List of troglobites

A troglobite is an animal that lives entirely in the dark parts of caves. They can roughly be divided into troglofauna for the land-dwelling species and stygofauna for species found in water. Troglobites are typically identified by evolutionary traits that suit them for cave life such as loss of sight and skin pigment or slow metabolism. They are typically incapable of surviving outside of caves and as such are often endemic to a single cave or system of caves. Creatures such as cave-dwelling bats or cave swallows are not considered troglobites because they leave caves in order to acquire food. These are trogloxene.

Mollusca

Velvet worms

Arthropoda

Arachnida

Myriapoda

Millipedes
Centipedes

Crustacea

Insecta

See Cave insects

Fish

Amphibians

Mammals

There are no known mammals that live exclusively in caves. Most bats sleep in caves during the day and hunt at night, but they are considered troglophiles or trogloxenes.

Reptiles

Birds

There are no known birds that live exclusively in caves.

See also

References