News & Notes

Subterranean Ecology Institute contributes to acquisition of 535 acres to protect Fogelpole Cave, Illinois’ longest and most biologically diverse cave ecosystem

The Subterranean Ecology Institute provided significant financial support to Clifftop to help with the purchase of a property comprised of farmland, woodlands, and sinkhole ponds atop Fogelpole Cave in the sinkhole plain karst terrain of Monroe County, Illinois. More details are available on Clifftop’s website.

Grant awarded in support of groundwater amphipod conservation

Subterranean Ecology Institute received funds from the Cave Conservancy of the Virginias which will allow a team of cave biologists, the Stygobromus Working Group, led by project PIs Megan Porter, Mike Slay and Matt Niemiller, to collect specimens and tissue samples and assess specimen localities to help develop conservation priorities and management recommendations. More information available on our projects page.

Two new springtails described from caves in southern Belize

Subterranean Ecology Institute’s 2011 expedition turned up two tiny springtails species which are new to science. These animals have been described in the online journal ZooKeys. The authors Felipe Soto-Adames and Steve Taylor (both of the University of Illinois [note 2018: now Florida State Collection of Arthropods and Colorado College, respectively]) describe these species and review morphological characters and the distribution of the species related to the newly described animals. The 40 page scientific article includes photographs by SEI expedition members Mike Slay and Geoff Hoese, in including photographs of in-cave habitats where these animals were collected in southern Belize. One of the two species Trogolaphysa jacobyi, is a troglobiont, and is named for one of the collectors, SEI Secretary JoAnn Jacoby (pictured in foreground, below).

Helicopter purchased!

OK, it is really just a small, radio controlled quadcopter. The Subterranean Ecology Institute will deploy its newly purchased unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to take photographs of karst terrain to further our education and outreach goals. Click on the small image below to see a larger image of the aircraft in front of limestone bluffs forming the edge of Illinois’ sinkhole plain karst area in Monroe County.

New record of a silverfish from a cave in southern Belize published

A silverfish (a type of primitive insect) collected during the Subterranean Ecology Institute’s 2012 expedition in a cave in southern Belize is the topic of a new paper published in the online journal Speleobiology Notes. The authors Luis Espinasa (Marist College), Steve Taylor (University of Illinois [note 2017: now Colorado College]) and Monika Espinasa (State University of New York Ulster) record this species for the first time from Belize and compare it to other collections of this cryptic, cave-associated species. You can read the whole paper here.

New spider species described from a cave in southern Belize

A spider collected during the Subterranean Ecology Institute’s 2011 expedition in a cave in southern Belize has been described as a new species in a paper published in the online journal ZooKeys. The authors Jason Bond (Auburn University [2018 note: now University of California Davis]) and Steve Taylor (University of Illinois [2017 note: now Colorado College) named the species in honor of major SEI donor Ira Taylor, in recognition of his contributions to the study of subterranean ecosystems. You can read the whole paper here.