cryptozoa

{{Short description|Small animals living in dark humid conditions}}

{{Distinguish|Cryptid}}

Cryptozoa is the collective name for small animals who live in darkness and under conditions of high relative humidity, as in the wet soil underneath rocks, decomposing tree bark etc.{{Cite journal|jstor=1943574|journal=Ecological Monographs|volume=16|issue=1|pages=49–86|last1=Cole|first1=Lamont C.|title=A Study of the Cryptozoa of an Illinois Woodland|year=1946|doi=10.2307/1943574}}{{Cite journal|jstor=3704995|journal=The Journal of Arachnology|volume=2|issue=1|pages=43–45|last1=Savory|first1=Theodore|title=On the Arachnid Order Palpigradi|year=1974}} Examples include pseudoscorpions, slugs, centipedes and earwigs. The habitat of the cryptozoa allows avoidance of fluctuations of temperature and humidity, which makes the contained range of considerably different species quite remarkable.{{Cite book|last=Cloudsley-Thompson|first=Professor Dr John L.|date=1988-01-01|publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg|isbn=9783540181880|pages=80–98|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-61360-9_6|title = Evolution and Adaptation of Terrestrial Arthropods|chapter = Adaptations to Extreme Environments}} Moreover, cryptozoa are notable for their inclusion of often unnamed varieties of organisms.

The term "cryptozoic fauna" was originally coined by Arthur Dendy.{{Cite journal |last=Dendy |first=Arthur |date=1894-12-01 |title=L.—Additions to the cryptozoic fauna of New Zealand |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00222939408677825 |journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History |volume=14 |issue=84 |pages=393–401 |doi=10.1080/00222939408677825 |issn=0374-5481}}