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Troglobites typically have evolutionary adaptations to cave life. Examples of such adaptations include slow metabolism , reduced energy consumption, better food usage efficiency, decrease or loss of eyesight ( anophthalmia ), and depigmentation (absence of pigment in the integument ).
Troglofauna are divided into three main categories based on their ecology: [2]. Troglobionts (or troglobites): species, or populations of species, strictly bound to subterranean habitats.
Many insect troglobites are Orthopteran, Collembolan, or Blattodean, for example, and given the nature of their open-air ancestral species, it would be in no way surprising that where a cave becomes available, it soon is invaded by opportunistic troglophiles that may be widely distributed and may evolve similarly in separate caves in different ...
Another example of this type of ancestral state outside of caves would be the infamous Coelacanth, which greatly resembles fossils of the same lineage. [ 9 ] This evolutionary break however, has also been suggested to instead act as an evolutionary time capsule, an advantage to the survival of species.
Subterranean fauna is found worldwide and includes representatives of many animal groups, mostly arthropods and other invertebrates.However, there is a number of vertebrates (such as cavefishes and cave salamanders), although they are less common.
Troglobites are obligatory cavernicoles, specialized for cave life. Some can leave caves for short periods, and may complete parts of their life cycles above ground, but cannot live their entire lives outside of a cave environment. Examples include chemotrophic bacteria, some species of flatworms, springtails, and cavefish.
Both these are in contrast to troglobites, which strictly live in underground habitats. [2] Examples of trogloxene/subtroglophile species are bats, rats, raccoons and some opiliones (this last group also has fully troglobitic species).
As such, their similar adaptions are examples of convergent evolution and the descriptive term "cavefish" is an example of folk taxonomy rather than scientific taxonomy. [7] Strictly speaking some Cyprinodontidae (pupfish) are also known from sinkhole caves, famously including the Devils Hole pupfish , but these lack the adaptations (e.g ...