Forest Floor Caves, Kalk Bay Mountain

Introduction

Lurking in the cracks and crevices of Kalk Bay Mountain are small pockets of 'micro forests' with carpets of composting leafs on the floor.  Some of the alcoves also hide the entrances to caves.  Today's trip targeted a few of these caves.

Johalvin Cave and Styx Dungeon

Both of these caves are true forest floor extensions so we would expect to find similar species in the surface leaf litter, and in the cave.  Due to time constraints, we only examined the cave environments.

To gain entry to Johalvin, one has to crawl through a boulder choke.  The most common, visible, animals in this area were the snails on the walls and ceiling and the bristletails on the walls.  The bristletails had extremely long antennae, which they kept folded back next to their bodies.

Commemoration Hall and Egyptian Cave

While these are not true 'Forest Floor' caves, both systems have their entrances surrounded by leaf litter and compost.

Comm Hall

Johalvin
Bristle tails
https://picasaweb.google.com/102360591899376678782/BristletailMeinertellidaeJohalvinCave2011121802

Rain frog
https://picasaweb.google.com/102360591899376678782/FrogBrevicepsMontanusRainFrogJohalvinCave2011121807

Blue snail
https://picasaweb.google.com/102360591899376678782/SnailEndodontidaeTrachycystisTollini20090208004Snail

Flat-backed millipedes
http://za.ispot.org.uk/node/146710

Woodlouse
http://za.ispot.org.uk/node/146709

Spider
http://za.ispot.org.uk/node/146708?nav=users_observations





Egyptian Cave

Styx Dungeon

Peripatopsis alba & Paralamyctes

During a recent search for missing cavers, I covered a lot of cave passage in a very short time.  While at the very bottom of Bat's Cave on Table Mountain, I found a Peripatopsis alba walking across damp sand at the edge of a 20 cm deep pool of water.(add date or at least month)

In the pool, a shrimp (awaiting ID) was eating the remains of another shrimp.  There was another shrimp swimming around, and it appeared the two live shrimps were fighting over the remains of the third.

On the way out of Wynberg Cave, I found a Paralamyctes centipede.  It was orange in colour and about 30mm long.