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 ...

On the Identity of Some Taxa in the Tarantula Tribe Hapalopini, with Two Synonymies, and Description of Four New Genera and Three New Species (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

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On the Identity of Some Taxa in the Tarantula Tribe Hapalopini, with Two Synonymies, and Description of Four New Genera and Three New Species (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

Abstract

Four new genera are described to resolve the recent placement of non-congeneric species in Hapalopus Ausserer, 1875 and Thrixopelma Schmidt, 1994. Further taxonomic notes on Hapalopini are provided. Crypticarachne gen. nov. is described for the newly combined monotypic species Crypticarachne nadineae (Sherwood & Gabriel, 2022) comb. nov. Devicarina gen. nov. is described to house the newly combined species Devicarina akroa (Moeller, Galleti-Lima & Guadanucci, 2024) comb nov. (type species) and Devicarina guidonae (Moeller, Galleti-Lima & Guadanucci, 2024) comb. nov. which were clearly misplaced in Hapalopus. Ewok gen. nov. is described for six newly combined and two newly described species: Ewok aymara (Chamberlin, 1916) comb. nov., Ewok aycaramba sp. nov., Ewok christineae (Sherwood & Gabriel, 2024) comb. nov. (type species), Ewok cyaneolum (Schmidt, Friebolin & Friebolin, 2005) comb. nov., Ewok eliseanneae (Sherwood & Gabriel, 2024) comb. nov., Ewok kainae sp. nov., Ewok kimraykawsaki (Signorotto et al., 2025) comb. nov. and Ewok pruriens (Schmidt, 1998) comb. nov. Warmiru gen. nov. is described to accommodate the newly combined species Warmiru lagunas (Schmidt & Rudloff, 2010) comb. nov. and Warmiru longicolli (Schmidt, 2003) comb. nov. (type species). Thrixopelma peruvianum (Schmidt, 2007) syn. nov. is proposed as a junior synonym of Warmiru longicolli comb. nov. based on spermathecal morphology. Finally, Anqasha lima sp. nov. is described based on material from Peru in accordance with Article 13 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The recent misidentification of palpal bulb keels by Kaderka & QuispeColca (2025) is corrected, and Thrixopelma zaratensis Kaderka & Quispe-Colca, 2025 is newly transferred to Ewok gen. nov. with Ewok zaratensis syn. nov. placed as a junior synonym of Ewok christineae comb. nov.

Sherwood, D., Gabriel, R., Peñaherrera-R., P., León-E., R. J., Rollard, C., Leguin, E.-A., Brescovit, A. D. & Lucas, S. M. (2025f). On the identity of some taxa in the tarantula tribe Hapalopini, with two synonymies, and description of four new genera and three new species (Araneae: Theraphosidae). ZooNova 46: 1-23. doi:10.5281/zenodo.17612014