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Pseudoscorpiones: Behaviour

Pseudoscorpions are generally quite secretive and exhibit little overt behaviour. Some feign death when disturbed, but others will defend themselves with their pedipalps or by running swiftly, often backwards.

Prey is captured using their pedipalps, and either crushed or envenomated prior to external digestion and then ingestion.

Mating can be simple or complex, but always involves the deposition of a spermatophore on the substrate. In some lineages, males deposit the spermatophore in isolation, and females find it via chemical cues. In Cheliferoidea, males perform a mating dance with the female prior to spermatophore deposition.

Some pseudoscorpions, principally cheliferoids, attach themselves to insects, resulting in dispersal between habitats. This behaviour is called phoresy.

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Publications

2011

Tizo-Pedroso, E.; Del-Claro, Kleber (2011):
Is There Division of Labor in Cooperative Pseudoscorpions? An Analysis of the Behavioral Repertoire of a Tropical Species. Ethology. 117: 498-507 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2011.01906.x

2009

DEL-CLARO, K. ; Tizo-Pedroso, E (2009):
Ecological and evolutionary pathways of social behavior in Pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones). Acta Ethologica. 12: 13-22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-009-0052-y
DEL-CLARO, K. ; Tizo-Pedroso, E (2009):
Ecological and evolutionary pathways of social behavior in Pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones). Acta Ethologica. 12: 13-22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-009-0052-y

2007

Tizo-Pedroso, E.; DEL-CLARO, K. (2007):
Cooperation in the neotropical pseudoscorpion, Paratemnoides nidificator (Balzan, 1888): feeding and dispersal behavior. INSECTES SOCIAUX. 54: 124-131 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-007-0931-z

2005

SANTOS, Jean Carlos ; Tizo-Pedroso, E. ; FERNANDES, Geraldo Wilson (2005):
A case of phoresy of Semeiochernes armiger Balzan, 1892 (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae) on the giant tropical fly Pantophthalmus tabaninus Thunberg, 1819 (Diptera: Pantophthalmidae) in an Amazonian rain forest, Porto Trombetas. Lundiana. 6: 11-12
Tizo-Pedroso, Everton ; Del-Claro, Kleber ; Tizo-Pedroso, E (2005):
MATRIPHAGY IN THE NEOTROPICAL PSEUDOSCORPION PARATEMNOIDES NIDIFICATOR (BALZAN 1888) (ATEMNIDAE). Journal of Arachnology. 33: 873-877 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1636/S03-61.1