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 ...

Taxonomic reassessment and rejection of the spider family Fonteferreidae Wunderlich, 2023 (Araneae)

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Taxonomic reassessment and rejection of the spider family Fonteferreidae Wunderlich, 2023 (Araneae)

Abstract

The taxonomic validity of the spider family Fonteferreidae Wunderlich, 2023 is re-evaluated in light of new morphological evidence. This araneoid family was originally established based on a single specimen, the male holotype, that lacked both distinctive somatic characters and reproductive structures. Upon re-examination, the holotype specimen was found to be a subadult male, and consequently the diagnostic traits previously cited to justify its familial status are found to be unsubstantiated. In absence of the necessary empirical evidence, the erection of the family Fonteferreidae, the genus Fonteferrea Wunderlich, 2023, and F. minutissima Wunderlich, 2023 must be rejected. We recommend that Fonteferrea minutissima, the genus Fonteferrea, and the family Fonteferreidae be formally treated as a nomina dubia within Araneae.

Lopardo L, Dupérré N, Hormiga G, Michalik P (2026) Taxonomic reassessment and rejection of the spider family Fonteferreidae Wunderlich, 2023 (Araneae). ZooKeys 1278: 95-109. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1278.181771