Cryptozoa

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.

The habitat of the cryptozoa allows avoidance of fluctuations of temperature and humidity, which makes the contained range of considerably different species quite remarkable.

Forest humus and leaf litter can provide the necessary conditions for cryptozoic life in part because of the shielding from surrounding trees.

Nonetheless, temperate woodlands are not the only ground for such a habitat: the tropics and the desert are often suitable for cryptozoa, such as scorpions or Solifugae.

[3] Examples of the cryptozoa include land-planarians, amphipods, pill-woodlice, centipedes, pill-millipedes, thysanurans, false-scorpions and oribatid mites.