Cave Entrances

Trip Date: 2023-09-09

The objective of this trip was to see what lives in entrance of caves on Ridge Peak at Kalk Bay.

Ronan's Well Cave

I limited the search area to the walls and floor of the Voorkamer as far as the pool at the bottom of the staircase. The stream flows out of Ronan's Well and into Echo Valley.

Paramelita: There were lots (20+) of Paramelita of all sizes in the pools. Some were eating green moss leaves from the walls of the cave.
Planaria: There were a few varying from 4mm to 15mm long. this one was 10mm long and gray in colour.
Bristletails: I found 4 Bristletails, in cracks on the cave walls.
Spelaeiacris. Two small cave crickets where in a crack in the cave wall, very close to the entrance and far from the dark part of the cave.
Spiders: At least 3 species of spider. Spermophora peninsulae appeared to be the most common. There was also what looked like Spermophora peninsulae, but they had very small bodies (<1mm) and appeared white in colour.

Tjoklets Grotto

The stream from Drip Water Pot flows through Ridge Peak and out of Tjkolets Grotto. As this cave follows a similar line to the Robin Hood/Ronan's Well system, I would expect to see similar water life in these two systems. There was far less water life than I expected.

Paramelita capensis??
Planaria (white)
Spelaeiacris

Styx Dungeon

The entrance to this cave is in a tree filled depression, so I sampled the leaf litter on the outside of the cave entrance and on the inside to see the difference. The sample from inside the cave was approx 3m below the entrance. The rotting leaf litter was home to: