Holotype: adult ♂ (broken into head and 6 body parts), Italy, Taranto, Grotta della Cava, iii.1964, P. Parenzan leg. (Natural History Museum of Denmark, Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen – ZMUC).

The new species was collected in a cave in Taranto Province (south-eastern Italy). P. Parenzan (1984, in a letter to HE) wrote that the cave where the species have been collected was subsequently destroyed.

‘profuga’ in Latin means homeless; the name emphasizes the destroyed type locality of the species.

(all measurements in mm). Body uniformly pale yellowish, approximately 26 mm in length, vertical body diameter (height, H) 1.5, length/height ratio 17. Head: ocelli absent, frontal setae and setal sockets missing; gnathochilarium with 2 setae in apical parts of the stipites and with a seta on each lamella lingualis; 4 supralabral setae and a row of ca 12 labral setae; mandibular stipital lobes not expanded in males; antennal length ca 1.5×H. Body with 51 podous + 2 apodous rings and telson; striation moderately dense; setae apparently missing, probably broken off; legs yellowish, their length ca 1.5×H. Male first leg-pair reduced and hook-shaped. Telson blunt, preanal ring without projection, with at least 5 long setae; subanal scale with 2 long setae; anal valves pilose.

Anterior gonopod (promerite, p) slightly longer than posterior gonopod (Figs 1, 2, 4); broad at base, abruptly narrowing at about 1/4 of its height, then gradually broadening distally to form a spatula-like process (Figs 1, 2, 5); apically blunt and mesally with a quite high ridge (r) (Fig. 5). Flagellum (f) (Figs 1, 4) moderately long, falcate, emerging from the promerite’s base, its tip reaching about 2/3 the height of the posterior gonopod. Posterior gonopod: Opisthomerite (o) (Figs 1−4, 6−8) broadest at base, gently tapering up to about 3/4 of its height, then abruptly narrowing and curving anterolaterad; mesally with a wide furrow (Figs 1, 2, fu) running along its length; apex resembling a fish-tail, with two processes (a, b) pointing in opposite directions (Figs 1−4, 6−8) connected by a thin, marginally serrated lamella (l) bearing several small spines on the surface (Figs 2−4). Mesomerital process (mt) (Figs 1−3, 4, 6−8) emerging from the anterior side of the opisthomerite, mostly lodged in the opisthomerital furrow, broad at base, narrowing at about midlength, thereafter becoming very slender and bent, apical margin gently serrated.