Spilaio Peristera

Higher Geography

Region: Kriti,
Sub-Region: Lasithi,
Municipality: Agios Nikolaos,
Closest Settlement: Vrachasi

Cave type

Natural

Protection status

• Archaeological Site- Ministerial Decision 15501/567/4-4-1985 (OGG 244/Β/2-5-1985)
• GR4320013 - Farangi Selinari - Vrachasi (Special Protection Area): Law 3937/2011 (OGG/Α 60/31.03.2011), Joint Ministerial Decision 50743/2017 (OGG 4432/B/15.12.17). Check site’s Standard Data Form

Fauna

• Cyrtocarenum cunicularium (Olivier, 1811), Roewer 1959, Brignoli 1979a
  Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Arachnida / Order: Araneae / Family: Ctenizidae
• Dolichopoda paraskevii Boudou-Saltet, 1973, Chopard 1957, Boudou-Saltet 1973a, Willemse 1984, Kollaros et al. 1991, Bacceti 1992
  Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Insecta / Order: Orthoptera / Family: Rhaphidophoridae
• Dolichopoda sp., Beron 2016
  Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Insecta / Order: Orthoptera / Family: Rhaphidophoridae
• Evarcha arcuata (Clerck, 1757), Roewer 1959, Brignoli 1979b, Bosmans & Chatzaki 2005, Bosmans et al. 2013
  Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Arachnida / Order: Araneae / Family: Salticidae
• Hoplopholcus labyrinthi (Kulczynski, 1903), Roewer 1959, Huber 2020
  Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Arachnida / Order: Araneae / Family: Pholcidae
• Lepismachilis sp., Janetschek 1957, Beron 2016
  Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Insecta / Order: Archaeognatha / Family: Machilidae
• Lindbergia orbicularis (A. Riedel, 1962), Karakasi et al. 2024
  Phylum: Mollusca / Class: Gastropoda / Order: Stylommatophora / Family: Pristilomatidae
• Ovaliptila lindbergi (Chopard 1957), Chopard 1957, Willemse 1984, Gorochov 2006, Beron 2016
  Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Insecta / Order: Orthoptera / Family: Gryllidae
• Pterotricha lentiginosa (C.L. Koch, 1837), Roewer 1959, Brignoli 1979b, Bosmans & Chatzaki 2005, Beron 2016
  Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Arachnida / Order: Araneae / Family: Gnaphosideae
• Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (Schreber, 1774), Benda et al. 2009, Georgiakakis et al. 2023
  Phylum: Chordata / Class: Mammalia / Order: Chiroptera / Family: Rhinolophidae
• Schizidium perplexum (Vandel, 1958), Vandel 1958, Schmalfuss 1972b, Schmalfuss 1975, Schmalfuss 1979, Paragamian et al. 1987, Schmalfuss et al. 2004, Beron 2016
  Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Malacostraca / Order: Isopoda / Family: Armadillidiidae
• Trichoniscus cavernicola Vandel, 1958, Vandel 1958, Schmalfuss 1979, Schmalfuss et al. 2004
  Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Malacostraca / Order: Isopoda / Family: Trichoniscidae
• Trichoniscus lindbergi Vandel, 1958, Schmalfuss 1972b, Schmalfuss 1979
  Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Malacostraca / Order: Isopoda / Family: Trichoniscidae

Cave references

• Lindberg, K. 1955. Notes sur le grottes de l΄ île de Crète. Fragm. balc. Skopje 1(19):165-174.
• Platakis, E. 1952. The cave "Peristera" (CRNr260). Bull. Soc. Speleol. Grèce 1:272–273.

