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Cave Biology Data Portal
Subterranean biodiversity of North America and around the globe
AnimaliaArthropodaHexapodaInsectaColeopteraCarabidaeNelsonites

Nelsonites walteri Valentine, 1952

Taxonomy

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Hexapoda
Class Insecta
Order Coleoptera
Family Carabidae
Genus Nelsonites
Species Nelsonites walteri Valentine, 1952

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class
Troglobiont
Realm
Terrestrial
Troglomorphy
Troglomorphic

Distribution

Type locality

Johnsons Saltpeter Cave, Putnam Co. TN

Range

Known from seven counties in Tennessee in the Interior Low Plateau karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Tennessee

Counties

Tennessee
Fentress, Overton, Overton county, Pickett, Putnam, Van Buren, White

Karst regions

Interior Low Plateau

Specimens

Collections holding material

InstitutionLots
University of Alberta Museums 2
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard 1

3 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 3 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

NatureServe

G3 Vulnerable

G1G2G3▲G4G5

Global rank last reviewed 27 September 2010.

Subnational ranks

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

Catalogue of Life
465PS
GBIF
1036861
ITIS
110203
iNaturalist
225537
NCBI Taxonomy
2993130

References

  • Barr, T.C., Jr. 1959a. New cave beetles (Carabidae, Trechini) from Tennessee and Kentucky. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 34: 5–30.
  • Benito, J.B., Ober, K.A., Philips, T.K., Orndorff, W. & Niemiller, M.L. 2025. Phylogenomics and biogeography of North American trechine cave beetles (Coleoptera:Carabidae) inferred from ultraconserved elements. Evolution 79: 1622–1642. doi:10.1093/evolut/qpaf103
  • Bousquet, Y. 2012. Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera: Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico. ZooKeys 245: 1–1. doi:10.3897/zookeys.245.3416
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Page, G. 2021. Troglofauna of Van Buren and White County: a survey of four caves in the mideastern Cumberland Plateau. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. 18 pp.
  • Valentine, J.M. 1952. New genera of anophthalmid beetles from Cumberland caves (Carabidae, Trechinae). Geological Survey of Alabama Museum Paper 34: 1–41.

This account was last revised 28 August 2026. Conservation ranks were looked up 23 August 2026.

How to cite this account

Nelsonites walteri Valentine, 1952. Cave Biology Data Portal, account SP-0655. https://cavebiology.org/species/nelsonites-walteri/ (accessed 18 October 2026).
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Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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Cave Biology Data Portal

Species accounts, distributions, and conservation status for the subterranean fauna of North America and around the globe, with resources for the cave and karst research community.

Text and data CC BY 4.0. Images all rights reserved unless stated.

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