Hirsute Cave Springtail
Pseudosinella hirsuta (Delamare Deboutteville, 1949)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Troglobiont

Realm

Terrestrial

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Distribution

Type locality

Tennessee Caverns, Hamilton Co. TN

Range

Known from 64 counties across six states across two karst regions.

Continent

North America

Countries

Mexico, United States

States and provinces

Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mexico, Tennessee, Virginia

Counties

Alabama

Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Colbert, DeKalb, Jackson, Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan, Shelby, St. Clair

Georgia

Bartow, Chattooga, Dade, Polk, Walker

Kentucky

Adair, Allen, Barren, Grayson, Green, Hardin, Hart, Larue, Metcalfe, Monroe, Pulaski, Taylor, Warren, Wayne, Whitley, Woodford

Mexico

CUETZALAN DEL PROGRESO, Chiapas, MARQUES DE COMILLAS, OCAMPO, Puebla, SAN SALVADOR EL VERDE, Tamaulipas

Tennessee

Bedford, Bledsoe, Campbell, Clay, Coffee, Davidson, DeKalb, Fentress, Franklin, Giles, Hamilton, Maury, Montgomery, Pickett, Robertson, Rutherford, Smith, Sumner, Warren, Wayne, White, Wilson

Virginia

Lee

Karst regions

Appalachians, Interior Low Plateau

Specimens

Collections holding material

8 cataloged lots in 3 collections. Compiled from GBIF and not an exhaustive census: many collections are not yet digitised, and holdings are added continually. Search GBIF for specimen records.

Download all 8 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

NatureServe

G5 Secure

Global rank last reviewed 21 August 2002.

Subnational ranks

Alabama

S3 Vulnerable

Georgia

SNR Unranked

Kentucky

S4 Apparently Secure

Tennessee

S3 Vulnerable

Virginia

S1 Critically Imperiled

Ranks looked up 23 August 2026. Conservation status changes, and a rank here is as current as that date and no more.

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

4PB9C

GBIF

2120924

ITIS

99838

iNaturalist

229164

References

• Carver, L.M., Perlaky, P., Cressler, A. & Zigler, K.S. 2016. Reproductive seasonality in Nesticus (Araneae: Nesticidae) cave spiders. PLOS One 11: e0156751. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156751
• Christiansen, K. 1960b. The genus Pseudosinella (Collembola, Entomobryidae) in caves of the United States. Psyche 67: 1–25. doi:10.1155/1960/25063
• Cooper, J.E. 1975. Ecological and behavioral studies in Shelta Cave, Alabama, with emphasis on decapod crustaceans. University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA. 364 pp.
• Cramphorn, B. 2024. Phylogeography, speciation, and cryptic diversity in the cave springtail Pseudosinella spinosa (Entomobryomorpha: Entomobryidae) from the Interior Low Plateau and Appalachian Valley & Ridge karst regions. The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA. 64 pp. https://louis.uah.edu/uah-theses/684/?utm_source=louis.uah.edu%2Fuah-theses%2F684&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages. details
• Dixon, G.B. & Zigler, K.S. 2011. Cave-obligate biodiversity on the campus of Sewanee: The University of the South, Franklin County, Tennessee. Southeastern Naturalist 10: 251–266. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41263008. details
• Harker, D.F., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1979. Caves and associated fauna of Eastern Kentucky, Volume 3. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfurt, Kentucky, USA. 130 pp.
• Harker, D.F., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1980. Caves and associated fauna of the Western Kentucky coal field, Volume 2. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfurt, Kentucky, USA. 114 pp.
• Hobbs, H.H., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1972. Origins and affinities of the troglobitic crayfishes of North America (Decapoda: Astacidae) II. Genus Orconectes. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 105: 1–84. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.105
• Lewis, J.J. 2004. Interstate 66 karst faunal study. Environmental Impact Statement. 17 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. 2005a. A biological inventory of caves of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 156 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. & Lewis, S.L. 2005. Inventory of the subterranean fauna of Tims Ford State Park, Franklin County, Tennessee. Tennesee Natural Heritage Program, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 28 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. & Lewis, S.L. 2007. A biological reconnaissance of selected caves in the Highland Rim area of central Tennessee. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 42 pp.
• Lewis, J.J., Whitaker, J.O. & Krantz, G.W. 2010. A biological reconnaissance of the invertebrate fauna of twelve Tennessee caves with notes on the guanophilic mites of the genus Macrocheles. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 85: 53–61.
• Nicholas, G. 1960. Checklist of macroscopic troglobitic organisms of the United States. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 123–160. doi:10.2307/2422897
• Niemiller, M.L., Slay, M.E., Inebnit, T., Miller, B., Tobin, B., Cramphorn, B., Hinkle, A., Jones, B.D., Mann, N. & Niemiller, K.D.K. 2023a. Fern Cave: a hotspot of subterranean biodiversity in the Interior Low Plateau karst region of Alabama in the southeastern United States. Diversity 15: 633. doi:10.3390/d15050633
• Niemiller, M.L. & Zigler, K.S. 2013. Patterns of cave biodiversity and endemism in the Appalachians and Interior Plateau of Tennessee, USA. PLOS One 8: e64177. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064177
• Peck, S.B. 1973a. A systematic revision and the evolutionary biology of the Ptomaphagus (Adelops) beetles of North America (Coleoptera; Leiodidae; Catopinae), with emphasis on cave-inhabiting species. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 145: 29–162. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4336298. details
• Peck, S.B. 1995. The cave fauna of Alabama. Part II: The insects. National Speleological Society Bulletin 57: 1–19.
• Reeves, W.K., Jensen, J.B. & Ozier, J.C. 2000. New faunal and fungal records from caves in Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 62: 169–179. https://caves.org/wp-content/uploads/Publications/JCKS/v62/v62n3-Reeves.pdf. details
• Trumbore, L.E., Reynolds, R.J., Thomas, S.C., Orndorff, W., Cramphorn, B., Gladstone, N.S., Harden, C.W., Lewis, J.J., Milne, M.A., Ober, K.A., Shear, W.A., Stephen, C.D.R. & Zigler, K.S. 2024. Cave biodiversity of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 86: 13–24. doi:10.4311/2022LSC0116
• Wakefield, K.R. & Zigler, K.S. 2012. Obligate subterranean fauna of Carter State Natural Area, Franklin County, Tennessee. Speleolobiology Notes 4: 24–28.
• Zigler, K.S., Niemiller, M.L., Stephen, C.D.R., Ayala, B.N., Milne, M.A., Gladstone, N.S., Engel, A.S., Jensen, J.B., Camp, C.D., Ozier, J.C. & Cressler, A. 2020. Biodiversity from caves and other subterranean habitats of Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 82: 125–167. doi:10.4311/2019LSC0125

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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