Caves and their Faunas in Florida and South Georgia 



faunas of the Apalachicola, Woodville, Ocala, and St. Johns River 

 karst areas are found in groundwater habitats associated with the Floridan 

 aquifer, primarily the upper Eocene Ocala Group limestones; (2) limestones 

 covered with deep sand and clay overburdens tend to lack troglobites; 

 and (3) the distribution of certain troglobites are correlated with the 

 relative levels of organic materials that collect in subterranean systems. 



METHODS 



We obtained information on caves and their faunas from many 

 sources. Over the years, dozens of cavers and cave divers provided 

 critical specimens of cave species and freely contributed information 

 on cave locations, maps, and descriptions, which have given us a 

 better appreciation of this region's complex cave faunas. 



Precise locations of caves have been omitted from our paper 

 given the sensitivity of caves and their faunas to human disturbance. 

 If someone needs specific information concerning particular sites 

 they should contact the authors, members of the Florida Speleological 

 Society, Cave Diving Section of the National Speleological Society, 

 National Association of Cave Divers, or the staff of the Florida Natural 

 Areas Inventory (FNAI) (1018 Thomasville Road, Tallahassee, FL 

 32303). 



We obtained voucher specimens from previously unsampled caves 

 in a variety of ways. Many samples were either caught by hand or 

 with dip nets. When possible, cave crayfishes were caught in minnow 

 traps that were baited with canned cat food. Cans were punctured and 

 placed inside the closed traps. This technique proved very successful, 

 e.g., two traps left for 24 hours in the main pool at Sunday Sink 

 (Marion County) attracted 125 crayfish (Procambarus lucifugus); however, 

 this technique was not effective in catching spider cave crayfishes 

 (Troglocambarus) in more than a hundred trapping attempts. 



Terms — Common names for decapods follow Williams et al. (1989), 

 except when new distributional information or taxonomic interpretations 

 beg for the use of another name. We also propose common names for 

 recently described taxa that were not included in Williams et al. 

 (1989). Additional common names have been applied over the years 

 to a number of the taxa and are listed in the Other Common Names 

 section of appropriate species accounts. 



We use an ecological classification for cavernicoles modified 

 from Peck (1970), Hobbs III (1992), and Holsinger (personal communication, 

 Old Dominion University). Troglobites (or stygobionts) are restricted 

 to caves or groundwater habitats and have obvious morphological 

 adaptations for subterranean habitats (e.g., reductions of the eye structure 



