A cave or cavern is a natural void under the Earth's surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance underground. Caves which extend further underground than the opening is wide are called endogene caves.
Yosemite National Park is a national park in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers 759,620 acres in four counties – centered in Tuolumne and Mariposa, extending north and east to Mono and south to Madera. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, groves of giant sequoia, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers, and biological diversity. Almost 95 percent of the park is designated wilderness. Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada.
Mammoth Cave National Park is a national park in south-central Kentucky, US. It encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest known cave system in the world. The park's 52,830 acres (21,380 ha) are located primarily in Edmonson County, with small areas extending eastward into Hart and Barren counties. The Green River runs through the park, with a tributary called the Nolin River feeding into the Green just inside the park.
Mole Creek Karst is a national park situated in the North of Tasmania, Australia, 168 km northwest of Hobart. It is located on the slopes of the Great Western Tiers to the east of the town of Mole Creek. It is the only national park in Tasmania created specifically to protect karst landforms. It is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site.
Pseudoscorpions, also known as false scorpions or book scorpions, are small, scorpion-like arachnids belonging to the order Pseudoscorpiones, also known as Pseudoscorpionida or Chelonethida.
Pinnacles National Park is an American national park protecting a mountainous area located east of the Salinas Valley in Central California, about five miles (8 km) east of Soledad and 80 miles (130 km) southeast of San Jose. The park's namesakes are the eroded leftovers of the western half of an extinct volcano that has moved 200 miles (320 km) from its original location on the San Andreas Fault, embedded in a portion of the California Pacific Coast Ranges. Pinnacles is managed by the National Park Service and the majority of the park is protected as wilderness.
Kings Canyon National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Fresno and Tulare Counties, California. Originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park, the park was greatly expanded and renamed on March 4, 1940. The park's namesake, Kings Canyon, is a rugged glacier-carved valley more than a mile (1,600 m) deep. Other natural features include multiple 14,000-foot (4,300 m) peaks, high mountain meadows, swift-flowing rivers, and some of the world's largest stands of giant sequoia trees. Kings Canyon is north of and contiguous with Sequoia National Park, and both parks are jointly administered by the National Park Service as the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically have a concave upwards form, where the maximum inclination corresponds to the angle of repose of the mean debris particle size. The exact definition of scree in the primary literature is somewhat relaxed, and it often overlaps with both talus and colluvium.
Troglofauna are small cave-dwelling animals that have adapted to their dark surroundings. Troglofauna and stygofauna are the two types of subterranean fauna. Both are associated with subterranean environments – troglofauna are associated with caves and spaces above the water table and stygofauna with water. Troglofaunal species include spiders, insects, myriapods and others. Some troglofauna live permanently underground and cannot survive outside the cave environment. Troglofauna adaptations and characteristics include a heightened sense of hearing, touch and smell. Loss of under-used senses is apparent in the lack of pigmentation as well as eyesight in most troglofauna. Troglofauna insects may exhibit a lack of wings and longer appendages.
The Kauaʻi cave wolf spider, also known to local residents as the blind spider, is only known to occur in a few caves in a lava flow with an area of 10.5 km2 (4.1 sq mi) in the Kōloa–Poʻipū region of Kauaʻi, Hawaiian Islands, and only six populations are known to exist. While their nearest surface-dwelling relatives have large eyes, this species has completely lost its eyes. They reach a body length around 20 mm (0.8 in), and are reddish brown and completely harmless to people. Unlike most wolf spiders, it produces only 15 to 30 eggs per clutch. The female carries the egg sac in her mouthparts until the spiderlings hatch.
Cave-dwelling insects are among the most widespread and prominent troglofauna, including troglobites, troglophiles, and trogloxenes. As a category of ecological adaptations, such insects are significant in many senses, ecological, evolutionary, and physiological.
Fissilicreagris imperialis, the Empire Cave pseudoscorpion, is a species of arachnid in family Neobisiidae. Fissilicreagris imperialis is endemic to Empire, Dolloff, and IXL caves in Cave Gulch, Santa Cruz County, California. It may occur in one or more of the other caves in Cave Gulch, but it is certainly restricted to this small, isolated karst area. Its habitat is threatened by groups of students who come to the cave to drink and party, and possibly by the clean-up efforts that follow.
Texella reddelli, the Bee Creek cave harvestman, is a rare species of troglobitic harvestman that was added to the United States endangered species list in 1988, at the same time as six other species native to the karst ecosystem in Travis County and Williamson County, Texas, USA. They inhabit areas with near 100% humidity and constant temperatures, and they prey on springtails. Research on these creatures has been difficult since they can only be found underground. Their distribution is limited and unknown reproductive rates mean that it is possible they are especially susceptible to habitat destruction and other threats. Texella reddelli are found on both the North and South sides of the Colorado River.
The Kretschmarr Cave mold beetle is a small mold beetle.
Neobisiidae is a family of pseudoscorpions distributed throughout Africa, the Americas and Eurasia and consist of 748 species in 34 genera. Some species live in caves while some are surface-dwelling.
Neobisium beroni is a species of pseudoscorpions in the Neobisiidae family. It has only been found in Bulgaria. Its type locality is cave Svinskata peshtera, Lakatnik, Iskur River gorge, Sofiya, Bulgaria.
The Tooth Cave pseudoscorpion(Tartarocreagris texana) is a small cave-dwelling arachnid of the family Neobisiidae. The species was originally assigned to the genus Microcreagris, and then reassigned to Austalillocregris before arriving at its current genus, Tartarocreagris. The Tooth Cave pseudoscorpion has a small geographic distribution, known to occur in only two caves in Travis County, Texas. Additionally, it is tentatively identified in two nearby caves in Texas, but more research is necessary to accurately define the range where the species lives. There is little known about the biology, life cycle, and life history of the Tooth Cave pseudoscorpion due to a lack of research and study. Because of this, the Tooth Cave pseudoscorpion is listed on the IUCN Red List as data deficient. Under the Endangered Species Act, the Tooth Cave pseudoscorpion is listed as endangered. Recovery plans for the species focus mostly on preserving the karst ecosystem that the pseudoscorpions live in, especially including lessening human impacts on the environment.
A talus cave, also known as a boulder cave, is a type of cave formed by the gaps between one, or more commonly many large boulders. Talus caves can be formed anywhere large boulders accumulate in a pile, such as in scree at the base of a cliff.
Parobisium is a genus of pseudoscorpions in the family Neobisiidae.
