Scientists claim to find the deepest dwelling land animal in a cave

A team of European researchers searching for life inside the earth, discovered what could be the world's deepest dwelling land animal said the New Scientist.

The eyeless, wingless insect was found in Krubera-Voronja, the deepest known cave in the world, located in the Western Caucasus mountains.

The creature, now known as Plutomurus ortobalaganensis, is a part of the springtail family of insects and was found over a mile below the surface (6,500 feet), MSNBC reported.

Springtails commonly live in complete darkness in caves, feeding on fungi and other organic matter.

The research team known as CaveX often works in dangerous underground conditions to study life deep inside the earth.

"The CaveX team has been exploring this cave for more than 10 years, hard and dangerous work in a remote area inside the mountains," said researcher Sofia Reboleira, a cave biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, as quoted by Discovery News.

Before the current discovery, springtail insects were most commonly found at less than a quarter of a mile under the earth, reported Discovery News, while the deepest known land dwelling creatures were a species of scorpion and the silverfish insect, both found at about 3,020 feet below the earth.

Researchers point out that the discovery gives new insight into the extreme conditions in which animals can survive.

The study was published in the journal Terrestrial Arthropod Reviews on Wednesday.