The orthopteran family Rhaphidophoridae of the suborder Ensifera has a worldwide distribution. Common names for these insects include cave crickets, camel crickets, spider crickets, and sand treaders. Those occurring in New Zealand are typically referred to as jumping or cave wētā. Most are found in forest environments or within caves, animal burrows, cellars, under stones, or in wood or similar environments. All species are flightless and nocturnal, usually with long antennae and legs. More than 500 species of Rhaphidophoridae are described.
Crocuta is a genus of hyena containing the largest extant member of the family, the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). Several fossil species are known as well.
Scaffold web spiders or cave cobweb spiders (Nesticidae) are a family of araneomorph spiders closely allied with tangle-web spiders (Theridiidae). Like the Theridiidae, these spiders have a comb of serrated bristles on the hind tarsi that are used to pull silk bands from the spinnerets. Nesticidae contains 16 genera and about 300 species, many of which are associated with caves or overhangs. The genus Nesticus is the type for the family and is found throughout the world. The related Eidmannella has speciated considerably in Texas caves and includes some extremely localized species that are considered threatened. One species, Eidmannella pallida, is found in caves and under overhangs, but also in agricultural fields and other habitats away from such restricted areas. The genus Carpathonesticus is found in central Eurasia.
The babirusas, also called deer-pigs, are a genus, Babyrousa, in the swine family found in the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi, Togian, Sula and Buru. All members of this genus were considered part of a single species until 2002, the babirusa, B. babyrussa, but following that was split into several species. This scientific name is restricted to the Buru babirusa from Buru and Sula, whereas the best-known species, the North Sulawesi babirusa, is named B. celebensis. The remarkable "prehistoric" appearance of these mammals is largely due to the prominent upwards incurving canine tusks of the males, which pierce the flesh in the snout.
Ochyroceratidae is a six-eyed spider family, with 165 described species in ten genera. They are common inhabitants of caves and the tropical forest litter of South Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and South America. Considered an ecological counterpart of the Linyphiidae of the northern temperate zone, species are especially diverse in the Indo-Pacific region.
Sinocyclocheilus is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae that is endemic to Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan in China. Almost all of its species live in or around caves and most of these have adaptions typical of cavefish such as a lack of scales, lack of pigmentation and reduced eyes. Several species have an unusual hunchbacked appearance and some of the cave-dwellers have a "horn" on the back, the function of which is unclear. In contrast, the Sinocyclocheilus species that live aboveground, as well as a few found underground, show no clear cavefish adaptions. They are relatively small fish reaching up to 23 cm (9.1 in) in length. The individual species have small ranges and populations, leading to the status of most of the evaluated species as threatened. Many species populations in the genus have yet to be evaluated by the IUCN.
The Beijing mouse-eared bat, or Peking myotis is a species of vesper bat. It is found only in China.
Oreonectes is a genus of fish in the family Nemacheilidae found in the rivers and caves of Asia. Many of these species are troglobitic.
Triplophysa is a genus of fish in the family Nemacheilidae found mainly in and around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China, as well as inland waters of the larger part of central Asia. They can be distinguished from other genera of Nemacheilidae by marked sexual dimorphism, including the development of nuptial tubercles on breeding males. Currently, the genus is a mixed assemblage of species. Some lineages have been identified and treated as subgenera, but as Wikipedia follows Fishbase for fish species all but Hedinichthys have been treated as subgenera in Wikipedia, although Kottelat in his revision of the loaches did recognise them as valid. FishBase, however, includes these in Triplophysa without specifying subgenera and treats the names given by Kottelat as synonyms.
The Gansu mole is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae endemic to central China, where it occurs in Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, and Qinghai. It is the only species in the genus Scapanulus.
Dyspnoi is a suborder of harvestmen, currently comprising 43 extant genera and 356 extant species, although more species are expected to be described in the future. The eight families are currently grouped into three superfamilies: the Acropsopilionoidea, Ischyropsalidioidea, and Troguloidea.
Oliver's warty pig or Mindoro warty pig is a small species in the pig genus (Sus) which can only be found on the island of Mindoro in the central Philippines. This species previously treated to be a subspecies of S. philippensis, was shown to be morphologically and genetically different.
Cavefish or cave fish is a generic term for fresh and brackish water fish adapted to life in caves and other underground habitats. Related terms are subterranean fish, troglomorphic fish, troglobitic fish, stygobitic fish, phreatic fish, and hypogean fish.
The Alpine musk deer is a musk deer species native to the eastern Himalayas in Nepal, Bhutan and India to the highlands of Tibet.
The Petralona Cave a karst formation, is located at 300 m (984 ft) above sea-level on the western foot of Mount Katsika, about 1 km (0.62 mi) east of the village of Petralona, about 35 km (22 mi) south-east of Thessaloniki city on the Chalkidiki peninsula, Greece. The site came to public attention when in 1960 a fossilized archaic human skull was found. The cave had been discovered accidentally only a year earlier (1959) after erosion had left clefts in the rock. "Bejeweled" with impressive stalactite and stalagmite formations and holding an abundance of fossils, the cave soon attracted geologists and paleontologists. After decades of excavations the cave is open to the public and scientific work is documented and presented in an adjacent archaeological museum.
The Nemacheilidae, or stone loaches, are a family of cypriniform fishes that inhabit stream environments, mostly in Eurasia, with one genus, Afronemacheilus found in Africa. The family includes about 790 species.
The Beijing barbastelle, also known as the Beijing wide-eared bat, is a species of vesper bat endemic to Beijing Municipality, China. The species was discovered by Chinese zoology students in 2001 in caves of Fangshan District in southwestern Beijing and was identified as a distinct species by zoologists Zhang Shuyi, Gareth Jones, Zhang Jingshuo and Han Naijian in 2007.
Troglonectes is a genus of troglobitic fish in the family Nemacheilidae, native to caves of Asia. Fishbase and other authorities place these species in the genus Oreonectes.
Rhinolophus xinanzhongguoensis, the wedge-sellaed horseshoe bat or southwestern China horseshoe bat, is a species of horseshoe bat from China.
Yang Jun-Xing is a Chinese herpetologist and ichthyologist with the Kunming Institute of Zoology. As of 2018, Yang authored 9 species of fish and amphibians.
