New predatory interaction of Trichonephila clavipes (Araneae: Nephilidae) on Fidicinini (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in a forest fragment of the Neotropical region

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  New predatory interaction of Trichonephila clavipes (Araneae: Nephilidae) on Fidicinini (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in a forest fragment of the Neotropical region Abstract Trichonephila clavipes (Araneae: Nephilidae) is an orb web-building spider whose diet is primarily based on flying insects. This note aims to report the first predatory interaction of T. clavipes on a cicada of the genus Fidicina (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in a fragment of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. The predation event was observed (ad libitum) in the Benjamin Maranhão Botanical Garden situated in the Mata do Buraquinho Wildlife Refuge, northeastern Brazil. A specimen of Fidicina sp. was found freshly dead and trapped in the web of T. clavipes. The nephilid was observed moving slowly between the ventral and dorsal regions of the Fidicina sp. without weaving a web around the cicadid. Then, T. clavipes was observed perched on the left side of the Fidicina sp., with its pedipalps and chelicerae manipulating the thorax ...

A baffling case of morphological, molecular and ecological discordance in Isometrus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) with the description of five new species from southern India

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A baffling case of morphological, molecular and ecological discordance in Isometrus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) with the description of five new species from southern India

Abstract

The Western and Eastern Ghats of the Peninsular India are known for their high biological diversity, which is shaped due to various geological barriers and environmental parameters. Scorpion diversity in Peninsular India remains poorly known thereby warranting a need to undertake rigorous arachnological surveys. In our continued effort to discover scorpion lineages hitherto unknown to science, we describe five new species of the genus Isometrus Ehrenberg, 1828 which were obtained from southern India, and discuss morphological, molecular and ecological discordance within this genus. The validity of Reddyanus atherii Amir and Kamaluddin, 2008, Isometrus liaqatii Amir and Kamaluddin, 2008 and Isometrus formosus Pocock, 1894 is also commented upon, with implications to propose taxonomic changes within the genus.

Shubhankar Deshpande, Gaurang Gowande, Nikhil Dandekar, Mihir Joshi, Deshabhushan Bastawade, Shauri Sulakhe, A baffling case of morphological, molecular and ecological discordance in Isometrus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) with the description of five new species from southern India, Zoologischer Anzeiger, 2023, ISSN 0044-5231,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcz.2023.11.001.

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0044523123001055)