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 ...

An integrative description of Euscorpius diagorasi sp. n. from Rhodes, Greece (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae)

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An integrative description of Euscorpius diagorasi sp. n. from Rhodes, Greece (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae)

Abstract

The genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 comprises a diverse and taxonomically challenging group of scorpions in the Mediterranean, with Greece representing one of its principal centers of diversity. In this study, we provide an integrative description of Euscorpius diagorasi sp. n., a new species from Rhodes Island, Greece. The new species is described on the basis of adult male and female morphology and mitochondrial COI sequence data. It is a small oligotrichous species characterized by a total length of approximately 21–25 mm, pale yellow to light brown coloration with darker reddish-brown pedipalps, pectinal tooth count of 8 in the male and 7 in the females, Pv = 7–8, Pe-et = 5–6, and a distinct mitochondrial lineage. Phylogenetic analyses based on COI recovered the Rhodian specimens as a strongly supported monophyletic lineage, sister to E. vignai from Karpathos. Species delimitation analyses with BIN assignment, ABGD, and ASAP consistently supported the Rhodes population as a separate molecular unit. Morphologically, the new species differs from E. vignai and other geographically proximate Aegean and Anatolian congeners in a combination of body size, coloration, trichobothrial counts, pectinal tooth counts, carinal development and granulations. The species was found in pine forest habitat beneath the bark of Pinus brutia, suggesting an association with sheltered corticolous microhabitats. The description of E. diagorasi sp. n. adds to the growing evidence of insular diversification in Greek Euscorpius and highlights the still underestimated scorpion diversity of the Dodecanese.

Kalaentzis, K., Frigioni, F., Kaitetzidou, E., Iannucci, A., & Triantafyllidis, A. 2026 . An integrative description of Euscorpius diagorasi sp. n. from Rhodes, Greece (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae). Euscorpius, No. 428: 1-14. https://mds.marshall.edu/euscorpius/vol2026/iss428/1/