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...

One new species of Drapetisca Menge, 1866 (Araneae, Linyphiidae) from Gele Mountain, Chongqing, China

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One new species of Drapetisca Menge, 1866 (Araneae, Linyphiidae) from Gele Mountain, Chongqing, China

Abstract

Background

The genus Drapetisca comprises 7 species distributed in Canada, Central Asia, China, Caucasus, Europe, Japan, Russia (Europe to the Far East), and the USA, out of which five species have been recorded in China (World Spider Catalog 2025). The males and females of Drapetisca can be distinguished from all other Linyphiidae genera by the palpal distal arm of the paracymbium anchor-shaped in the retrolateral view and the protruding epigyne without a scape.

New information

While examining Linyphiidae Blackwall, 1859 specimens from Gele Mountain in Chongqing, we discovered a new species of the genus Drapetisca, D. dentata sp. nov. Detailed descriptions, photographs of copulatory organs and somatic features, and a distribution map are provided.


Shi H-X, Liu Z-Y, Irfan M, Wang L-Y (2026) One new species of Drapetisca Menge, 1866 (Araneae, Linyphiidae) from Gele Mountain, Chongqing, China. Biodiversity Data Journal 14: e180901. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.14.e180901