Spiliara Karoumon

Higher Geography
Region: Kriti,
Sub-Region: Lasithi,
Municipality: Siteia,
Closest Settlement: Chochlakies
Cave Synonyms
Karouba cave, Spilaio Karouba, Höhle Karouba
Cave type
Natural
Description / Comments

All species were collected from "Aus der Höhle Karouba, östlich von Sitia" with no other information for its location. There is no village nor a cave named "Karouba" east of Siteia (Lasithi, Crete). The only related known toponym is the Karoumes valley and its small bay 2,7 km E of Chochlakies village (15 km SE of Siteia). The name comes "Karoumes" (=Karoubes) comes from the Arabic word Karub (=Carob). Not far from the beach, on the top of a hill, there is a cave known as Spiliara Karoumon (Lat  35.145030, Lon 26.270561, 80m a.s.l.)

Fauna
  • Albinaria teres (Olivier, 1801), Seidl 1978, Frank 1988
    Phylum: Mollusca / Class: Gastropoda / Order: Stylommatophora / Family: Clausiliidae
  • Hoplopholcus minotaurinus Senglet, 1971, Brignoli 1971b, Brignoli 1979a, Bosmans & Chatzaki 2005, Bosmans et al. 2013, Beron 2016, Huber 2020
    Phylum: Arthropoda / Class: Arachnida / Order: Araneae / Family: Pholcidae
  • Metafruticicola pellita (A. Férussac, 1832), Martens 1889, Seidl 1978, Bank et al. 2013
    Phylum: Mollusca / Class: Gastropoda / Order: Stylommatophora / Family: Hygromiidae
Species references
  • Bank, R. A., Gittenberger, E., & Neubert, E. 2013. Radiation of an eastern Mediterranean landsnail genus: revision of the taxa belonging to Metafruticicola Von Ihering1892. Archiv Für Molluskenkunde: International Journal of Malacology, 142(1), 67–136. doi:10.1127/arch.moll/1869-0963/142/067-136
  • 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.
  • Brignoli, P. M. 1971. Su alcuni Lepthyphantes di Creta (Araneae, Linyphiidae). Fragm. Entomol., 7 (4): 231-241.
  • Brignoli, P. M. 1979. Ragni di Grecia XI. Specie nuove o interessanti, cavernicole ed epigee. Rev. suisse Zool., 86 (1): 181-202.
  • Frank, C. 1988. Über Molluskenfunde von den Inseln Chios , Kreta und Zypern sowie vom griechischen Festland (Thessalien). Ber. nat.-med. Ver. Innsbruck, 75: 81-90.
  • Huber B.A. 2020. Revision of the spider genus Hoplopholcus Kulczyński (Araneae, Pholcidae). Zootaxa 4726:1–94.
  • Martens, E. V. 1889. Griechische Mollusken. Gesammelt von Eberh. von Oertzen. Arch. Naturg., Berlin, 55 (1): 169-240.
  • Seidl, F. 1978. Zur Molluskenfauna von Kreta: I. Historische Aufzeichnungen. Aus dem Reisetagebuch von Hofrat Dr. RUDOLF STURANY ausgewählt und kommentiert. Mitt. zool. Ges. Braunau, 3 (5/7): 157-193.
Citation
Paragamian, K. 2026. Fauna of the cave Spiliara Karoumon, Chochlakies, Siteia, Kriti. In Paragamian, K., M. Poulinakis, S. Paragamian and I. Nikoloudakis. Cave fauna of Greece database - Hellenic Institute of Speleological Research. Cave data updated 28.05.2020, Accessed 09.03.2026