NSS Convention 2026

The Upper Floridan Aquifer is one of the most productive aquifers in the United States, providing drinking water for millions of people across the southeastern United States. Despite its ecological and economic importance, the aquifer remains poorly studied with respect to its unique and often highly specialized groundwater fauna. Previous work has revealed that the region supports a remarkable diversity of stygobionts, including several iconic and imperiled taxa such as the Georgia Blind Salamander (Eurycea wallacei) and Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish (Cambarus cryptodytes). Yet many areas of the aquifer, particularly in southwestern Georgia and the Florida panhandle, have received little recent biological study.

To address this knowledge gap, we surveyed 50 caves and springs in the Dougherty Plain across 61 surveys conducted from August 2024 through February 2026. We documented 52 taxa representing 5 phyla, 16 classes, 40 orders, and 63 families. A total of 9 stygobionts were observed across 23 sites, highlighted by new locality records for the Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish and Georgia Blind Salamander. Notably, we also discovered two potential new sites for the Shaggy Ghost snail (Dasyscias franzi), a species previously known only from a single cave spring in Washington County, Florida.

These findings underscore both the exceptional biodiversity of the Upper Floridan Aquifer and the continued need for surveys in understudied regions. Expanding the known distributions of rare and endemic taxa provides critical baseline data for management and conservation of groundwater ecosystems in the southeastern United States.