Horologion speokoites
| Horologion speokoites | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Adephaga |
| Family: | Carabidae |
| Genus: | Horologion |
| Species: | H. speokoites |
| Binomial name | |
| Horologion speokoites Valentine, 1932 | |
Horologion speokoites, the Arbuckle Cave ground beetle, is an eyeless trechine beetle known from a single specimen collected from a cave in West Virginia.[1][2]
Description and habitat
The Arbuckle Cave ground beetle was described in 1932 by the entomologist Joseph Manson Valentine based on a specimen collected from Arbuckle Cave near Lewisburg, West Virginia.[3]
The described specimen was found in the muddy lower level of the cave. It was resting on a piece of wood, into which it attempted to burrow. The species was initially assumed to be cave dwelling; per Valentine the species name speokoites is derived from a Greek word meaning "lodges in a cave."[3] The discovery of a second Horologion species has since called this into question; multiple specimens of the second species, H. hubbardi, mainly deceased, were discovered near dripstone pools in a cave in Virginia, leading the discovers to speculate that Horologion beetles do not live in caves but in the overlying epikarst, and are inadvertently washed down into caves as water drains through the karst.[4]
Morphology
The Arbuckle cave beetle has a hourglass-shaped body and short legs. It is reddish-brown with yellow-brown legs and pale yellow antennae and labial palpi. The only known specimen, a male, measured 3.45 mm long from the elytral apex to the tip of the mandibles.[3]
Status
The Arbuckle cave beetle has not been recorded since 1931 despite multiple subsequent insect-collecting expeditions to the cave[4] and may be extinct.[5] Conversely, if it is not a true cave-dweller and in fact inhabits the overlying epikarst, its apparent rarity might be explained by the inaccessibility of its habitat to researchers.[4]
References
- ↑ "Horologion". GBIF. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
- ↑ "Horologion Valentine, 1932". Catalogue of Life. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
- 1 2 3 Valentine, J. M. (March 1932). "A new genus of cave beetles (fam. Carabidae)". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. XXV (1): 1–12. doi:10.1093/aesa/25.1.1 – via Cornell University Library.
- 1 2 3 Harden, Curt W.; Davidson, Robert L.; Malabad, Thomas E.; Caterino, Michael S.; Maddison, David R. (2024-01-08). "Phylogenetic systematics of the enigmatic genus Horologion Valentine, 1932 (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Trechinae, Horologionini), with description of a new species from Bath County, Virginia". Subterranean Biology. 48: 1–49. Bibcode:2024SubBi..48....1H. doi:10.3897/subtbiol.48.114404. ISSN 1314-2615.
- ↑ Holmes, Branden. "Horologion speokoites (Arbuckle Cave ground beetle)". recentlyextinctspecies.com. Retrieved 2026-08-09.