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The Texas fauna of the genus Anillinus Casey, 1918 includes three previously described species (A. affabilis (Brues), 1902, A. depressus (Jeannel), 1963 and A. sinuatus (Jeannel), 1963) and four new species here described: A. acutipennis Sokolov & Reddell sp. n. (type locality: Fort Hood area, Bell County, Texas); A. comalensis Sokolov & Kavanaugh sp. n. (type locality: 7 miles W of New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas); A. forthoodensis Sokolov & Reddell sp. n. (type locality: Fort Hood area, Bell County, Texas); A. wisemanensis Sokolov & Kavanaugh sp. n. (type locality: Wiseman Sink, Hays County, Texas). A key for identification of adults of these species is provided. The fauna includes both soil- and cave-inhabiting species restricted to the Balcones Fault Zone and Lampasas Cut Plain and adjacent areas underlain by the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer. Based on morphological and distributional data, we hypothesize that four lineages of endogean Anillinus species extended their geographical ranges from a source area in the Ouachita-Ozark Mountains to the Balconian region in central Texas. There the cavernous Edwards-Trinity aquifer system provided an excellent refugium as the regional climate in the late Tertiary and early Quaternary became increasingly drier, rendering life at the surface nearly impossible for small, litter-inhabiting arthropods. Isolated within the Edwards-Trinity aquifer system, these anilline lineages subsequently differentiated, accounting for the currently known diversity. The paucity of specimens and difficulty in collecting them suggest that additional undiscovered species remain to be found in the region.

While many cave-adapted organisms tend to be endemic to single locations or restricted to single karstic regions, the troglobitic silverfish insects of genus Texoreddellia can be found in scores of different cave localities that cover a range of nearly 160,000 km

Rhadine LeConte is a Nearctic genus of flightless ground beetles that is poorly studied despite its relevance to evolutionary studies of subterranean fauna. Adults are notable for their slender and leggy habitus and the wide variety of habitat preferences among species, with several known only from mountaintops while others are restricted to caves or more general subterranean habitats. In central Texas, USA there are several cave endemics relevant to conservation. Here we present the first phylogenetic hypothesis for the overall structure of the genus with an emphasis on the troglobites in central Texas. We infer the phylogeny of Rhadine from ∼2.4-kb of aligned nucleotide sites from the nuclear genes, 28S rDNA and CAD, and the mitochondrial gene COI. These data were obtained for 30 species of Rhadine as well as from members of their putative sister group, Tanystoma Motschulsky. Results reveal that Rhadine is polyphyletic, and morphological characters that have been traditionally used to classify the genus into species groups are shown to be convergent in many cases. Rhadine aside from two species of uncertain placement is composed of two major clades, Clades I and II that both include epigean and subterranean species in very unequal proportions. Clade I is primarily composed of subterranean species, and Clade II includes many epigean species and high altitude montane endemics. A clade of troglobitic, cave-restricted species in Texas includes several species of large-eyed cave Rhadine. The slender habitus typical of some species [e.g., R. exilis (Barr and Lawrence), R. subterranea (Van Dyke), R. austinica Barr] evolved independently at least three times. Major biogeographic and evolutionary patterns based on these results include: troglobitic species north of the Colorado River in Texas (that also lack lateral pronotal setae) are found to comprise a monophyletic group, beetles in caves south of the Colorado River likely form another monophyletic group, and the “species pairs” of troglobitic Rhadine known to occur in the same caves are not resolved as each other’s sister group, suggesting that these caves were colonized independently by more than one lineage of Rhadine. Our divergence time estimates support a Miocene age for the split between Clade I and II Rhadine and indicate that all subterranean Clade I Rhadine began diversifying in the late Miocene–early Pliocene, contemporary with cave formation in the Balcones Escarpment.

Texas populations of slimy salamanders are isolated from other members of the Plethodon glutinosus complex and are currently placed in the species P. albagula with populations from the Ozark Plateau and Ouachita Mountains of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. We sequenced a portion of the mitochondrial protein-coding gene ND4 for 52 P. albagula from 25 localities in Texas and one locality in Missouri. Bayesian MCMC analysis identified five parapatric lineages of Plethodon in Texas. Several morphologically distinctive populations are phylogenetically embedded within the Texas radiation. Additional studies of the interactions among the lineages identified in this study will be necessary to resolve their taxonomic status.

The world's obligate cave-dwelling fauna holds considerable promise for biogeographic analysis because it represents a large number of independent evolutionary experiments in isolation in caves and adaptation to subterranean life. We focus on seven north temperate regions of at least 2000 km2, utilizing more than 4300 records of obligate cave-dwelling terrestrial invertebrates. In North America, highest diversity was found in northeast Alabama while in Europe highest diversity was found in Ariege, France, and in southeast Slovenia. Based on these regions as well as more qualitative data from 16 other regions, we hypothesize that a ridge (ca 42°–46° in Europe and 34° in North America) of high biodiversity occurs in temperate areas of high productivity and cave density. This may reflect a strong dependence of cave communities on long term surface productivity (as reflected in actual evapotranspiration), because the subterranean fauna relies almost entirely on resources produced outside caves. This dependence may explain the unique biodiversity pattern of terrestrial cave invertebrates.

