New Insight Into the Evolutionary Arms Race Between Spider Egg Sac Pseudoparasitoids and Active Maternal Care by the Spiders

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  New Insight Into the Evolutionary Arms Race Between Spider Egg Sac Pseudoparasitoids and Active Maternal Care by the Spiders ABSTRACT Pseudoparasitoids can lead to high mortality in spider egg sacs, and in some cases, they reduce the reproductive success of a spider female to zero. On the other hand, a species that develops within the spider's egg sac uses a limited resource derived from a single egg sac for its larval development. Therefore, the most crucial behaviour that increases the fitness of free-living pseudoparasitoid females is choosing the best host for their offspring. We analysed various points of the counter-adaptations of the spider egg sac pseudoparasitoid and spiders exhibiting active maternal care, utilising the ichneumonid  Hidryta fusiventris  (Thomson, 1873) and the wolf spider  Pardosa lugubris  (Walckenaer, 1802). We showed that the oviposition decision of  H. fusiventris  is based on the spider's egg sac size and that the fema...

First Record of the Scorpion Vachoniolus globimanus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Jordan

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First Record of the Scorpion Vachoniolus globimanus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Jordan


Abstract 


Four species of the genus Vachoniolus have been described from Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The scorpion Vachoniolus globimanus Levy, Amitai and Shulov, 1973 is recorded from Jordan for the first time. Specimens of this species have been collected from Wadi Rum, southern Jordan. Morphological analysis, morphometric values, and taxonomic features were used to identify the collected specimens. This record extends the known distribution range of the genus Vachoniolus from central, western and southern Arabian Peninsula and Iran to the northwest in southern Jordan. The aim of the present study is to identify and describe the newly collected scorpion species from Wadi Rum desert in Jordan with additional ecological notes on their habitat.