Just a few rays of sun invade the cave entrance. But after a few meters all light is gone. This is the kingdom of dark and silence. Few creatures manage to survive here. They are distantly related to similar animals living out but present amazing adaptations. Many of them are blind since eyes are useless in complete dark. They sense their surroundings with long legs or ultra sensible antennae. The cold, damp conditions cannot support a fast lifestyle, so most cave habitants are very long lived and slow growing and can survive for months without food. Sometimes they learned to exploit new food sources, like the Oxychilussnail, who became carnivorous. They are the main subject of biospeleology, the science studying animal living in the underground.

Every year caves form all over the world present new discovers thanks to the work, too often neglected, of biospeleologists. Each epigean complex has his own conditions and therefore peculiar species, emerged afters million of years of isolation. Most recent discoveries, for example, were made in Israel in 2006 where new cave shrimps and scorpions species were unveiled. But even in Italy, only in the last ten years, new invertebrates were determined and new locations mapped for various species, notably the big shrimp Typhlocaris salentina. Just in 2008 two new species of Troglohyphantesspider were discovered too.

To find them you need some luck and good experience. They are very small (many of the Arthropods below a centimeter long!), shy and often rare in their natural habitats. Caves cannot support a huge numbers of dwellers, since feeding can’t be enough for all.
The pictures seen here are shot in various location in Italy and Slovenia, two of the European countries with wider and most interesting underground complexes.

Many thanks to nice people and to istitutions helping me in my researches: Marco Isaia, Massimo Baxa, Emanuela Rossi, Mauro Paschetta, Salvatore Inguscio, Enrico Lana, Attilio Arillo, Giuseppe Savino, Emanuele Biggi, Stefano Verzura, Marco Restaino, Nicola Bressi, Mara Calvini, Ferdinando Didonna, Toirano Caves, Borgio Verezzi Caves, Castellana Caves, Gigante Caves, Antro del Corchia Caves, Bossea Caves, Miniere di Prali, Museo di Storia Naturale di Trieste.