The obligate cave faunas of nine regions of the United States –Florida Lime Sinks, Appalachians, Interior Low Plateaus, Ozarks, Driftless Area,Edwards Aquifer/Balcones Escarpment, Guadalupe Mountains, Black Hills, andMother Lode – are described and compared. The number of aquatic(stygobitic) species ranged from zero (Black Hills) to 82 (Appalachians), andthe number of terrestrial (troglobitic) species ranged from zero (Florida LimeSinks) to 256 (Interior Low Plateau). Even at the level of genus, overlapbetween regions is low. Several predictor variables (karst area, number ofcaves, number of long caves, number of deep caves, distance from the Pleistoceneice margin, distance from the late Cretaceous Sea, and vegetation type – asurrogate for productivity) were assessed using rank order statistics,especially rank order multiple regression with a backward elimination procedure.For both stygobites and troglobites, only number of caves was a significantpredictor. The absence of a karst area effect suggested that the degree of karstdevelopment is better described by the number of caves rather than area ofkarst. There was no evidence that distance to Pleistocene glacial boundaries wasimportant, but there was some support for the importance of distance from late Cretaceous sea margins, a potential source of aquatic subterranean colonists. Finally,there was no indication that surface productivity had an effect on speciesrichness. Analysis was complicated by correlations among predictor variables.

The 357 Schizomida (short-tailed whipscorpions) collected within 12 months from the soil (0-7 cm depth) of a secondary upland forest (60.4 ± 32.2 ind./m2/month) near Manaus are represented by the hubbardiids Surazomus mirim and S. rodriguesi (99.7% and 0.3% of the total catch, respectively). About 74% of all specimens of S. mirim inhabited the organic soil layer (0-3.5 cm depth) where monthly catches of juveniles were negatively correlated with temperatures of the soil. Females were twice as abundant as males. The lack of a distinct reproductive period and the presence of juveniles (in particular the first nymphal instar) and adults (both sexes) throughout the year indicate a plurivoltine mode of life. Few specimens were caught on the soil surface, none on tree trunks. Abundance of S. mirim is compared with that of the Palpigradi (micro whipscorpions) and Uropygi/Thelyphonida (vinegaroons) from the same study site. Schizomids obtained from the soil of four other upland forests in Central Amazonia (0-14 cm depth) accounted for ≤ 0.1% of the total arthropod fauna at these localities and were represented by three additional species.

While many cave-adapted organisms tend to be endemic to single locations or restricted to single karstic regions, the troglobitic silverfish insects of genus Texoreddellia can be found in scores of different cave localities that cover a range of nearly 160,000 km 2 . They are among the most important and common representatives of the cave-adapted fauna of Texas and Coahuila, in northern Mexico. Using morphological and mitochondrial gene sequence data, we have corroborated the presence of at least six different species within the genus and provided species identifications to populations inhabiting 153 different cave locations. Results show that species ranges are larger than previously reported and that ranges tend to greatly overlap with each other. We have also found that different species of Texoreddellia commonly inhabit the same cave in sympatry. Data supports that some species of Texoreddellia can easily disperse through the extensive network of cracks, fissures and smaller cavities near the surface and epikarst.

The class Arachnida is second only to the Insecta in number of species and diversity. It is also among the more important groups of invertebrates occurring in caves with 9 of the 11 extant orders containing troglobites. The windscorpions (order Solifugae) do not occur in caves except as accidentals. The whipscorpions (order Uropygi) rarely occur as trogloxenes in tropical caves.

Trithyreus grassii (Thorell) from Burma is redescribed from the single known specimen, the holotype female. The spermathecae are illustrated for the first time. The genus Trithyreus Kraepelin is rediagnosed and is considered a distinct and separate member of the subfamily Schizominae. The spermathecae of the African Megaschizomus mossambicus (Lawrence) are illustrated for the first time and are compared to those of T. grassii.

The nymph and larva of Nothoaspis reddelli Keirans and Clifford are described from 7 collections from bat caves in the states of Campeche, Yucatan, and Tabasco, Mexico. This monotypic genus was previously known from only 3 males taken on bat guano in a cave in Campeche.

A male lectotype and paralectotypes (male and female) are designated from material collected in Thailand. A complete synonymy and records from Hong Kong, Ryukyu Islands of Japan, and Hawaiian Islands of U.S.A, are provided. The female genitalia is illustrated for the first time.

All invertebrates thus far identified from Carlsbad Caverns and nearby caves, Eddy County, New Mexico, are arthropods. The fauna includes cope- pods, trichoniscid isopods, scorpions, pseudoscorpions, spiders, harvestmen, mites, centipedes, millipedes, collembolans, campodeids, rhaphidophorines, psocids, tineid moths, dipterans, fleas, and beetles (Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Scarabaeidae, and Tenebrionidae). About 60% of the species are apparently troglophiles. Only 2 species are unquestionably troglobitic (Speorthus tuganbius, a polydesmid millipede; and Plusiocampa sp., a campodeid dipluran), but 2 other species are possibly tro- globitic (Thalkethops grallatrix, a centipede; and Ceuthophilus longipes, a rhaphi- dophorine). The caves are relatively dry and are situated in a semi-arid region, which probably accounts for the poor troglobitic fauna and high percentage of troglophiles. Many of the species are guanobites. Unlike the famous cave regions of southwest Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and central Texas, the invertebrate fauna of the caves of the Guadalupe Mountains and vicinity in New Mexico, near the town of Carlsbad, is comparatively sparse. A cor- respondingly small percentage of ecologically significant species are troglobites. All species of invertebrates encountered in the caves thus far are arthropods. Protozoans, rotifers, and nematodes are certainly present here as in all caves in which they have been sought, but no special attempt was made to include these groups in our survey. Collections of invertebrates have been made in eighteen caves in this general vicinity (Fig. 1). The largest of these by far is Carlsbad Caverns, located in the Carlsbad Caverns National Park, approximately 30 km southwest of Carlsbad, Eddy County, New Mexico, on the east- ern edge of the Guadalupe Mountains. The geology of the area has