Central Kentucky Cave Amphipod
Stygobromus exilis Hubricht, 1943
Taxonomy
| Kingdom | Animalia |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum | Crustacea |
| Class | Malacostraca |
| Order | Amphipoda |
| Family | Crangonyctidae |
| Genus | Stygobromus |
| Species | Stygobromus exilis Hubricht, 1943 |
Description
Diagnostic characters
- Ecological class
- Stygobiont
- Realm
- Aquatic
- Troglomorphy
- Troglomorphic
Distribution
Type locality
Mammoth Onyx Cave, Hart Co. KY
Range
Known from 41 counties across three states across two karst regions.
Continent
North America
Country
United States
States and provinces
Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee
Counties
- Alabama
- Bibb
- Kentucky
- Barren, Christian, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, McCreary, Metcalf, Pulaski or Wayne, Russell, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, Warren, Wayne
- Tennessee
- Bedford, Bledsoe, Blount, Campbell, Cannon, Clay, Davidson, DeKalb, Fentress, Franklin, Hamilton, Jackson, Marion, Maury, Montgomery, Overton, Perry, Pickett, Putnam, Robertson, Rutherford, Sequatchie, Smith, Trousdale, White, Wilson
Karst regions
Appalachians, Interior Low Plateau
Specimens
Type material
- Syntype ×2
- National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
Collections holding material
| Institution | Lots |
|---|---|
| National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution | 104 |
| Illinois Natural History Survey | 1 |
105 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 105 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
- S1 Critically Imperiled
- Kentucky
- S4S5 Apparently Secure to Secure
- Tennessee
- S3 Vulnerable
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
References
- Barr, T.C., Jr. & Kuehne, R.A. 1971. Ecological studies in the Mammoth Cave system of Kentucky. II. The Ecosystem. Annales de Speleologie 26: 47–96. doi:10.5038/1827-806X.3.1.10
- 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.
- Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 2011. Observations on the biology of the endangered stygobiotic shrimp Palaemonias alabamae, with notes on P. ganteri (Decapoda: Atyidae). Subterranean Biology 8: 9–20.
- Hubricht, L. 1943. Studies in the Nearctic freshwater amphipods, III. Notes on the freshwater Amphipoda of eastern United States, with descriptions of ten new species. The American Midland Naturalist 29: 683–712. doi:10.2307/2421157
- Lewis, J.J. 1988. The systematics, zoogeography and life history of the troglobitic isopods of the Interior Plateaus of the eastern United States. University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. 281 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. 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. & 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
This account was last revised 28 August 2026. Conservation ranks were looked up 23 August 2026.
How to cite this account
Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.
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