MUMMIYA, Koh Pir, 1st (Ghar)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A large cave entrance to many passages and spacious chambers (note 1) is used as a natural temple cave inhabited by Aphaniptera, Chiroptera, Diptera, Muslims, and Neuroptera but off limits for biologists, medical doctors, people travelling all the way down from Sweden, and the like (note 2). ETYMOLOGY: Lindberg's French -moumlaï- stands for the Arabic -mummiya- (asphalt, bitumen, naphta, pitch), a term deriving from the Coptic expression for wax. SITUATION: Near the village of Shamal Gah (note 3) in the flank of Koh Pir (Saint's Hill?), a mountain of calcaire marmorisé (metamorphosed, crystalline limestone, marble). CAVE LIFE: LINDBERG (1958: 126) recorded Chiroptera (apported by an assistant), Diptera, (Phlebotomae), Aphaniptera, Neuroptera (larval stage ofCrocina = ant lion). JUBERTHIE & DECU (2001: 1749) note Vertebrata: Chiroptera: Rhinopomidae: Rhinopoma microphyllum BRÜNWICH.A large cave entrance to many passages and spacious chambers (note 1) is used as a natural temple cave inhabited by Aphaniptera, Chiroptera, Diptera, Muslims, and Neuroptera but off limits for biologists, medical doctors, people travelling all the way down from Sweden, and the like (note 2). ETYMOLOGY: Lindberg's French -moumlaï- stands for the Arabic -mummiya- (asphalt, bitumen, naphta, pitch), a term deriving from the Coptic expression for wax. SITUATION: Near the village of Shamal Gah (note 3) in the flank of Koh Pir (Saint's Hill?), a mountain of calcaire marmorisé (metamorphosed, crystalline limestone, marble). CAVE LIFE: LINDBERG (1958: 126) recorded Chiroptera (apported by an assistant), Diptera, (Phlebotomae), Aphaniptera, Neuroptera (larval stage ofCrocina = ant lion). JUBERTHIE & DECU (2001: 1749) note Vertebrata: Chiroptera: Rhinopomidae: Rhinopoma microphyllum BRÜNWICH.