The Coffin Cave mold beetle (''Batrisodes texanus''), also known as the Inner Space Caverns mold beetle, is a small insect that is only found in caves. They are very small at and lack any form of eyes. They are found exclusively in caves in a single county in Texas, Williamson County. The

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...

considers the Coffin Cave mold beetle to be an endangered species. Threats facing this species include

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

Taxonomy

The Coffin Cave mold beetle was described as a new species in 1992 by Donald S. Chandler, who gave it the

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''Batrisodes texanus'' and placed it in the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

''Excavodes''. ''Excavodes'' also contains '' Batrisodes cryptotexanus'' and '' Batrisodes reyesi'', and is thought to be

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

(containing all descendants of a common ancestor) as of 2019. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

had been collected in 1965 in

Inner Space Cavern Inner Space Cavern (Also known as Laubach Cave) is a Solutional cave, karst cave located in Georgetown, Texas. The cavern was formed by water passing through Edwards limestone. The cavern is estimated to be around 20–25 million years old but h ...

. Its

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

"''texanus''" was chosen to allude to its range, which is restricted to the US state of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. In 2001, Chandler and Reddell

split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

the Coffin Cave mold beetle into two species, additionally describing the Dragonfly Cave mold beetle, ''B. cryptotexanus''. It was determined that ''B. cryptotexanus'' is actually found in Coffin Cave, not ''B. texanus'', causing some to refer to it as the Inner Space Caverns mold beetle instead of the Coffin Cave mold beetle. The

still refers to it as the Coffin Cave mold beetle as of 2018.

Description

Individuals are long. They are

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

, with males and not females possessing a slight groove across their heads before the base of the antennae. The

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

(first segment of the thorax) has a longitudinal groove. The

elytra An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometime ...

(sheaths that cover the wings) have three pits at the bases. It lacks any form of eyes.

Range and habitat

The Coffin Cave mold beetle is found only in

Williamson County, Texas Williamson County (sometimes abbreviated as "Wilco") is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 609,017. The 2024 population estimate was 727,480. Its c ...

, where it is a cave-obligate species. It requires dark and humid conditions. The northernmost extent of its range is Cobbs Cavern, which is southeast of

Florence, Texas Florence is a city in Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,171 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Since 2000, the territorial limits of Florence have grown by 8%. Florence is located approximately north from ...

. The southernmost extent of its range crosses the South Fork of the San Gabriel River, terminating at the Inner Space Caverns. If ''B. cryptotexanus'' is acknowledged as a separate species, then the Coffin Cave mold beetle occurs in the following caves and cave clusters: Godwin Ranch Preserve, Cobbs Cavern, Sunless City Cave, Waterfall Canyon Cave, On Campus Cave, Off Campus Cave, and Inner Space Cavern.

Conservation

Even though the Coffin Cave mold beetle was not described until 1992, it has been considered listed under the United States

Endangered Species Act of 1973 The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting and conserving imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of e ...

since 1988. Before it was recognized as a separate species, the Coffin Cave population of the beetle was thought to be the

Kretschmarr Cave mold beetle The Kretschmarr Cave mold beetle (''Texamaurops reddelli'') is a small mold beetle. Biology It is less than inch long and their body color can range from a dark purple to a light reddish-brown color and is sparsely and weakly dotted with small ...

(''Texamaurops reddelli''). Because the Kretschmarr Cave mold beetle had been recognized as federally endangered in 1988, a 1993 technical correction acknowledged that the Coffin Cave population represented another species, which was still to be recognized as federally endangered. Threats that the species faces include

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

due to

. The Williamson County human population has increased rapidly, with the number of single- and multi-family homes increasing 1,314% from 13,216 in 1970 to 186,964 in 2016.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5141003 Pselaphinae Cave beetles Endemic fauna of Texas ESA endangered species Beetles described in 1992