Cave-dwelling beetles 

by Thomas Lera

After the death of musician George Harrison, I thought to myself, what could I write about The Beatles that relate to my specific topic - caves. Beetles, not to be confused with the musical group The Beatles, are in the insect Order Coleoptera. Cave-dwelling beetles are often referred to as troglodytic and are not usually found in regions where caves were covered by ice sheets for a long period of time. They have morphological peculiarities, such as long legs, which enable them to search over large areas for food and lack of eyes, pigmentation and wings. Often, they have thin, permeable exoskeletons that readily absorb moisture from the humid atmosphere, and will quickly die from desiccation if placed in normal outside air.

Yugoslavia, Slovenia, Croatia and Romania have issued stamps illustrated with cave- beetles. On June 11, 1984, Yugoslavia issued a European Nature Conservation stamp depicting a beetle in a sheetlet of 9 stamps with the words "European Nature Protection" in the margin in English, French, German, Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian.

The central picture on this 4O-din stamp (Scott 1686) is Pekel Cave with a small cave beetle on its left. Pekel (Hell) Cave, created by Pelklenscica (Hell's Brook) is located about 9 miles from Celje in the limestone Savinja River Valley of Slovenia, surrounded by permeable relief and alluvial valleys. The main cave follows a subterranean river for 3,900 feet, while the upper chambers are dry galleries. The cave was first explored in 1860, and by 1870 had already been used as a tourist cave.

The beetle Anophthalmus hitleri (Order Carabidae) inhabits what were the then Yugoslavian caves of the middle Savinja valley between Velenje and Celje. The first specimen was found by amateur speleobiologist Kodric in nearby Steska Cave in June 1932. He sent the specimen to Scheibel in Zagreb, who described it as a new species, blind, reddish brown, 0.20 inches long, with brilliant hair on its upper side and long thin antenna.

Scheibel gave the beetle its name in 1937 as a sign of respect and devotion to the German Chancellor. According to the rules of scientific nomenclature the name cannot be changed, at least not before the revision of the entire genus. It is ironic that Yugoslavia, which bas so many families of cave beetles witl1in its borders, where so many people suffered from the German occupation during World War II, and where millions died because of Hitler's policies, issued a stamp with the animal bearing Hitler's name.

Romania's Clivina subterranea is part of the Carabidae Family of Ground Beetles in the suborder Adephaga. The genus is one that sometimes inhabits salty areas, which may include caves. They are normally burrowing beetles and are quite small, measuring only a few millimeters long. Not much else is known about these beetles. The 29L stamp (Scott 3875) was issued on December 27, 1993.

Yugoslavia Scott 1686

Romania Scott 3875

On July 12, 1993, Slovenia issued a 40T stamp (Scott 177) depicting the cave beetle Aphaenopidius kamnikensis, discovered in 1980 in Kamniška Cave, which is situated in Zeleniške špice at the foot of the Planjava. It is named in honor of Kamnik, and other speleologists from this town who took an active part in the research of cave beetles in this part of Slovenia. Božidar Drovenik described the species in 1987, and the Kamniška Cave has been known as its only habitat to date. The Aphaenopidius species itself has, so far, only been found in Slovenia and is endemic to the Kamnik and Savinjske Alps and their foothills.

Slovenia Scott 177

The chitin integument of these insects is naturally tan colored, it is a blind, has ex1raordinarily long feelers and legs, and is extremely well adapted to life in subterranean crevices and caves. The Aphaenopidius is the largest cave beetle in Slovenia, yet measuring only 1/2 in. in length, and in all probability, feeds on small cave animals and carrion.

On August 31, 1983, during the speleological research of the mountain Biokovo, the well-known malacologist/speleologist from Split, Tonči Rađa, found several blind beetles in a pit, which were unknown at that time. Scientific analysis of these beetles showed a new genus and species of cave beetles, which the scientists named Radziella in honor of their discoverer. Radziella styx, a member of the Leoididae Family of fungus beetles (known as the Cholevidae Family by Europeans). The Leoididae often are blind, or have only one or two ocelli (simple eyes), rather than the compound eyes of beetle who dwell above ground (The pit was later named Pretner's Pit, in honor of the Slovene biospeleologist Egon Pretner, who deserves credit for the research of cave beetles in Croatia.)

This species is particularly interesting because it finds its food in trickling waters by filtering them through a line of fine fluff on its head above its mouth. As the beetle must move vertically up the watery walls of the pits, its body has developed into an elongated form, with strong talons on its feet that enable it to move safely. Since this beetle is dependent on water, its genus received the name of the mythological River Styx. Before its discovery, science had knowledge of only one other highly specialized underground beetle, whose life style resembles the described one - making this discovery all the more important On April 22, 1997 Croatia issued a set of three stamps depicting Croatian fauna, one of which was Radziella styx. (Scott 328) The stamp shown was also issued on postal stationery.
 

Croatia Scott 328

While George Harrison and the Beatles started their career in a Liverpool pub called "The Caverns", the above four beetles are found under the pubs in caverns in Eastern Europe.

 

References

Kranjc, Andrej. 1985. ”Biokovo” and ”Pekel” stamps - Yugoslavia 1984.
The Speleo Stamp Collector. Vol. 19. pp. 14 - 15.