and endogean fauna ofNorth America, including Mexico. A majority ofthe species described in this volume are from Texas,but new species are also described from other statesin the United States and from Mexico.Texas has long been known for its unusual anddiverse subterranean fauna. The first species to berecovered from the underground habitat was the remarkableblind salamander Typhlomolge rathbuniStejneger from the old U.S. Fisheries artesian wellin San Marcos, Hays County. The description ofthis species was soon followed by descriptions ofnew species of blind crustaceans.Despite the interest generated by these descriptionsonly occasional collections were made in thestate until Dr. Thomas C. Barr, Jr., then of TexasTechnological College in Lubbock, visited severalcaves and encouraged visits by other speleologists.These discoveries in the late 1950s further emphasizedthe interest of the Texas cave fauna.Shortly following the organization of the TexasSpeleological Survey in 1961 an active program ofbiological study was initiated by James R. Reddellwith the help of numerous cave explorers in theAustin area. Dr. Robert W. Mitchell of Texas TechUniversity in Lubbock encouraged a number of students,including William R. Elliott, to pursue biologicalstudies in Texas caves as part of their graduateresearch.In recent years the listing of five cave arthropods[the Tooth Cave spider Leptoneta (nowNeoleptoneta) myopica Gertsch, the Tooth Cavepseudoscorpion Microcreagris (now Tartarocreagris)texana Muchmore, the Bee Creek Caveharvestman Texella reddelli Goodnight andGoodnight, the Kretschmarr Cave mold beetleTexamaurops reddelli Barr and Steeves, and theTooth Cave ground beetle Rhadine persephone Barr]on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service List ofEndangered Species has resulted in an extensivesampling program for Travis, Williamson, andadjacent parts of Burnet and Hays Counties. Thisstudy revealed the presence of a number of newspecies in this, the best-studied, part of the state, aswell as better defining the ranges of other species.Two other species originally confused with two ofthe endangered species are described as new in thisvolume. Because populations of these species wereincluded in the original endangered species listingthey are also considered endangered by the U.S.Fish & Wildlife Service. Texella n.sp. (see Ubickand Briggs, this volume) was originally placed inTexella reddelli, and Batrisodes (Excavodes) n.sp.(see Chandler, this volume) was placed inTexamaurops reddelli.Despite extensive collections throughout the stateby a large number of students of cave biology andan eager cadre of cave explorers the fauna of thestate remains poorly known. The continuing discoveryof new species in the best-studied parts of thestate indicates strongly that we have much to learnabout the cave fauna of this remarkable region. Fewdistributions are adequately known and doubtlessnumerous new species await discovery in areas stillbarely touched.The present volume includes taxonomic works onseven orders of arthropod. Of special significanceare revisions of two of the more important groupsoccurring in Texas caves, the subgenus Cicurella ofthe genus Cicurina, and the harvestman genusTexella. Both groups occur outside Texas, but thecenter of diversity as presently understood is thekarst region of central Texas. Also of considerablezoogeographic interest is the discovery of twoMexican genera of aquatic isopod in Texas: the cirolanidgenus Speocirolana and the stenasellid genusMexistenasellus. Holsinger continues his study ofthe amphipod fauna of Texas subterranean waterswith description of significant new taxa from caves,springs, wells, and hyporheic habitats in Texas.Muchmore reviews the cave pseudoscorpions ofTexas and New Mexico with description of additionalnew troglobites and troglophiles. Cokendolpherand Reddell revise the schizomid family Protoschizomidae,which though primarily Mexicanincludes one (undescribed) species in Texas. Rothdescribes the first troglobitic theridiid spider inNorth America. Finally, Chandler reviews the beetlefamily Pselaphidae in Texas caves, with descriptionsof the first eyeless species of the genus Batrisodes.Altogether 110 new species are described in thisv