Invertebrate Cave Fauna 
9 
available (cited under “Review of the Fauna” elsewhere this paper) 
suggest a close taxonomic affinity between troglobites of this area and 
those of the southern part of the study area. For example, troglobitic 
species from the Clinch drainage basin south of the confluence of the 
Clinch and Powell rivers are closely related to, or in some cases the 
same as, species from that part of the Clinch basin included in the study 
area. In contrast to the Clinch basin, the cave-limited fauna of the 
adjoining Holston drainage basin in northeastern Tennessee is generally 
much less diverse, apparently reflecting the same relationship we have 
noted elsewhere in this paper (see “Zoogeography”) between the cave 
faunas of these two basins farther north in the study area. 
In comparison with northeastern Tennessee (principally the Clinch, 
Holston, and Powell basins), the Appalachian Valley of southeastern 
Tennessee between Kingston in Roane County and the Georgia- 
Tennessee state line near Chattanooga contains fewer and generally 
smaller caves (see Barr 1961, Matthews 1971), and the cave-limited 
fauna is poorly known. The cave-limited fauna of the Appalachian 
Valley and eastern margin of the Appalachian Plateau south of 
Chattanooga in northwestern Georgia has been documented in detail, 
however (see Holsinger and Peck 1971). This fauna is diverse and shares 
affinities with that of both the Appalachian Valley farther north and the 
Cumberland Plateau and Eastern Highland Rim in adjacent northern 
Alabama and south-central Tennessee. 
Cave Vertebrates 
The present study is limited to invertebrates, but some pertinent 
observations are included on the ecology of the plethodontid salamander 
Gyrinophilus porphyriticus (Green), a species that our research has 
shown to be a major predator in certain cave-stream communities in 
southwestern Virginia and eastern Tennessee (see “Ecology” elsewhere 
this paper). Although there are no bona fide troglobitic vertebrates 
recorded from the study area, certain populations of G. porphyriticus in 
caves of the Clinch and Powell valleys are apparently cave-limited and 
dominated by large, pale larvae. The systematics of these populations 
warrants further detailed study. Elsewhere in the Appalachian Valley, 
just west and south of the study area, several populations of Gyrinophilus 
are considered troglobitic and include G. subterraneus Besharse and 
Fig. 4. Karst features in the study area: A, entrance to Hugh Young Cave in 
large sinkhole, Tazewell County; B, sinkhole topography on Middle Cambrian 
limestone in the Clinch Valley, Scott County; C, Maiden Spring, a large 
resurgence in the Ward Cove karst, Tazewell County; D, vertical entrance to 
Stegers Fissure, Augusta County (courtesy of K. E. Wark and D. G. Whall); E, 
sinks of Meadow Creek near Looney, Craig County. 
