The creatures in the underworld

The four-year study in remote areas of Australia has helped scientists discover 850 species of organisms living underground. They evolved in separate environments and often did not have eyes.

Species of strange creatures in the ground

The ground snail belongs to the Hydrobiidae family. They live in central Australian aquifers.

This 1.3cm long snail is one of 850 newly discovered invertebrate species after a 4-year study of Australia's remote desert.

Eels do not have eyes , and they do not need this sense when living in their underground houses. This is a common feature in most of the underground creatures discovered in Australia.

Found in aquifers along the Cape Rande Mountains, a strange 40cm-long eel has become the longest underground creature known in Australia.

Anomalous adaptation to live in underground streams, new crustaceans of the Austrochiltonia family are found only in Great Artesian Bay in South Australia.

Scientists say this small creature is at risk of extinction by the pollution of native streams due to mining and agriculture.

The non-toxic scorpion species with hooked legs is found at the above groundwater aquifer above the groundwater.

This animal is only about 3mm long and is one of the spider species that has a scorpion-like appearance.

Insects of this Hemipteran family are still small and long, only about 3mm. This is a species harmful to plants because they suck the plastic of the roots of the ground.

Another eyeless species, Milyeringa veritas cave fishes inhabit the aquifer of the Cape Range.

This is the only blind fish known in Australia, it is about 5cm long. Blind fish is a kind of amazing adaptability, it can live in freshwater or coastal submerged saltwater.

Scientists have found a spider species in the dry grasslands of Western Australia. Scientists were astonished at the thought that this species only exists in tropical forests.

Crustacean Phreatomerus latipes was previously thought to be the only specimen, however it actually divided into eight different patterns depending on the specific groundwater environment in South Australia.

Many of the 850 species discovered in Australia in a four-year study evolved in small caves and separate groundwater. According to scientists, it is possible that these species have hidden underground after Central and Southern Australia were drought about 15 million years ago.

The new discovery has opened up a ' fantastic window ' to see past climate changes and the evolution of organisms.

Three samples of bladed blind beetles belonging to the Dytiscidae family (pictured from left to Paroster macrosturtensis, Paroster mesosturtensis, and Paroster microsturtensis) live in Western Australia's groundwater.

Scientists say the larvae of this species are ' fierce beasts ', who not only eat smaller crustaceans but also eat each other.