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 ...

Egg-Carrying and Cheliceral Comb in Ibaloniinae Harvestmen From the Solomon Islands (Opiliones: Podoctidae)

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Egg-Carrying and Cheliceral Comb in Ibaloniinae Harvestmen From the Solomon Islands (Opiliones: Podoctidae)

ABSTRACT

Four new species of Ibaloniinae harvestmen are described from the Solomon Islands, Melanesia. Based on the original diagnosis of Euibalonius Roewer, 1915, and description of E. maculatus (Roewer, 1915), this material appeared related to that genus. However, examination of syntype photographs of the type species E. maculatus confirmed the validity of Euibalonius, here revalidated from the synonymy of Ibalonius Karsch, 1880, while simultaneously revealing that the Solomon Islands specimens differ substantially from E. maculatus and cannot be accommodated in that genus. The new genus Kakamora gen. nov. is therefore described for the Solomon Islands material. A revised diagnosis of Euibalonius is provided, and a key to the known species of the genus Kakamora is presented. All newly described species bear a cheliceral comb, a structure only recently documented in Podoctidae, and which we also record here for two additional Ibaloniinae species, suggesting broader occurrence within the subfamily. In one of the new species, males were found carrying eggs firmly attached to their femora and tibiae, a behaviour here interpreted as paternal care. This represents a further case of egg carrying by male podoctids, offering a counterpoint to previous doubts about the meaning of this behaviour in the family.

Kury, A. B., Machado, G., Buzatto, B. A., Kekeubata, E., & Medrano, M. (2026). Egg-Carrying and Cheliceral Comb in Ibaloniinae Harvestmen From the Solomon Islands (Opiliones: Podoctidae). Austral Entomology, 65(3), e70075. https://doi.org/10.1111/aen.70075