alanw
Well-known member
While you might assume the Nullarbor Plain is a vast expanse with not much to see, a recent discovery has stunned scientists. In addition to discovering new species of eyeless cave-adapted spiders nearby, nothing could have prepared the research team for what they would find in Goat Cave.
Andrew Stempel is a speleologist—a scientist who studies caves and cave systems—and the President of the Australian Speleological Foundation. "I got called on as a rope monkey," says Andrew, but within minutes "I was like, no, we need to get a bug person in here."
Arachnologist Dr. Jess Marsh from the University of Adelaide was the bug person. "It's amazing," says Jess. "It's going to take the rest of my life to sort out."
An ecological vault
In a single cave, Jess and Andrew uncovered as many as 60 species, potentially none of which have been found before. "All of the ones that I've looked at so far … have been highly cave adapted," says Jess. "Eyeless, limbless, strange-looking animals."
