New Insight Into the Evolutionary Arms Race Between Spider Egg Sac Pseudoparasitoids and Active Maternal Care by the Spiders

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  New Insight Into the Evolutionary Arms Race Between Spider Egg Sac Pseudoparasitoids and Active Maternal Care by the Spiders ABSTRACT Pseudoparasitoids can lead to high mortality in spider egg sacs, and in some cases, they reduce the reproductive success of a spider female to zero. On the other hand, a species that develops within the spider's egg sac uses a limited resource derived from a single egg sac for its larval development. Therefore, the most crucial behaviour that increases the fitness of free-living pseudoparasitoid females is choosing the best host for their offspring. We analysed various points of the counter-adaptations of the spider egg sac pseudoparasitoid and spiders exhibiting active maternal care, utilising the ichneumonid  Hidryta fusiventris  (Thomson, 1873) and the wolf spider  Pardosa lugubris  (Walckenaer, 1802). We showed that the oviposition decision of  H. fusiventris  is based on the spider's egg sac size and that the fema...

Three more cases of tergite malformation in two buthid scorpion species revealed from citizen science data (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

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Three more cases of tergite malformation in two buthid scorpion species revealed from citizen science data (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

Abstract 
Three cases of tergite malformation are described: two in Parabuthus raudus (Simon, 1888) from Botswana and one in Lychas sp. from Australia. One adult female P. raudus had tergite IV almost split into two parts, an anomaly that also affected tergites II–III. In another female P. raudus, a longitudinal depression presented across tergites I–IV. In Lychas sp., tergites I–II are strongly constricted transversely, exposing the adjacent pleural membrane dorsally.

Sherwood, Danniella & Tang, Victoria. (2025). Three more cases of tergite malformation in two buthid scorpion species revealed from citizen science data (Scorpiones: Buthidae). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología. 46. 135-137.