Differentiation in ant-eating spiders based on offensive and defensive exploitation of ants

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  Differentiation in ant-eating spiders based on offensive and defensive exploitation of ants Abstract Ecological speciation via host-race has been documented in several herbivores and parasitoids. Analogous prey-race has recently been suggested to explain the diversity of specialised ant-eating spiders. Two sister species from the Iberian Peninsula, Zodarion alacre and Z. andalusiacum (Zodariidae), possess almost identical copulatory organs, but differ in body size and colouration. Zodarion spiders exploit different ant species offensively (as prey) and defensively (as mimetic models). Here we tested the hypothesis of prey-race diversification in these two species via offensive and defensive exploitation. We studied the diet of both species using metabarcoding, recorded their circadian activity in the field, investigated their mimetic similarity to ants, and modelled visual perception by potential predators. We found that both species feed on ants but Z. alacre hunted larger ant s...

Occurrence of Lychas armillatus (Gervais, 1841) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in a fire-maintained pine forest in Central Cordillera, Luzon Island, the Philippines

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Occurrence of Lychas armillatus (Gervais, 1841) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in a fire-maintained pine forest in Central Cordillera, Luzon Island, the Philippines

Abstract 

We report an incidental field observation of Lychas armillatus (Gervais, 1841) in a fire-maintained Pinus kesiya community in the Central Cordillera mountain range of Luzon Island, the Philippines. An adult female was documented in situ carrying juvenile exuviae on its dorsum, consistent with the aggregation molting behavior of first-instars previously reported in other buthids. The presence of exuviae further suggests that L. armillatus can reproduce in this habitat. The locality is characterized by an open canopy of P. kesiya and a dense ground layer dominated by fire-adapted species, which more closely resembles a tropical pine savanna than any of the existing Philippine pine forest descriptions. This occurrence adds a buthid scorpion to the sparsely documented ground-dwelling fauna of Philippine pine communities and contributes habitat and ecological information for a species previously known almost entirely through taxonomic literature. 

Villarubia, M. P., Tagarino, V. E. S., & Reginaldo, A. A. (2026). Occurrence of Lychas armillatus (Gervais, 1841) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in a fire-maintained pine forest in Central Cordillera, Luzon Island, the Philippines. Arthropods, 15(4), 207–212. Full text