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 ...

Three new genera of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) living on the forest floor in East Asia

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Three new genera of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) living on the forest floor in East Asia

Abstract

Three new genera as well as one new species belonging to Lycosidae are described, Houcosa gen. nov. (type species: Houcosa zhaoi sp. nov., ♂♀), Kuncosa gen. nov. (type species: Arctosa ningboensis Yin, Bao & Zhang, 1996) and Loongcosa gen. nov. (type species: Pardosa dentitegulum Yin, Peng, Xie, Bao & Wang, 1997). Seven new combinations are proposed: Kuncosa fujiii (Tanaka, 1985), comb. nov., K. hikosanensis (Tanaka, 1985), comb. nov., K. kwangreungensis (Paik & Tanaka, 1986), comb. nov., K. ningboensis (Yin, Bao & Zhang, 1996), comb. nov. (all ex. Arctosa), K. zhui (Yu & Song, 1988), comb. nov., Loongcosa dentitegulum (Yin, Peng, Xie, Bao & Wang, 1997), comb. nov. and L. wuyiensis (Yu & Song, 1988), comb. nov. (all ex. Pardosa). The male of Kuncosa ningboensis and the female of Loongcosa dentitegulum are described for the first time. Detailed descriptions of copulatory organs and somatic features of the new and known species are provided, along with photographs and a distribution map.

Wang L-Y, Marusik YM, Zhang Z-S (2025) Three new genera of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) living on the forest floor in East Asia. ZooKeys 1239: 123-145. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1239.152834