Biospeleology of somalia. Mugdile and showli berdi caves

Abstract

During an expedition (March 1984) made to study the stygofauna of Somalia the authors discovered two caves: Mugdile and Showli Berdi, 3 km apart and probably communicating. These are large cavities formed by the erosion of an ancient underground river on the Jurassic limestones of the area. The first cave has been explored for about 200 m and the second for about 500 m. Showli Berdi is about 40 m below ground level, and Mugdile a little less. Numerous specimens of various systematic groups have been collected; very important are some new species of Isopoda, Orthoptera, Pseudoscorpionida and Coleóptera. Of great interest is the existence of a fish of the Cyprinidae family (Labeo boulengeri Vinciguerra, 1913) found in the waters of Showli Berdi next to the phreatobic crustacean isopods, Skotobaena monodi Ferrara & Lanza, 1978 and a new species of the Stenasellus genus. This fish shows no sign of adaptation to underground life and its presence in the cave water is still to be explained. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.