Appalachian Cave Spider
Porrhomma cavernicola (Keyserling, 1886)
Taxonomy
| Kingdom | Animalia |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum | Chelicerata |
| Class | Arachnida |
| Order | Araneae |
| Family | Linyphiidae |
| Genus | Porrhomma |
| Species | Porrhomma cavernicola (Keyserling, 1886) |
Synonyms
- Porrhomma emertoni Roewer, 1942 (subjective synonym, CoL)
- Linyphia incerta Emerton, 1875 (subjective synonym, CoL)
- Porrhomma incertum (subjective synonym, CoL)
- Troglohyphantes cavernicolus (subjective synonym, CoL)
Description
Diagnostic characters
- Ecological class
- Troglobiont
- Realm
- Terrestrial
- Troglomorphy
- Troglomorphic
Distribution
Type locality
Reynolds Cave, Barren Co. KY
Range
Known from 23 counties across 16 states across five karst regions.
Continent
North America
Country
United States
States and provinces
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia
Counties
- Alabama
- Limestone
- Arkansas
- Searcy, Washington
- Georgia
- Bartow
- Iowa
- Jackson
- Illinois
- Carroll, Jo Daviess, Monroe
- Indiana
- Lawrence, Monroe
- Kentucky
- Barren, Carter, Edmonson, Estill, Powell, Pulaski
- Missouri
- Barry, Boone, Shannon
- Tennessee
- Claiborne, Franklin, Grundy, Hawkins
Karst regions
Appalachians, Driftless Area, Interior Low Plateau, Other, Ozarks
Specimens
Collections holding material
| Institution | Lots |
|---|---|
| Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard | 7 |
| New Mexico State University | 3 |
| Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris | 2 |
| National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution | 1 |
| University of New Mexico | 1 |
14 cataloged lots in 5 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 14 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
- SNR Unranked
- Georgia
- SNR Unranked
- Illinois
- SNR Unranked
- Indiana
- S2 Imperiled
- Kentucky
- S2S3 Imperiled to Vulnerable
- Maryland
- S2 Imperiled
- Oklahoma
- S1 Critically Imperiled
- Pennsylvania
- SNR Unranked
- Tennessee
- S1 Critically Imperiled
- Virginia
- S4 Apparently Secure
- West Virginia
- S2 Imperiled
- Iowa
- SNR Unranked
- Missouri
- 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
References
- Banta, A.M. 1907. The fauna of Mayfield's Cave. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 67: 1–114. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/60987. 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.
- 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., 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.
- 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. details
- 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., Fenolio, D.B. & Zigler, K.S. 2012b. The obligate cave fauna of Georgia. Bulletin of the Georgia Speleological Survey 2012: 6–12.
- 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. 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. 1989. The cave fauna of Alabama. Part I. The terrestrial invertebrates (excluding insects). National Speleological Society Bulletin 51: 11–33.
- 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. & Peck, J.H. 1982. Invertebrate fauna of Devils Den, a sandstone cave in northwestern Arkansas. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science 36: 46–48.
- 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
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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