Small Cave Sun Fly
Oecothea specus (Aldrich, 1897)

Taxonomy

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Troglophile

Realm

Terrestrial

Distribution

Range

Known from 43 counties across 10 states.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin

Counties

Alabama

Limestone, Morgan

Arkansas

Izard

Georgia

Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Gordon, Polk, Walker

Iowa

Jackson

Illinois

Adams, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Monroe, Pope, St. Clair, Union

Indiana

Crawford, Lawrence, Monroe

Kentucky

Larue, Pulaski

Tennessee

Claiborne, Clay, Fentress, Franklin, Grundy, Jackson, Marion, Montgomery, Overton, Pickett, Rhea, Sequatchie, Sevier, Stewart, Van Buren, Warren, White

Virginia

Lee

Wisconsin

Crawford, Sauk

Conservation and management

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act

References

• Aldrich, J.M. 1897. A collection of Diptera from Indiana caves. In: Blatchley, W.S. (ed), The Fauna of Indiana Caves. Annual Report of the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources (1896), pp. 186–190. Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources, Indianapolis, IN, USA. https://rcin.org.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=67836.
• Lewis, J.J. 2004. Interstate 66 karst faunal study. Environmental Impact Statement. 17 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. 2005. 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.
• McDaniel, V.R., Paige, K.N. & Tumlison, C.R. 1979. Cave fauna of Arkansas: additional invertebrate and vertebrate records. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science 33: 84–85. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol33/iss1/35.
• Niemiller, M.L., Maxwell, E. & Higgs, J.P. 2024. A biological inventory of Sinking Spring Cave at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, Larue County, Kentucky, USA. U.S. National Park Service, Hodgenville, Kentucky, USA. 21 pp.
• Niemiller, M.L., Anderson, C.L., Maxwell, E.C., Midgette, H., Quering, C., Richards, M., Wilson, K. & Wirwa, N. 2025. A noteworthy range extension of the federally endangered Alabama Cave Shrimp (Palaemonias alabamae) south of the Tennessee River in northern Alabama. Southeastern Naturalist 24: N47-N58. doi:10.1656/058.024.0403
• 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.
• Peck, S.B. 1988. A review of the cave fauna of Canada, and the composition and ecology of the invertebrate fauna of caves and mines in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Zoology 66: 1197–1213. doi:10.1139/z88-176
• Peck, S.B. & Christiansen, K. 1990. Evolution and zoogeography of the invertebrate cave faunas of the Driftless Area of the upper Mississippi River Valley of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, U.S.A. Canadian Journal of Zoology 68: 73–88. doi:10.1139/z90-012
• 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.
• Reeves, W.K. 2000. Invertebrate cavernicoles of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 116: 334–343. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24335885.
• 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
• Wallace, R.L. 1990. Biological survey report of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park caves. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U.S. National Park Service, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA. 34 pp.
• 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.
• 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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