Unveiling the diversity and distribution of Coelotinae (Araneae, Agelenidae) spiders from Chongqing, China

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  Unveiling the diversity and distribution of Coelotinae (Araneae, Agelenidae) spiders from Chongqing, China Abstract This research examines the funnel-web spider subfamily Coelotinae (Araneae, Agelenidae) from karst caves and associated subterranean environments in Chongqing Municipality, China, resulting in the identification of 84 species across 20 genera, which includes nine new genera and 58 new species: Antrocoelotes gen. nov., A. jiangjin sp. nov. (♂♀); genus Coelotes Blackwall, 1841, Coelotes jinyun sp. nov. (♂), C. zhui sp. nov. (♂); Cucullicoelotes gen. nov., C. beibei sp. nov. (♂♀), C. simianshan sp. nov. (♀), C. wuxi sp. nov. (♂♀); Dolabocoelotes gen. nov., D. wanzhou sp. nov. (♂♀), genus Draconarius Ovtchinnikov, 1999, Draconarius acutus-group, D. yu sp. nov. (♂♀), D. yunyang sp. nov. (♂♀), D. zouma sp. nov. (♂♀); Draconarius aspinatus-group, D. cerebriformis sp. nov. (♀), D. fengjie sp. nov. (♀), D. jiangjin sp. nov. (♀), D. pengshui sp. nov. (♀), D. shizhu sp. nov. (...

A taste for ants: potential obligate myrmecophagy in Lasaeola (Araneae: Theridiidae)

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A taste for ants: potential obligate myrmecophagy in Lasaeola (Araneae: Theridiidae)

Abstract

Ant predation (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) by the genus Lasaeola Simon, 1881 is a behaviour sporadically reported in the scientific literature and frequently observed in images uploaded to various online platforms. While these scattered observations confirm the existence of this predator-prey interaction, a systematic analysis of these observations has never been undertaken. Here, we present the first formal analysis and compilation of documented cases of myrmecophagy in Lasaeola, providing evidence that obligate ant predation is a likely foraging strategy for this genus.

A taste for ants: potential obligate myrmecophagy in Lasaeola (Araneae: Theridiidae), 
Dentici A & Bianco VFL (2025), Eine Vorliebe für Ameisen: Potentielle obligate Myrmekophagie durch die Gattung Lasaeola (Araneae: Theridiidae), Heft 70, 24-28 10.30963/aramit7005