Grotta Regina del Carso ("Queen of Karst cave", ) is a

Karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

in the village of ''San Michele del Carso'' ( Slovene: ''Vrh'') in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Savogna d'Isonzo Savogna d'Isonzo (; ) is a (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about southwest of Gorizia, on the border with Slovenia. The ...

(

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

). The cave is not open to public, and the access is managed by ''Talpe del Carso/Kraški Krti'' speleological group, headquartered in the vicinity of the entrance.

Morphology

Grotta Regina opens

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. Overall, it is long and deep. The cave contains two main rooms, called respectively the ''Hall of the Council'' (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

: ''Sala delle Riunioni''), due to the presence of a number of

stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; ; ) is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically composed of calcium carbonate, but may consist ...

s that seem to be the members of a municipality council, and the ''Hall of San Michele'' (

: ''Sala del San Michele''), named after the main upland in the area. Two galleries connect the entrance with the Hall of the Council and this room with the Hall of San Michele. Rooms and galleries are full of cave formations (

stalactite A stalactite (, ; , ) is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble and that can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension (chemistry ...

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

, etc.), including a high

in the Hall of San Michele. Next to the second room, a deep

pit Pit or PIT may refer to: Structure * Ball pit, a recreation structure * Casino pit, the part of a casino which holds gaming tables * Trapping pit, pits used for hunting * Pit (motor racing), an area of a racetrack where pit stops are conduc ...

leads to a small lake in its bottom part. There are other small lakes, dropping bowls and gours into the cave. The innermost part of Grotta Regina consists of a meandering and muddy gallery, ending with a deep

, after that the farthest point from the entrance is reached. A secondary branch leads to the ''Queen's Idol'' (

: ''Idolo della Regina''), a high

that's the most important

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...

and the symbol of the cavity.

The exploration

The cave was discovered on 2 January 1972 by Dominik Grillo. Immediately, with some difficulties,

cavers Caving, also known as spelunking (United States and Canada) and potholing (United Kingdom and Ireland), is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is the scientific st ...

began to unblock the entrance and explore the cavity, discovering the most extended and beautiful cave in the Gorizia Karst. In the same year, cavers realised the survey of the cave, named ''Grotta Regina del Carso'' ( Slovene: ''Jama Kraljica Krasa''). The discover of the cave persuaded cavers to found a new group, called ''Gruppo Speleologico Talpe del Carso'' ("Karst Moles speleological group", Slovene: ''Jamarski Klub Kraški Krti''), in the following year. The group has its headquarter, called '' baita'' ("lodge"), few meters far from the entrance of Grotta Regina. In the following years, cavers widened the sides of the cave and discovered new branches, leading the total extension to . In 1973, some glass slabs were set in particular spots in the cave, in order to verify the solidity of subterranean space. The slabs resisted to

1976 Friuli earthquake The 1976 Friuli earthquake, also known in Italy as Terremoto del Friuli (''Friulian earthquake''), occurred on 6 May 1976, at 21:00:13 (20:00:13 UTC) with a moment magnitude of 6.5 and a maximum EMS intensity of X (''very destructive''). The shoc ...

, showing

Karst region The Karst Plateau or the Karst region (, ), also locally called Karst, is a karst plateau region extending across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills surrounding the valle ...

was avoided the quake. Later,

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

s and

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

s achieved studies and researches on cave

geomorphology Geomorphology () is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features generated by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near Earth's surface. Geomorphologists seek to understand wh ...

and animal species living in the cavity.

Fauna

Grotta Regina hosts some of the most common

cave dwelling species. Troglophiles include the

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

s ''

Meta menardi ''Meta menardi'', the European cave spider, is a long-jawed Orb-weaver spider, orb-weaving spider (family Tetragnathidae). It is also known as the orbweaving cave spider and the cave orbweaver. Habitat They have a natural range (biology), ran ...

'' and '' Nesticus eremita'', the

cave cricket The orthopteran family Rhaphidophoridae of the suborder Ensifera has a worldwide distribution. Common names for these insects include cave crickets, camel crickets, spider crickets (sometimes shortened to "criders" or "sprickets"), and sand trea ...

''Troglophilus neglectus'', the

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

'' Gryllomorpha dalmatina'', the

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s ''

Scoliopteryx libatrix The herald (''Scoliopteryx libatrix'') is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. It is found throughout the Palearctic and Nearctic (Holarctic). Technica ...

