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 ...

Secrets of a didactic collection: a new tarantula genus from the Montane Forest of north-western Ecuador (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

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Secrets of a didactic collection: a new tarantula genus from the Montane Forest of north-western Ecuador (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

Abstract
A new monotypic genus of the subfamily Theraphosinae Thorell, 1869 is described from the Western Cordillera of the Andes in northern Ecuador. The new genus is diagnosed by its distinctive male palpal morphology, including a semi-spatulate bulb caused by a well developed retrolateral inferior keel, presence of a cymbial apophysis, absence of a tibial apophysis, and a new character described in this contribution as a retrolateral tegular process. We comment on the similarities in male palpal bulb morphology with other neotropical genera and provide a preliminary phylogenic placement based on morphology. 

Peñaherrera-R, Pedro & Pinos-Sánchez, Andrés & Guerrero-Campoverde, Ariel & León-E, Roberto J. & Cisneros-Heredia, Diego. (2024). Secrets of a didactic collection: a new tarantula genus from the Montane Forest of north-western Ecuador (Araneae: Theraphosidae). 1185-1191.