Invertebrate Cave Fauna 
67 
orders have been documented from study-area caves, but a majority of 
the cavernicoles are in the orders Collembola, Diplura, Orthoptera, 
Coleoptera, and Diptera. Many troglobites are noted among the 
collembolans, diplurans, and coleopterans. 
Only a few scattered records exist for representatives of other insect 
orders, none of which is commonly found in caves of the study area. 
These include the: mayfly order Ephemeroptera; moth and butterfly 
order Lepidoptera (e.g., Scoliopteryx libatrix)\ scorpion fly order 
Mecoptera (e.g., family Bittacidae); stonefly order Plecoptera (e.g., 
Leuctra decepta ); caddis fly order Trichoptera (e.g., Hydropsyche 
deprevata, H. betteni , and Ochrotrichia)\ and bristletail order Thysanura 
(e.g., Machiloides ). 
Order Collembola 
Colembolans or springtails are common and often abundant in 
caves where they are frequently seen in and around damp, decaying 
organic material. In the study area the order is represented by 5 
families, 9 genera, and 26 described species. Three or four species are 
troglobites, eight or nine are troglophiles, and the remainder are 
trogloxenes and accidentals 
Of the five families, Entomobryidae is clearly the most significant 
in terms of abundance and diversity. Pseudosinella is represented by 
seven described species from caves in the Virginia-east Tennessee area 
(Fig. 23, 24) and two, P. hirsuta and P. orba, are troglobites. Outside 
the area, the former species is recorded from numerous caves in 
northern Alabama, northwestern Georgia, central Kentucky, and middle 
Tennessee, and from one epigean locality on Pine Mountain in Campbell 
County, Tenn. (Christiansen and Bellinger 1980c). The latter species has 
a much narrower range and is restricted to the study area and adjacent 
Mercer County in southern West Virginia (see Holsinger et al. 1976). 
The other species of this genus reported from study-area caves are 
troglophiles and trogloxenes that range over much of the southeastern 
United States. 
The genus Sinella is representd in study-area caves by four species, 
one of which, S. hoffmani (see Wray 1952), is considered a troglobite 
(Fig. 23, 24). This species is also recorded from nine counties in eastern 
West Virginia (Holsinger et al. 1976) and one in Pennsylvania (K. A. 
Christiansen, in litt.). It has been collected three times from surface 
habitats, twice in North Carolina and once in West Virginia (Christian- 
sen and Bellinger 1980c), but the identity of the North Carolina 
specimens is questionable (Christiansen 1982). The lone record of this 
species from Tazewell County in the Clinch drainage basin is also 
questionable. The other species of Sinella noted from study-area caves 
are troglophiles and trogloxenes and have wide ranges outside Virginia 
and eastern Tennessee (see Christiansen 1960a). 
