Peter Sprouse, Owner
Founder
Peter Sprouse is a cave management specialist and founder of Zara Environmental. He holds USFWS Permit number TE014168-0 as well as Texas Department of Agriculture pest control license number 0362274. Peter has been exploring and studying caves since 1970, having led the exploration of Sistema Purificación in Mexico, one of the longest and deepest caves in the world. He began collecting cave fauna for study by taxonomists in 1977. He attended the University of Texas at Austin in 1974 as a geology major, and since 1991 he has worked professionally in the fields of cave biology, management, and cartography. He currently manages over 80 caves in central Texas, conducting fire ant control and building cave gates. His experience in conducting karst surveys for invertebrate cave fauna habitat is very extensive. The National Speleological Society has given him the prestigious Lew Bicking Award, named him an NSS Fellow, and he was the medal winner in the 1980 and 1986 NSS Cartographic Salons. Peter serves on the Scientific Advisory Commitee Karst Subcommitee of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve.
The following species have been named in his honor:
Pseudouroctonus sprousei - a cave scorpion from Coahuila
Vaejovis sprousei - a surface scorpion from Nuevo León
Mexisphodris sprousei - a troglobitic beetle from Sistema Purificación, México
Eleodes sprousei - a troglophilic darkling beetle
Cicurina sprousei - a blind spider from Real County, Texas
Protoschizomus sprousei - a blind schizomid from Tamaulipas
Paravachonium sprousei - a pseudoscorpion from Oaxaca
Sumidero sprousei - a millipede from Xilitla, SLP
Rhadine sprousei - a cave-dwelling ground beetle from Bexar
County, Texas
Tayshaneta sprousei - A blind spider from Bexar County, Texas.
Peter Sprouse is a cave management specialist and founder of Zara Environmental. He holds USFWS Permit number TE014168-0 as well as Texas Department of Agriculture pest control license number 0362274. Peter has been exploring and studying caves since 1970, having led the exploration of Sistema Purificación in Mexico, one of the longest and deepest caves in the world. He began collecting cave fauna for study by taxonomists in 1977. He attended the University of Texas at Austin in 1974 as a geology major, and since 1991 he has worked professionally in the fields of cave biology, management, and cartography. He currently manages over 80 caves in central Texas, conducting fire ant control and building cave gates. His experience in conducting karst surveys for invertebrate cave fauna habitat is very extensive. The National Speleological Society has given him the prestigious Lew Bicking Award, named him an NSS Fellow, and he was the medal winner in the 1980 and 1986 NSS Cartographic Salons. Peter serves on the Scientific Advisory Commitee Karst Subcommitee of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve.
The following species have been named in his honor:
Pseudouroctonus sprousei - a cave scorpion from Coahuila
Vaejovis sprousei - a surface scorpion from Nuevo León
Mexisphodris sprousei - a troglobitic beetle from Sistema Purificación, México
Eleodes sprousei - a troglophilic darkling beetle
Cicurina sprousei - a blind spider from Real County, Texas
Protoschizomus sprousei - a blind schizomid from Tamaulipas
Paravachonium sprousei - a pseudoscorpion from Oaxaca
Sumidero sprousei - a millipede from Xilitla, SLP
Rhadine sprousei - a cave-dwelling ground beetle from Bexar
County, Texas
Tayshaneta sprousei - A blind spider from Bexar County, Texas.