Link

 

"Until now eight species of animals were found in the cave, all of them unknown to science." - Dr Hanan Dimantman, biologist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

 

While drilling rock at a quarry near Ramle, miners uncovered a cave that had recieved no sunlight in over 5 million years. There, Israeli scientists have uncovered an entire ecosystem adapted to its environment. Along with various bacteria, 8 different life forms which closely resembled scorpions were found.

 

"Every species we examined had no eyes which means they lost their sight due to evolution," added Dimantman. "This is a cave of fantastic biodiversity."

Neat! I just wish there was more info on the animals themselves.

It looks more like a shrimp than a scorpion to me; the carapase, uropods and antennae are all shrimpy.

Cool! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks zaphod, for anyone interested the bbc link below has a short film on the discovery, and a bit more detail...

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5036618.stm

 

Apparently there were no live scorpions found, but there is still much to explore, they're even hoping to find animals that may feed on the scorpions. The main source of food for this ecosystem appears to be bacteria.

I'm guessing this is going to be the greatest new species discovery since the hydrothermal vent system. Simply incredible.

wow

new species????? it'd definately aliens...