20 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
Series 4, Volume 64, Supplement 1 
cavers also discovered new species of cave amphipods: Stygobromus harai in Pinnacle Point Cave, 
Tuolumne Co., and Stygobromus wengerorum in Bower Cave, Mariposa Co. (Holsinger 1974). In 
1976, in conjunction with the Cave Research Foundation cartographic project of Lilbum Cave, a 
biological survey was also initiated, with assistance from biologists from Fresno State University 
(Campbell and Juarez 1979). Other biologists made occasional collections from the 1960s through 
the 1990s in Lilbum Cave and other caves in Redwood Creek, including by the Academy’s arach- 
nology group, Briggs, Lee, and Ubick; in Clough Cave by Rudolph’s group (Rudolph 1979); and 
some by acarologist Cal Welboum (Lee 1985; Despain 1993, 1994). 
In addition to Mineral King, two more National Speleological Society conservation task forces 
were established in the 1970s: the New Melones Task Force and the Klamath Mountains Conser¬ 
vation Task Force. The former was organized by Ralph Squire of the Stanislaus Speleological Soci¬ 
ety to establish a cave protection program in the Stanislaus River basin (Calaveras and Tuolumne 
Counties) from the impacts of the New Melones Reservoir (Squire 1971, 1972; Quick 1979). Pre¬ 
viously, in 1971, Thomas Briggs had alerted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) of the 
endangered status of the cave harvestman species and the importance of the subterranean resources, 
especially McLean’s Cave (Elliott 1978). In 1974-1975, USACE contracted Briggs to transplant 
fauna to a surrogate cave habitat — the Transplant Mine (Briggs 1975). In 1977, USACE con¬ 
tracted Southern Methodist University’s Archaeological Research Program to evaluate the 30 caves 
to be inundated on the Main and South Forks of the Stanislaus River (McEachem and Grady 1978). 
Andy Gmbbs, cave biologist, discovered a new species of cave harvestman ( Banksula grubbsi) in 
Black Chasm Cave, Amador Co. (Briggs and Ubick 1981). 
McEachern and Grady’s study, the previous studies by the New Melones Task Force, and cave 
inventories by Elliott, then Rudolph, revealed the biological importance of these caves in the Moth¬ 
er Lode karst region (Squire 1971, 1972; McEachem and Grady 1978; Elliott 1978, 1981b, 2000b; 
Rudolph 1979). 
Unsure of the success of the first transplant project, USACE contracted with cave biologist 
William R. Elliott from Texas to transplant Banksula melones, B. grahami and other fauna from 
McLean’s Cave to the Transplant Mine (Von Tmmp Mine) in 1977-78. He was assisted by Andy 
Gmbbs, Steve Winterath, Thomas Briggs, David Cowan, and Bob Martin (Elliott 1978). The trans¬ 
plant project (Fig. 11) was temporarily successful in establishing Banksula in this cave-like habi¬ 
tat, however the population eventually dwindled as predicted by Elliott because of a lack of con¬ 
tinued food input to the mine (Elliott 1981b, 2000b; Ubick and Briggs 2002). 
In 1979, cave biologist and ecologist D. Craig Rudolph (now with USFS), working under a 
contract with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, assembled a group of cavers from the Mother 
Lode Grotto and other affiliations, and made important contributions to the study of California cave 
life; the members were David Cowan, Steve Winterath, E. van Ingen, Barbara Martin, and for two 
weeks William R. Elliott, and James R. Reddell (Texas Memorial Museum taxonomist and cave 
biologist). Rudolph’s team discovered two new cave amphipod species {Stygobromus imperialis 
and S. mackenziei ) in Empire Cave, Santa Cmz Co., and they discovered the Trinity County amphi¬ 
pod, S. trinus, in Hall City Cave, Trinity Co., and S. rudolphi in Monterey Spring, Santa Barbara 
Co. (Wang and Holsinger 2001). They also discovered the cave harvestmen, Banksula martinorum, 
in Heater Cave, Calaveras Co., and B. rudolphi in Chrome Cave, Amador Co.; the cave mite, 
Poecilophysis melanoseta, in the Mother Lode cave region; and expanded the range of several cave 
isopods (Holsinger 1974; Briggs and Ubick 1981; Zacharda and Elliott 1985; Lewis 2001; Wang 
and Holsinger 2001). 
In 1979, Rudolph, Elliott, Briggs, and Reddell began to assemble all available information into 
a manuscript on the cave fauna of California (Rudolph et al. 1985); this unpublished checklist doc- 
