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 ...

Huntsman spiders of the genus Sinopoda (Araneae, Sparassidae, Heteropodinae) from the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwestern China, with descriptions of two new species

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Huntsman spiders of the genus Sinopoda (Araneae, Sparassidae, Heteropodinae) from the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwestern China, with descriptions of two new species

Abstract

Spiders of the genus Sinopoda Jäger, 1999 from Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China are studied. A total of four species are reported and illustrated of which two, Sinopoda honghe Yu & Zhong, sp. nov. and Sinopoda kuan Yu & Zhong, sp. nov., are described as new to science. The other two previously described species from this region: S. tengchongensis Fu & Zhu, 2008 and S. tumefacta Zhong, Jäger, Chen & Liu, 2019 are also illustrated. Detailed descriptions, diagnoses, illustrations and DNA barcodes of the two new species are given. A distribution map of these four species in Honghe is provided.

Zhang C, Xing Y, Zhong Y, Yu H (2026) Huntsman spiders of the genus Sinopoda (Araneae, Sparassidae, Heteropodinae) from the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwestern China, with descriptions of two new species. ZooKeys 1280: 301-320. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1280.183824