Missus Cave Springtail
Lethemurus missus Mills, 1948

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Troglobiont

Realm

Terrestrial

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Distribution

Type locality

Brainard Cave, Jersey Co. IL

Range

Known from 11 counties across seven states across four karst regions.

Continent

North America

Countries

Mexico, United States

States and provinces

Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mexico, Tennessee

Counties

Illinois

Jersey, Monroe, St. Clair

Kentucky

Livingston

Missouri

Jefferson, Perry, St. Genevieve

Mexico

FELIPE CARRILLO PUERTO, Quintana Roo

Tennessee

Grundy, Overton

Karst regions

Appalachians, Interior Low Plateau, Other, Ozarks

Specimens

Type material

Syntype ×2

Illinois Natural History Survey

Collections holding material

5 cataloged lots in 2 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 5 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

NatureServe

G4 Apparently Secure

Global rank last reviewed 21 August 2002.

Subnational ranks

Colorado

SNR Unranked

Illinois

SNR Unranked

Indiana

S1 Critically Imperiled

Kentucky

S1S2 Critically Imperiled to Imperiled

Missouri

SU Unrankable

Tennessee

S2 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

6PQLM

GBIF

10892135

iNaturalist

261940

References

• 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. 2009b. Eight new cavernicolous species of the milliped genus Pseudotremia (Diplopoda: Chordeumatida: Cleidogonidae). In: Roble, S.M. & Mithcell, J.C. (eds), A Lifetime of Contributions to Myriapodology and the Natural History of Virginia: A Festschrift in Honor of Richard L. Hoffman’s 80th Birthday. Virginia Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 16, pp. 171–186. Virginia Museum of Natural History, Martinsville, Virginia, USA.
• Lewis, J.J., Moss, P., Tecic, D. & Nelson, M.E. 2003. A conservation focused inventory of subterranean invertebrates of the southwestern Illinois karst. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 65: 9–21.
• Mills, H.B. 1948. New North American Tomocerinae. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 41: 353–359.
• 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. & 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. & Lewis, J.J. 1978. Zoogeography and evolution of the subterranean invertebrate faunas of Illinois and southeastern Missouri. National Speleological Society Bulletin 40: 39–63.
• Soto-Adames, F.N. & Taylor, S.J. 2013. New species and new records of springtails (Hexapoda: Collembola) from caves in the Salem Plateau of Illinois, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 75: 146–175. doi:10.4311/2011LSC0257
• Webb, D.W., Taylor, S.J. & Krejca, J.K. 1993. The biological resources of Illinois caves and other subterranean environments. Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois, USA. 143 pp.

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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