Research Highlights

Above:

(A) Male, (B) Female Crangonyx manubrium (Cannizzaro and Sawicki, 2019): C. manubrium specimens collected from Hole in the Cave, Jackson County, FL

(C) Female, (D) Male Crangonyx floridanus (Bousfield, 1963): C. floridanus specimens collected by Ed Bousfied in 1962 from Highlands Hammock State Park, in Sebring, FL.

Above:

(A) Crangonyx cf. floridanus from just outside of Hole in the Wall Cave. Notice its pigmentation and full eye.

(B) - (P) Eye variation among Crangonyx manubrium individuals from Hole in the Wall Cave (Jackson County, FL): eye ~70% (B) to eye nearly gone (P). Also notice the lack of exoskeletal pigment.

Until 2019, these two species were both considered to be Crangonyx floridanus!

Above:

Parabogidiellidae (Cannizzaro and Sawicki, 2020) [New family]

Simplexia longicrus (Cannizzaro and Sawicki, 2020) [New genus/species]

Type locality: Independence Creek Preserve, Terrell County, Texas

Above:

Crangonyx sulphurium (Sawicki and Holsinger, 2017)

This species was collected by Terrance Tysall of the Cambrian Foundation in 2006. Despite years of intensive searching by T. Sawicki, this species has not been seen since. The species description was completed based on the original specimens collected by Tysall. Genetic material could not be extracted from these specimens as they were not properly preserved for genetic analysis.

We are currently conducting eDNA studies to determine if the species still exists--Crangonyx hobbsi and C. floridanus are presumed to be the closest living relatives. Environmental DNA sequences from caves in which C. sulphurium was discovered are being compared to these two species. To date, no evidence of the presence of C. sulphurium has been discovered.

Left: (A) Stygobromus doughertyensis (Cannizzaro and Sawicki, 2019) female 8.67 mm from Hole in the Wall Cave, Jackson County, Florida;(B) S. doughertyensis male 6.50 mm, Hole in the Wall Cave, Jackson County, Florida . (C) S. floridanus (Holsinger and Sawicki, 2016); female 12.73 mm, Hole in the Wall Cave, Jackson County, Florida . Scale bar: 1 mm.

Before the description of Stygobromus floridanus 135 species of Stygobromus had been described in North America, but none from the Floridan aquifer--one of the largest aquifers in the world! Shortly after the description of S. floridanus, we discovered, S. doughertyensis living syntopically--living in the same caves at the same time--with S. floridanus!

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