TAGHAH CHINAH / CHINEH / CINA, Kaméh Zavéh (Cave at)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A modified natural cave (note 1) in the flank of a gorge in conglomerate and mudstone reported LINDBERG (1958: 133) from a spot situated at a distance (along a road?) of about 15 km south-west of Khazha (note 2), and at a locality which LINDBERG (1958: 133) calls -Kaméh Zavéh- (note 3) and LINDBERG (1958: 134) puts at a distance of about 3 km (along a route?) either from his Grotte –>Lagat or from the place Ebrahimkhel (note 4). CAVE DESCRIPTION: A man-sized entrance, half a metre wide, gives access to a gallery up to a bifurcation. The right-hand side passage becomes impenetrable after 12 or 15 m. The low, narrow and moist passage on the left-hand side continues –furnished with a small, very low bypass– for about 25 m to a constriction. At the side of this squeeze lies a small circular chamber which soon gets low and ends in collapse. This chamber is partly occupied by a pile of breakdown. Beyond the squeeze, the main gallery continues for another 10 m or so, rises steeply and ends bocked. CAVE CONTENTS: The cave floor, in parts, is very moist and consists of mud covered with little bat guano. CAVE CLIMATE: On 23rd February 1958 a temperature of about 5°C in the air at the entrance was estimated. Inside, at the highest point in the far end of the cave, the temperature must have been some ten degrees higher. CAVE LIFE: LINDBERG (1958: 134) collected Collembola, Gryllida, Coleoptera (Catopida collected from the carcass of a large adder), Diptera pupipares, Arachnida (Araneida), and bats (Chiroptera). ROEWER (1962) determined -Araneae Dionycha- (Sparassidae: Heteropoda afghana sp.n.). JUBERTHIE & DECU (2001: 1747) list Insecta: Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Derectaotus longipalpis Chopard; Insecta: Coleoptera: Cholevidae: Nargus mohammedis Saulcy; and Vertebrata: Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae: Rhinolophus hipposideros midas ANDERSEN. JÄGER (2005: 90-92 figs. 2-11) provides additional illustrations and diagnoses for Araneae: Sparassidae: Heteropoda afghana Roewer 1962.A modified natural cave (note 1) in the flank of a gorge in conglomerate and mudstone reported LINDBERG (1958: 133) from a spot situated at a distance (along a road?) of about 15 km south-west of Khazha (note 2), and at a locality which LINDBERG (1958: 133) calls -Kaméh Zavéh- (note 3) and LINDBERG (1958: 134) puts at a distance of about 3 km (along a route?) either from his Grotte –>Lagat or from the place Ebrahimkhel (note 4). CAVE DESCRIPTION: A man-sized entrance, half a metre wide, gives access to a gallery up to a bifurcation. The right-hand side passage becomes impenetrable after 12 or 15 m. The low, narrow and moist passage on the left-hand side continues –furnished with a small, very low bypass– for about 25 m to a constriction. At the side of this squeeze lies a small circular chamber which soon gets low and ends in collapse. This chamber is partly occupied by a pile of breakdown. Beyond the squeeze, the main gallery continues for another 10 m or so, rises steeply and ends bocked. CAVE CONTENTS: The cave floor, in parts, is very moist and consists of mud covered with little bat guano. CAVE CLIMATE: On 23rd February 1958 a temperature of about 5°C in the air at the entrance was estimated. Inside, at the highest point in the far end of the cave, the temperature must have been some ten degrees higher. CAVE LIFE: LINDBERG (1958: 134) collected Collembola, Gryllida, Coleoptera (Catopida collected from the carcass of a large adder), Diptera pupipares, Arachnida (Araneida), and bats (Chiroptera). ROEWER (1962) determined -Araneae Dionycha- (Sparassidae: Heteropoda afghana sp.n.). JUBERTHIE & DECU (2001: 1747) list Insecta: Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Derectaotus longipalpis Chopard; Insecta: Coleoptera: Cholevidae: Nargus mohammedis Saulcy; and Vertebrata: Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae: Rhinolophus hipposideros midas ANDERSEN. JÄGER (2005: 90-92 figs. 2-11) provides additional illustrations and diagnoses for Araneae: Sparassidae: Heteropoda afghana Roewer 1962.