The cavernicolous Arachnida and Myriapoda of Cape Range, Western Australia

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 9 years ago

Abstract: The terrestrial cavernicolous fauna of Cape Range is dominated by a wide array of arachnids and myriapods, of which 64 species have been collected from the caves or their entrances. Sixteen species are fully troglobitic (two schizomids, two pseudoscorpions, one harvestman, seven spiders, four millipedes), while others show either partial modification for cave existence, or are unmodified representatives of the surface fauna that opportunistically occur in the caves. The hiogeographic affinities of at least five of these species is found to be tropical Australia, with at least one maintaining links with an ancient Gondwanan fauna presently found in northwestern Australia, India, and southern Africa (including Madagascar). Another distinct component of the cavernicolous fauna is derived from southern Australia The significance of the Cape Range troglobitic arachnid and myriapod fauna is highlighted by comparisons between the faunae in three other Australian karst systems (Nullarbor Plain, Chillagoe, and Tasmania) in which the richness of the Cape Range fauna is exceeded only by the Tasmanian region, which contains twice as many troglobites but which includes over 60 karst regions. Complete knowledge of the cavernicolous fauna is hampered by lack of taxonomic expertise and, in some cases, lack of sufficient specimeus.