Mountain caves of the central region of Veracruz: A vertebrate biodiversity reservoir in a Neotropical hotspot

Caves: del Maguey (MY), de Atoyac (AY), del nacimiento de 7 aguas (NC), de ojo de agua grande (OJ), de Pinoltepec (PN), de la Reja (RE), del Aire (AI), de la Palma (PL), del boquero´n de Capulapa (BQ), de Tepeapulco (TP), la Pintada (PI) de Tenampa (TN), de los Maltos (MT), de la Garganta (GT), de la Escalera (ES), and del Volcancillo (VL). The average length of the volcanic caves was 1,459 m, with the longest being “la Escalera” (ES) with 3,875 m, and the shortest being “la Garganta” (GT) with 220 m. The average slope was -108 m, the lowest slope was -8 m (GT cave), and the highest slope was -215 m (ES cave). In the case of the karst caves, the average length was 851 m, with the shortest being the “Tepea- pulco” (TP) cave with 42 m, and the longest being the “Palma” (PL) cave with 3,353 m. The average slope was -37 m, the lowest slope was -7 m (PI cave), and the highest slope was -98 m (TP cave). Environments According to the availability of light, the environments of the caves were classified as euphotic (light entrance zone), which is exposed to the external environment, disphotic (twilight zone), Table 1. Diversity of vertebrates in karst and volcanic caves of central Veracruz, Mexico. The information in parentheses is the abundance of each group. Origin Zone Cave Alt (N) Lat (W) Mammals Birds Reptiles Amphibians Fish Karst Z1 MY 18.83426˚ -96.72428 5 (207) 63 (474) 1 (1) 1 (5) 0 (0) Karst Z1 AY 18.92049˚ -96.76640˚ 3 (47) 40 (217) 1 (1) 0 (0) 0 (0) Karst Z1 NC 18.76701˚ -96.84332˚ 1 (100) 36 (10) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0)

Karst Z1 OJ 18.92726˚ -96.87612˚ 1 (1) 65 (576) 0 (0) 1 (2) 0 (0) Karst Z1 PN 19.43845˚ -96.74087˚ 5 (336) 68 (392) 4 (7) 6 (7) 0 (0) Karst Z2 RE 19.38432˚ -96.78542˚ 8 (102) 55 (586) 1 (1) 1 (1) 0 (0) Karst Z2 AI 19.38692˚ -96.78669˚ 4 (388) 41 (176) 1 (1) 2 (2) 0 (0) Karst Z2 PL 19.04021˚ -96.83071˚ 4 (248) 65 (919) 1 (1) 0 (0) 1 (4) Karst Z2 BQ 19.09101˚ -96.88980˚ 7 (3868) 25 (120) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) Karst Z2 TP 19.41863˚ -96.81271˚ 2 (3) 37 (354) 2 (2) 1 (1) 0 (0) Karst Z2 PI 19.07030˚ -96.92583˚ 5 (66) 26 (161) 0 (0) 2 (3) 1 (1) Volcanic Z2 TN 19.59878˚ -96.86581˚ 2 (156) 41 (281) 3 (4) 2 (2) 0 (0) Karst Z3 MT 19.07083˚ -96.92648˚ 2 (23) 48 (124) 0 (0) 2 (2) 0 (0) Volcanic Z3 GT 19.62227˚ -96.89670˚ 3 (46) 21 (46) 0 (0) 1 (2) 0 (0) Volcanic Z4 ES 19.61691˚ -96.88589˚ 4 (283) 23 (138) 2 (9) 0 (0) 0 (0) Volcanic Z4 VL 19.54176˚ -96.93687˚ 4 (602) 42 (172) 2 (9) 0 (0) 0 (0) Z1 = 300–599 m a.s.l., Z2 = 600–899 m a.s.l., Z3 = 900–1199 m a.s.l., and Z4 = 2100–2400 m a.s.l. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306105.t001 PLOS ONE Vertebrates in caves of Neotropical hotspot PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306105 August 9, 2024 4 / 19