'' and ''

Triphosa dubitata ''Triphosa dubitata'', the tissue, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. It is found from north-west Africa across the Palearctic to Japan. The w ...

'', and the

fly Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

Limonia nubeculosa ''Limonia nubeculosa'', also known as the short-palped cranefly, is a species of crane flies in the family of Limoniidae.R. L. Coe, Paul Freeman & P. F. Mattingly Nematocera: families Tipulidae to Chironomidae (Tipulidae). ''Handbooks for the Ide ...

''.

Troglobites A troglobite (or, formally, troglobiont) is an animal species, or population of a species, strictly bound to underground habitats, such as caves. These are separate from species that mainly live in above-ground habitats but are also able to live u ...

include the

woodlouse Woodlice are terrestrial isopods in the suborder Oniscidea. Their name is derived from being often found in old wood, and from louse, a parasitic insect, although woodlice are neither parasitic nor insects. Woodlice evolved from marine isopods ...

''Androniscus stygius'', the

s '' Stalita taenaria'' and '' Mesostalita nocturna'', the

ground beetle Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it ...

s ''

Orotrechus muellerianus ''Orotrechus'' is a genus of troglobitic beetles in the family Carabidae, containing the following species: * '' Orotrechus caranthiacus'' Mandl, 1940 * '' Orotrechus cavallensis'' Jeannel, 1928 * '' Orotrechus dallarmii'' Daffner, 1987 * '' O ...

'' and ''

Laemostenus cavicola ''Laemostenus'' is a genus of ground beetles present on all continents on Earth, except Antarctica. There are nearly 200 species in the genus, divided into several subgenera. Beetles of the genus are about 8 to 28 millimeters long. Many are dark ...

'', and the

round fungus beetle Leiodidae is a family of beetles with around 3800 described species found worldwide. Members of this family are commonly called round fungus beetles due to the globular shape of many species, although some are more elongated in shape. They are g ...

''Bathysciotes khevenhulleri tergestinus''. Moreover, small lakes, dropping bowls and gours host many stygobites species belonging to

roundworms The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (hel ...

worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

Bathynellacea Bathynellacea is an order of crustaceans which live interstitially in groundwater. Some species can tolerate low salt concentrations, and at least one African species is a thermophile, living in hot springs and tolerating temperatures up to . Bat ...

and

amphipod Amphipoda () is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods () range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 10,700 amphipod species cur ...

s. The cave is the type locality (the place where the specimens were originally collected) of the diplurian '' Metajapyx peanoi'' (Pagés, 1980), a

troglobite A troglobite (or, formally, troglobiont) is an animal species, or population of a species, strictly bound to underground habitats, such as caves. These are separate from species that mainly live in above-ground habitats but are also able to live u ...

species known only living in this cavity and Grotta delle Radici in the Trieste Karst.

Vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

s include some

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

s belonging to genus '' Rhinolophus'', that use the cave mainly in summer. Moreover, between the 70ths and the 80ths, some specimens of the

cave salamander A cave salamander is a type of salamander that primarily or exclusively inhabits caves, a group that includes several species. Some of these animals have developed special, even extreme, adaptations to their subterranean environments. Some specie ...

Speleomantes strinatii ''Speleomantes strinatii'', the French cave salamander, North-west Italian cave salamander, or Strinati's cave salamander is a small (10-12.5 cm long) species of salamander found in northwest Italy and southeast France. It is very similar in ...

'' from Grotte di Bossea (in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

) were released in the cavity. A specimen was photographed in 2004, and, since then, any other one has been observed.

Gallery

File:Sala delle riunioni Grotta Regina.jpg, Hall of the Council File:Idolo della Regina.jpg, The Queen's Idole File:Salamandra in Grotta Regina.jpg, Salamander at the entrance of the cave File:Pipistrello_in_letargo_in_Grotta_Regina.jpg, ''Rhinolophus sp.'' in hibernation

References

External links

Infos about the cave on Friuli-Venezia Giulia cave registry

Survey of the cave
*{{in lang, it}
Gruppo Speleologico Talpe del Carso
Caves of Italy Limestone caves Landforms of Friuli-Venezia Giulia Province of Gorizia

Morphology

The exploration

Fauna

Gallery

See also

References

External links