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 ...

First Record of the Parasitoid Wasp Philolema latrodecti Parasitizing an Egg Sac of the Widow Spider Latrodectus mactans in Nuevo Leon, Mexico

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First Record of the Parasitoid Wasp Philolema latrodecti Parasitizing an Egg Sac of the Widow Spider Latrodectus mactans in Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Abstract

To our knowledge, Philolema latrodecti (Fullaway, 1953) (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae) is recorded for the first time in Mexico parasitizing an egg sac of the widow spider Latrodectus mactans (Fabricius, 1775) (Araneae: Theridiidae).

Se registra por primera vez para México la avispa parasitoide Philolema latrodecti (Fullaway, 1953) (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae), parasitando un saco de huevos de la araña viuda Latrodectus mactans (Fabricius, 1775) (Araneae: Theridiidae).

Manuel de Luna, Víctor Hernández-González, Carlos Solís-Rojas, Patricia Zambrano-Robledo, Edgar O. García Sánchez, Iram P. Rodriguez-Sanchez, María de Lourdes Ramírez-Ahuja "First Record of the Parasitoid Wasp Philolema latrodecti Parasitizing an Egg Sac of the Widow Spider Latrodectus mactans in Nuevo Leon, Mexico," Southwestern Entomologist, 49(4), 1485-1493, (28 February 2025) https://doi.org/10.3958/059.049.0435