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 ...

A new species of Ananteris Thorell, 1891 (Scorpiones: Ananteridae) from the Inini-Camopi Massif in French Guiana

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A new species of Ananteris Thorell, 1891 (Scorpiones: Ananteridae) from the Inini-Camopi Massif in French Guiana

Abstract

One new species belonging to the genus Ananteris Thorell is described from the highest peak of French Guiana called Montagne Bellevue, located in the Inini-Camopi Massif in Central French Guiana. The description of this new species brings further evidence about the biogeographic patterns of distribution presented by most species of the genus Ananteris, which are highly endemic in many natural formations of South America and in particular in French Guiana. The new species is a possible vicariant of Ananteris sabineae Lourenço, 2001, described from the Mitaraka Massif.

Lourenço, Wilson & Ythier, Eric. (2025). A new species of Ananteris Thorell, 1891 (Scorpiones: Ananteridae) from the Inini-Camopi Massif in French Guiana. Revista Ibérica de Aracnología.