Caves and their Faunas in Florida and South Georgia 15 



Phylum ARTHROPODA 



Class MALACOSTRACA 



Order ISOPODA 



Family Asellidae 



Caecidotea hobbsi (Maloney) 



HOBBS' CAVE ISOPOD 



Asellus hobbsi Maloney, 1939. Proceedings of U.S. National Museum 

 68(3057):457. TYPE LOCALITY: Dudley Cave, Alachua County, Florida. 

 Holotype (USNM 76434), Horton H. Hobbs, Jr. (coll.), 31 October 

 1937. Paratypes from Dudley Cave and from crayfish burrows at Blountstown, 

 Calhoun County, Florida. 



Caecidotea hobbsi. — Bowman, 1975:339-340. 



DISTRIBUTION: APALACHICOLA (Marianna Lowlands) and 

 OCALA FAUNAS (Upper Suwannee, Marion); also northcentral Georgia. 

 Known from groundwater habitats in Alachua, Calhoun, Jackson and 

 Marion counties, Florida, and in DeKalb County, Georgia. This species 

 is not restricted to limestone areas and may be more widely-distributed 

 than records indicate. It probably lives in interstices saturated with 

 groundwater in unconsolidated sediments, as well as in cave pools, 

 similar to other members of the Hobbsi group (Lewis 1982, Lewis 

 and Holsinger 1985). The isopod was listed as a Species of Special 

 Concern by the Florida Committee on Rare and Endangered Plants 

 and Animals because of its restriction to groundwater habitats and its 

 apparent rarity (Franz 1982). 



SPECIFIC LOCALITIES: FLORIDA, A/ac/^wa County. Aulsbrook 

 Cave (RF), Bat Cave (USNM), cave 21.7 km (13 mi) west of Gainesville 

 (probably Dudleys Cave) (USNM), Dudley Cave-type locality (USNM, 

 Maloney 1939, Hobbs 1942^), well near Micanopy (USNM). Calhoun 

 County: 3.6 km (2 mi) south of Altha, near Blountstown (burrow of 

 the Apalachicola Burrowing Crayfish, Procambarus rogersi) (USNM). 

 Jackson County. Gerard's Cave (USNM). Marion County. Hollowed 

 Ground Cave? (J. Lewis), Rainbow Acre's Cave (USNM), Roosevelt 

 Cave (USNM). GEORGIA, DeKalb County, spring on Walter Chandler 

 Estate at Emory University (USNM). 



ETYMOLOGY: Named in honor of Horton H. Hobbs, Jr., the 

 collector of the type series. 



REMARKS: The Georgia record constitutes a major range extension 

 for this species. Their identification was confirmed by T. E. Bowman 

 (personal communication, U.S. National Museum of Natural History). 



REFERENCES: Franz 1982 (conservation status), Harris 1968 

 (as prey); Hobbs 1942Z? (records); Lee 1969^ (as prey); Maloney 1939 



