A pseudoscorpion clinging to a cave salamander: phoresy or failed predation?

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  A pseudoscorpion clinging to a cave salamander: phoresy or failed predation? Abstract Pseudoscorpions are well known for phoretic associations with arthropods, but interactions with amphibians are rarely documented. Here we report a pseudoscorpion attached to the left palpebral region of an adult male Italian cave salamander, Speleomantes italicus , observed during a visual survey in a karst cave in Tuscany, Italy. The pseudoscorpion, assigned on the basis of visible morphology and locality to Chthonius cf. elongatus , was grasping a minute cutaneous fold on the lower margin of the left upper eyelid with one chela while the salamander moved slowly over the rock surface. No handling was performed and the initial contact between the two animals was not observed. The event therefore cannot be interpreted unambiguously, but may represent opportunistic phoresy or defensive attachment following a failed predation attempt. To our knowledge, this is the first published observation of a ...

Cymbiapophysa seldeni, a new theraphosine species from Ecuador (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

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Cymbiapophysa seldeni, a new theraphosine species from Ecuador (Araneae: Theraphosidae)


Abstract

Cymbiapophysa Gabriel & Sherwood, 2020 is a theraphosine genus endemic to South America, diagnosable on genital organ morphology in both sexes, and the presence of a distal-retrolateral apophysis on the male cymbium. Examination of historical material in the Natural History Museum, London, recently revealed a new species from Carondelet, Ecuador, with distinct palpal bulb and tibial apophysis morphology, described herein as Cymbiapophysa seldeni sp. nov.


Danniella Sherwood and Ray Gabriel "Cymbiapophysa seldeni, a new theraphosine species from Ecuador (Araneae: Theraphosidae)," Arachnology 19(5), 777-779, (10 July 2023). https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2023.19.5.777