FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 8, 2005
Media Contact: Tom MacKenzie 404-679-7291
NOTE: Downloadable photos available at http://www.fws.gov/southeast/
Two Kentucky Cave Beetles Not Listed Due to Conservation Efforts
Conservation efforts at Adams Cave in Madison County, Kentucky have enabled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove two Kentucky cave beetles from the list of candidate species for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
The greater Adams Cave beetle and lesser Adams Cave beetle are only known to live in Adams Cave in the Bluegrass Region of central Kentucky, near Richmond. First discovered in the cave in 1964, the two predatory beetles are small (3 to 5 millimeters), eyeless, reddish-brown insects that feed upon cave invertebrates such as spiders, mites, and millipedes.