A Remarkable Discovery: Exploring a Rare Eresus and Spider Wasp Interaction

  Photo Credit: © Antonino Rametta . All photographs are used with permission. No part of these images may be reproduced, distributed, or used in any form without the prior written permission of the photographer. A Remarkable Discovery: Exploring a Rare Eresus and Spider Wasp Interaction One of the most rewarding aspects of maintaining Arácnido Taxonomy is hearing from naturalists and photographers around the world who take the time to share their discoveries. Every so often, an email arrives that immediately captures your attention. Not because it claims to rewrite what we know about biodiversity, but because it documents something that very few people have the opportunity to witness. Recently, I was contacted by a naturalist in Sicily who shared a series of exceptionally high-quality photographs of a female ladybird spider ( Eresus ) during what appeared to be an interaction with a spider wasp. Along with the images came a simple question: "Could this be scientifically import...

Two New Species of Scorpions (Scorpiones: Chactidae) from Northernmost Brazilian Amazon

 

Two New Species of Scorpions (Scorpiones: Chactidae) from Northernmost Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Amid an ongoing environmental crisis marked by high deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon, two new species of chactid scorpions are herein described. Cayooca puchus sp. n. is described from an inselberg in the municipality of Mucajaí, state of Roraima, northern Brazilian Amazon. The new species resembles Cayooca venezuelensis but differs by denser body granulation and strongly costate, scattered granular ventromedian and ventral prosubmedian carinae. Brotheas cernii sp. n., described from the same locality, resembles Brotheas granulatus and B. subgranulatus but differs by smaller body size, granular ventral carinae on metasomal segment I, strongly granular pedipalp chelae, and spinoid granules on ventral metasomal carinae of segments III–V. These findings reinforce the Amazon as a major center of biodiversity and highlight the likelihood that numerous species remain undescribed.

Lira, A. F., González-Santillán, E., Santos-da-Silva, A. P., Brescovit, A. D., Melo-dos-Santos, G., Rocha, A. M., Melo-dos-Santos, G., Frezarin-da-Silva, E., Leite, T. M., Cardoso, I. C., Santos, K. D., & Pucca, M. B. (2026). Two New Species of Scorpions (Scorpiones: Chactidae) from Northernmost Brazilian Amazon. Diversity, 18(6), 345. https://doi.org/10.3390/d18060345