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 ...

Drivers of saltmarsh spider assemblages in a coastal lagoon: Implications for biodiversity assessment and habitat management

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Drivers of saltmarsh spider assemblages in a coastal lagoon: Implications for biodiversity assessment and habitat management

Abstract

Saltmarshes provide valuable ecosystem services but face increasing degradation from land-use changes, and climate-driven sea-level rise. In Baixo Vouga Lagunar (Ria de Aveiro, Portugal), a partially constructed flood bank built in the late 1990s to prevent saline intrusion into agricultural fields created a mosaic of hydrological conditions and a unique setting to explore how environmental gradients and vegetation structure influence saltmarsh arthropod communities. Spiders have been extensively used as bioindicator species due to their rapid response to environmental changes. This study aimed to identify key ecological drivers structuring saltmarsh ground-dwelling spider assemblages across a gradient of tidal exposure, vegetation, and soil conditions. Spiders were collected using pitfall traps in spring and autumn along four transects at varying distances from the flood bank. In addition, vegetation composition, and soil parameters (pH, salinity, organic matter) were characterized at each transect. A total of 4193 spider individuals from 38 species across 15 families were identified. We used a “fourth-corner” analysis, which integrates species traits and environmental variables through the distribution of species to test whether specific traits were associated with particular environmental conditions. Spider assemblages responded more strongly to vegetation composition than directly to abiotic conditions, suggesting that environmental filtering operates indirectly through vegetation. Functional richness was lowest in areas farthest from the flood bank, where vegetation was less heterogenous. Pardosa pullata group (Araneae, Lycosidae) was the most abundant group. These findings provide baseline data before land-use change, namely potential flood bank completion and suggest spiders are effective indicators of fine-scale habitat variation in saltmarshes.
Ameixa, O., Šipoš, J., Machač, O., Lillebø, A. I., & Sousa, A. I. (2025). Drivers of saltmarsh spider assemblages in a coastal lagoon: Implications for biodiversity assessment and habitat management. Global Ecology and Conservation, 64, e03984. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03984