Tag: pseudoscorpion

Local scientists discover new species of cave pseudoscorpion named after Boulder, Colorado

A research associate with the Zoology Department at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, found the new pseudoscorpion along with his wife and son.

Denver Museum of Nature & Science researchers discovered of a new species of cave-dwelling pseudoscorpion near the Flatirons in City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks. David Steinmann, a research associate with the Zoology Department at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, found the new pseudoscorpion along with his wife Debbie and son Nathan. The newly discovered species, Larca boulderica named after Boulder, marks the sixth cave-adapted species of the Larca genus from caves in North America. 

The new species of pseudoscorpion, Larca boulderica, on rocky substrate.
The new species of pseudoscorpion, Larca boulderica, inside the cave. Photo by David Steinmann

In 2008, the Steinmann family went looking for invertebrates in a small cave west of Boulder when David saw an unusual-looking pseudoscorpion clinging to the bottom of a jagged stone. Steinmann sent the specimens to Mark Harvey, a pseudoscorpion expert at the Western Australian Museum, and Harvey determined that the tiny animals represent a new species. Harvey and Steinmann described and named Larca boulderica in a paper recently published in ZooKeys. The specimen used in the species description will now be deposited in the arachnology collection at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.  

Dave and Debbie Steinmann at the barred entrance of a small cave.
Dave and Debbie Steinmann at a small cave where L. boulderica lives. Photo by Ryan Prioreschi

“Dave Steinmann’s discovery of new species of pseudoscorpions from Colorado’s cave systems demonstrates how much we still have to discover about this planet’s biodiversity,” said Paula Cushing, senior curator of invertebrate zoology at the Museum. “Dave’s work in these challenging and unique habitats is critical in such discoveries.”  

About the size of a sesame seed with crab-like pincers, Larca boulderica survives in dry and dusty habitats such as packrat middens. Boulder is the only place in the world they are known to live. Pseudoscorpions have been around for millions of years, including when Tyrannosaurus rex roamed the planet.

A photo of the pseudoscorpion Larca boulderica under a microscope.
Larca boulderica as seen under a microscope. Photo by David Steinmann

“Pseudoscorpions are fascinating creatures. They look like tiny scorpions without a stinger. Few people encounter them, and even fewer find them in caves,” said Frank Krell, senior curator of entomology at the Museum. “David Steinmann has found many tiny creatures in Colorado caves that nobody has found before. The city of Boulder is now immortalized in the name of this new species.” 

Research article:

Harvey MS, Steinmann DB (2024) A new troglomorphic species of Larca (Pseudoscorpiones, Larcidae) from Colorado. ZooKeys 1198: 279-294. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1198.120353

Press release originally published by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Republished with permission.

A new species of rare pseudoscorpion named after the Slovak president

Olpium caputi, named after Zuzana Čaputová, was discovered on the island Tahiti in French Polynesia

There are about 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The most remote of them are in North and East Polynesia, the Hawaiian Islands, and French Polynesia. Biologists have been attracted to these regions since the 18th century, but French Polynesia has received much less attention compared to the Hawaiian Islands.

A view of the area where Olpium caputi was found. Photo by Frédéric A. Jacq

Contributions to our knowledge of the pseudoscorpions of French Polynesia date from the 1930s and are associated with the Pacific Entomological Survey. Since then, the French Polynesian pseudoscorpion fauna has consisted of only four known species.

A female individual of Olpium caputi.

Thanks to international cooperation, a team of enthusiastic scientists has published the first discovery of a new species of pseudoscorpion from French Polynesia. Between 2017 and 2020, they studied French Polynesia’s fauna and environment for the French Polynesian Agricultural Service and as a part of a large-scale survey of arthropods. During their research work, they collected a few pseudoscorpion specimens on Huahine and Tahiti in the Society Islands.

Among them is a new species named Olpium caputi, collected by sieving moss at 1,450 m about sea level on the Mont Marau Summit, Tahiti, one of the Society Islands archipelago. Its scientific name honours Zuzana Čaputová, the President of Slovakia.

Zuzana Čaputová. Photo by Jindřich Nosek (NoJin) under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

“As a female leader, she takes a strong stance and supports women and scientists. Even in the 21st century, women in science or top positions are rare. The rarity of the research in French Polynesia, the uniqueness of the discovery, and the fact that the new species is a female, led us to name it after this inspiring woman who can be a role model of courage and perseverance for many women,” says Jana Christophoryová, who led the study.

The paper is published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.

The team:

Katarína Krajčovičová of Bratislavské regionálne ochranárske združenie – BROZ, Bratislava, and Jana Christophoryová of Comenius University, Bratislava, are both zoologists, who specialize in the taxonomy, distribution, and ecology of pseudoscorpions. Frédéric Jacq, botanist, and Thibault Ramage, entomologist, are independent naturalists who have been working on improving the faunistic and taxonomic knowledge of French Polynesia for over 15 years.

Research article:

Krajčovičová K, Ramage T, Jacq FA, Christophoryová J (2024) Pseudoscorpions (Arachnida, Pseudoscorpiones) from French Polynesia with first species records and description of new species. ZooKeys 1192: 29-43. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1192.111308