Symphylans, also known as garden centipedes or pseudocentipedes, are soil-dwelling arthropods of the class Symphyla in the subphylum Myriapoda. Symphylans resemble centipedes, but are very small, non-venomous, and only distantly related to both centipedes and millipedes. They can move rapidly through the pores between soil particles, and are typically found from the surface down to a depth of about 50 centimetres (20 in). They consume decaying vegetation, but can do considerable harm in an agricultural setting by consuming seeds, roots, and root hairs in cultivated soil.
The olm or proteus is an aquatic salamander which is the only species in the genus Proteus of the family Proteidae and the only exclusively cave-dwelling chordate species found in Europe; the family's other extant genus is Necturus. In contrast to most amphibians, it is entirely aquatic, eating, sleeping, and breeding underwater. Living in caves found in the Dinaric Alps, it is endemic to the waters that flow underground through the extensive limestone bedrock of the karst of Central and Southeastern Europe in the basin of the Soča River near Trieste, Italy, southwestern Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Introduced populations are found near Vicenza, Italy, and Kranj, Slovenia. It was first mentioned in 1689 by the local naturalist Valvasor in his Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, who reported that, after heavy rains, the olms were washed up from the underground waters and were believed by local people to be a cave dragon's offspring.
Cross Cave, also named Cold Cave under Cross Mountain, is a cave in Slovenia's Lož Valley, in the area between the Lož Karst Field, Cerknica Karst Field, and Bloke Plateau. The cave is named after nearby Holy Cross Church in Podlož. The cave is particularly noted among Karst caves for its chain of over 45 subterranean lakes of emerald green water. Extremely slow-growing calcareous formations and their fragility are the main obstacle to large-scale tourism in the cave and limit daily tourist visits to the flooded part of the cave to four people. As a result, the Cross Cave is among the best-preserved caves, opened to the public in Slovenia. The cave was prepared for visits in the 1950s by the Lož Valley Tourist Association. It was later managed by the Ljubljana Cave Research Society. Since the 1990s, it has been cared for by the Friends of Cross Cave Association . With 45 species of organisms, some not discovered until 2000, Cross Cave is the fourth-largest cave ecosystem in the world in terms of biodiversity. The cave was first documented in 1832, but the part of the cave that includes lakes and stream passages was first explored by Slovene cavers in 1926.
A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits.
Logatec is a town in Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Logatec. It is located roughly in the centre of Inner Carniola, between the capital Ljubljana and Postojna. The town of Logatec has seen rapid industrial development and immigration since the completion of the nearby A1 motorway to the coast.
Primož Jakopin, born 30 June 1949 is a Slovenian computer scientist, known for his work in the field of language technology and his contribution to speleology.
Postojna Cave is a 24,340 m (79,860 ft) long karst cave system near Postojna, southwestern Slovenia. It is the second-longest cave system in the country as well as one of its top tourism sites. The caves were created by the Pivka River.
Predjama Castle is a Renaissance castle built within a cave mouth in south-central Slovenia, in the historical region of Inner Carniola. It is located in the village of Predjama, approximately 11 kilometres from the town of Postojna and 9 kilometres from Postojna Cave.
The Pivka is a karst lost river in Slovenia. The river is 27 kilometres (17 mi) in length. The Pivka ends in Planina Cave, where it merges with the Rak River and then the Unica River. The confluence of the Pivka and the Rak is one of the largest subterranean confluences in Europe. The Pivka created Postojna Cave, the longest cave system in Slovenia as well as one of its top tourism sites.
Planina is a village in the Municipality of Postojna in the Inner Carniola region of Slovenia.
Veliki Otok is a village north of Postojna in the Inner Carniola region of Slovenia. The entrance to Postojna Cave lies immediately east of the village. A second karst cave, known as Otok Cave, lies 1 km north of the settlement.
Leptodirus is a cave beetle in the family Leiodidae. The genus contains only the single species Leptodirus hochenwartii. It is a true troglobite, endemic to Slovenian, Croatian and, partly, Italian caves.
Adolph Cornelis 'Dolf' van Bruggen was a Dutch malacologist, entomologist, and botanist. His interest in the tropics and tropical Africa has dominated his broad scientific interest for more than 50 years now. He was an expert especially in the land snail families Streptaxidae, Achatinidae and Maizaniidae. As of 2008, he had authored some 655 scientific publications.
Planina Cave, formerly also Little Castle Cave after Little Castle in the vicinity of its entrance, is one of the longest Slovenian active caves. It is a huge tunnel and the subterranean bed of the Unica River. It is located in Inner Carniola. Five hundred meters from the entrance into the cave is a confluence of two underground rivers: the Pivka River, flowing from the Postojna Polje through Postojna Cave, and the Rak River, flowing to Planina Cave through Weaver Cave from Rak Škocjan. This is one of the largest confluences of subterranean rivers in Europe.
The Migovec System is a 43,009-metre-long (141,000 ft) and 972-metre-deep (3,190 ft) Alpine cave system within Mount Tolmin Migovec in the Municipality of Tolmin in northwestern Slovenia. The mountain and the cave system are part of Triglav National Park. The combined system is the longest known cave in the country, followed by the Postojna Cave System.
Biospeleology, also known as cave biology, is a branch of biology dedicated to the study of organisms that live in caves and are collectively referred to as troglofauna.
Loxodidae is a family of karyorelict ciliates.
Krka Cave is a horizontal karst cave and an occasional source of the Krka River in Dry Carniola, central Slovenia. It lies in a pocket valley between the villages of Trebnja Gorica to the east and Gradiček to the west, north of the village of Krka. Water flows into the cave from the Račna Karst Field south of the town of Grosuplje and emerges a few metres below the cave's main entrance in the karst spring of the Krka. The cave, which is of archaeological and historical significance and features great fauna diversity, is open to announced tourist visits in the presence of a guide and also used as an event venue.
Scutigerellidae is a family of pseudocentipedes in the class Symphyla. There are about 5 genera and at least 140 described species in Scutigerellidae.
Matthew D. Covington is an American speleologist, most known for his work in hydrogeology and geomorphology, especially in the field of mathematical modeling of karst systems, as well as by his contribution to Cueva Chevé project in Mexico, since 1999.
