# Eyeless Troglobites

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyeless-troglobites/512388>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 2, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyeless-troglobites/512388 "2009-10-02T20:07:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyeless-troglobites/512388/21 "2009-10-03T15:31:13Z")

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Troglodytes. Perhaps the OP was thinking of trilobites.

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**Author:** ![Rosentredere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/0ea827/32.png) [@Rosentredere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosentredere)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyeless-troglobites/512388/22 "2009-10-03T16:47:54Z")

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> [@Dr.Drake](#):
>
> Troglodytes. Perhaps the OP was thinking of trilobites.

No, [Troglobites](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troglobites).

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**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyeless-troglobites/512388/23 "2009-10-03T16:54:25Z")

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> [@Rosentredere](#):
>
> No, [Troglobites](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troglobites).

Huh. Ignorance fought. Of course, that was a pretty weak ignorance: had I checked a dictionary before posting, I could have done it myself.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyeless-troglobites/512388/24 "2009-10-03T17:14:49Z")

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> [@fandango](#):
>
> Of course, “few” is relative. But for many salamanders and crayfish, there are still related species that live nearby outside the caves. If it took “many” generations, then the relatives outside the cave would be more distantly related.

More distantly than what? Many species that don’t live in caves have closely related species nearby. The process could take thousands or tens of thousands of generations, and there might still be “closely related” species around. Based on information from islands that were connected to the mainland during the most recent Ice Age when sea level was lower, full speciation often takes longer than 10,000 years, and may take millions.

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