The 24 thedition of the biennial Conference on Subterranean Biology was held on the campus of the University of Aveiro in Portugal from 20 th to 24 thAugust, following the previous edition held in USA (Culver, 2016). These conferences are organized under the auspices of the International Society for Subterranean Biology, founded in 1979. It was the first meeting held in Portugal and in the Iberian Peninsula.