An unusually complex venom system in araneophagous palp-footed spiders (Palpimanidae)

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  An unusually complex venom system in araneophagous palp-footed spiders (Palpimanidae) Venoms are key adaptive traits in many animal lineages, yet their structural and functional diversity in spiders remains poorly investigated. Here, we present an initial characterization of the venom system of palp-footed spiders (Palpimanidae), a family specialized in hunting other spiders. Using micro-computed tomography, we found that the venom glands of the single species examined, Palpimanus gibbulus , exhibit a complex, multi-lobed morphology that is unusual among araneomorph spiders. Proteo-transcriptomic analyses of two Palpimanus venoms ( P. gibbulus and P. cyprius ) revealed highly diverse putative toxin repertoires comprising hundreds of peptides and proteins, including numerous novel putative neurotoxins, cytotoxins, enzymes, and allergens. Five major families of cysteine-rich palpitoxins were identified as the dominant putative neurotoxic components in both species, displaying con...

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 pseudoscorpion attached to a European plethodontid salamander and highlights a poorly documented interaction between cave salamanders and arachnids.

Colla, L., Lenci, S., Nobile, F. et al. A pseudoscorpion clinging to a cave salamander: phoresy or failed predation?. acta ethol 29, 34 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-026-00509-y