48 
Psyche 
[Vol. 93 
void in the Allegheny plateau, with only the gracilis (east) and inex- 
pectatus (west) groups clearly related by synapomorphic characters. 
The engelhardti group (s. str., see Barr, 1981) does track through the 
Allegheny plateau, but only via the Tennessee River gorge west of 
Chattanooga. The large, pubescent, riparian species of the tenuis 
group (IN, IL, KY) are superficially and ecologically similar to the 
species of the grandis group (chiefly eastern WV), but there are 
insufficient synapomorphies to provide substantive support to an 
hypothesis of taxonomic affinity (Barr, 1985). It is tempting to 
speculate that transitional species or species groups occupied the 
non-limestone terranes of the interior of the Allegheny plateau. If 
these transitional forms are extinct, no sound phylogeny of Pseuda- 
nophthalmus may be possible. No caves occur in the thick sequences 
of clastic rocks — sandstones, conglomerates, coals, and shales — in 
this region. But if ancestral edaphobitic beetles are hypothetically 
invoked throughout the Pleistocene to supply the caves on either 
side of the Alleghenies, why should they suddenly become extinct 
after Wisconsinan glaciation? Could some of these obligate soil 
inhabitants still survive in deep, forest floor soil of this region? The 
discovery of P. sylvaticus suggested that this could indeed be the 
case, but two decades have elapsed without further edaphobitic tre- 
chines being found. 
Juberthie et al. (1980) demonstrated that “troglobitic” arthropods 
exist in the “milieu souterrain superficiel” of non-karst regions in 
southern France. At the interface between the soil mantle and the 
bedrock there are air-filled pockets — microcaverns — from which 
these authors have trapped several species of millipedes and beetles 
(including trechines) that are for all intents and purposes “troglo- 
bites,” even in non-calcareous terranes. However, attempts to trap 
such organisms in eastern United States have met with failure. Suit- 
able sites for trap insertion in France or Japan are in areas of frac- 
tured rock (C. Juberthie and S.-I. Ueno, pers. comm.), unlike the 
majority of karst regions in eastern United States. The traps are 
baited pitfall traps containing Galt’s solution or equivalent; they are 
placed about 1 m below the surface, buried, and checked at intervals 
of 2-4 weeks. 
On October 18, 1985, J. R. MacGregor and H. D. Bryan collected 
2 female Pseudanophthalmus specimens in an abandoned coal mine 
