Palaospeum bessoni (Bernasconi, 1999)

Stygobiont, restricted to Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in karstic aquifers.
Original taxon: Paladilhia bessoni.
Uthurbietta karst spring near Guessalia stream, Aussurucq, eastern Arbailles. Altitude ≈ 230m. 4,5mm.
Same spot. 4,25mm. Notice the little variability of the shape, and also the slightly wavy aperture.
Specimens found in the sedimentation basin of the small so-called “thermal” spring near the porch of the Arangonera cave-river, Garaibie, Ordiarp, eastern Arbailles. Altitude ≈ 300m. 4,4-4,6mm. This “thermal” spring seems to belong to the same system than the Arangonera stricto sensu; in 1909, Martel and Fournier, the first explorers of the cave, measured, in this little spring, the same water-temperature than in the main stream in the large porch: 10.6°C, which is not very “thermal”.
Arangonera spring at low flow in june. – The species is dedicated to J-P. Besson (1940-2014), biospeleologist, palaeontologist, scientific officer at the Pyrenees National Park.
Arangonera porch and the little S1 upstream the pool.
 
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