Species references

• Bacceti, B. 1992. Notulae orthopterologicae. 50. Su alcuni ortotteroidei del Mediterraneo orientale. Fragm. Entomol., 23 (2): 247-270.
• Benda, P., Georgiakakis, P., Dietz, C., Hanak, V., Galanaki, K., Markantonatou, V., Chudarkova, A., Hulva, P. & Horacek, I. 2009. Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Part 7. The bat fauna of Crete, Greece. Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemicae, 72 (3-4): 105-190.
• Beron, P. 2016. Faune cavernicole de la Grèce. Maison d'édition Est-West., Sofia. pp. 229.
• Bosmans, R. & Chatzaki, M. 2005. A catalogue of the spiders of Greece. A critical review of all spider species cited from Greece with their localities. Newsletter Belg. Arachn. Soc., 20 (2): 1-124.
• Bosmans, R., Van Keer, J., Russell-Smith, A., Kronestedt, T., Alderweireldt, M., Bosselaers, J. & De Koninck, H. 2013. Spiders of Crete (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from the Greek Island of Crete. Newsletter Belg. Arachn. Soc., 28 (1): 1-147.
• Boudou-Saltet, P. 1973. Les Dolichopodes (Orth. Rhaph.) de Grèce VIII. Nouvelles espèces de Crète. Biol. gallo-hellen., 5 (1): 57-63.
• Brignoli, P. M. 1979. Ragni di Grecia XI. Specie nuove o interessanti, cavernicole ed epigee. Rev. suisse Zool., 86 (1): 181-202.
• Brignoli, P. M. 1979. Considérations zoogéographiques sur les Araignées cavernicoles de Grèce. Biol. gallo-hellen., 8: 223-236.
• Chopard, L. 1957. Notes sur les Orthoptères cavernicoles de Crète. Bull. Soc. entomol. Fr., 62 (1-2): 26-28.
• Georgiakakis P, Kafkaletou Diez A, Salvarina I, Benda P, Billington G, Dietz C, Billington J, Cove D, Davison S, Cooke M, Papadatou E. 2023. The Bats of Greece: An Updated Review of Their Distribution, Ecology and Conservation. Animals. 2023; 13(15):2529. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13152529
• Gorochov, A. V. 2006. A new genus of the tribe Petaloptilini (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Gryllomorphinae) and the partial revision of species included. Far Eastern Entomologist, 160: 1-11.
• Huber B.A. 2020. Revision of the spider genus Hoplopholcus Kulczyński (Araneae, Pholcidae). Zootaxa 4726:1–94.
• Janetschek, H. 1957. Über Felsenspringer aus Kreta und der Balkanländern (Thysanura, Machilidae). Acta Zool. Cracov., 2 (7): 151-191.
• Karakasi D, Paragamian K, Mylonas M, Vardinoyannis K 2024. What`s crawling in the dark? An annotated list of gastropods in Greek caves.. Subterranean Biology 48: 73-116. https://doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.48.113383
• Kollaros, D., Paragamian, K. & Legakis, A. 1991. Revision of the genus Troglophilus (Orthoptera, Raphidophoridae) in Crete, Greece. Int. J. Speleol., 20: 37-45.
• Paragamian, K., Galanopoulos, V., Legakis, A. & Spanakis, M. 1987. Ecological, electrophoretic and electron microscope investigations on Schizidium perplexum (Isopoda) of Crete. Biol. gallo-hellen., 13: 165-168.
• Roewer, C. F. 1959. Die Araneae, Solifuga und Opiliones der Sammlungen des Herrn Dr. K. Lindberg aus Griechenland, Creta, Anatolien, Iran und Indien. Göteborgs kungl. vet. vitterh. Samh. Handl., 8 (4): 3-47.
• Schmalfuss, H. 1972. Die Isopoden von Kreta. Biol. gallo-hellen., 4 (1): 33-60.
• Schmalfuss, H. 1975. Neues Isopoden-Material aus Griechenland. Sber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math.-naturw. Kl. Abt. I, 184: 27-66.
• Schmalfuss, H. 1979. Revidierte Check-List der Landisopoden (Oniscoidea) Griechenlands. Stuttgart. Beitr. Naturk. Ser. A. (Biol.), 331: 1-42.
• Schmalfuss, H., Paragamian, K. & Sfenthourakis, S. 2004. The terrestrial isopods (Isopoda: Oniscidea) of Crete and the surrounding islands. Stuttgart. Beitr. Naturk. Ser. A. (Biol.), 662: 1-74.
• Vandel, A. 1958. Isopodes récoltés dans les grottes de la Crète par le Docteur K. Lindberg. Notes biospeol., 12 (2): 81-101.
• Willemse, F. 1984. Catalogue of the Orthoptera of Greece. Fauna Graeciae I. Hellenic Zoological Society. pp. 275.

Citation

Paragamian, K. 2025. Fauna of the cave Spilaio Peristera, Vrachasi, Agios Nikolaos, Kriti. In Paragamian, K., M. Poulinakis, S. Paragamian and I. Nikoloudakis. Cave fauna of Greece database - Hellenic Institute of Speleological Research. Cave data updated 14.02.2024, Accessed 28.10.2025