Rhabditophanes schneideri (Rhabditida) phoretic on a cave pseudoscorpion

Information of phoretic nematode-pseudoscorpion associations and cases of parasitism on five European species of pseudoscorpions was summarized by Curćic et al. [Curcić, B.P.M., Dimitrijević, R.N., Makarov, S.E., Lucić, L.R., Curcić, S.B., 1996. Further report on nematode-pseudoscorpion associations. Acta arachnol. 45, 43-46; Curcić, B.P.M., Sudhaus, W., Dimitrijević, R.N., Tomić, V.T., Curcić, S.B., 2004. Phoresy of Rhabditophanes schneideri (Bütschli) (Rhabditida: Alloionematidae) on pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones). Nematology 6 (3), 313-317]. An examination of a sample of the cavernicolous pseudoscorpion Neobisium rajkodimitrijevici (Curcić and Tomić, 2006) (comprising a holotype male and a paratype tritonymph) from a cave in Eastern Serbia revealed this false scorpion to be a nematode carrier; the present paper reports this finding and extends our knowledge of phoresy of Rhabditophanes on pseudoscorpions. This is the first time that the rhabditid R. schneideri (Bütschli, 1873) has been noted in association with a cavernicolous pseudoscorpion. There must be some patchily distributed micro-habitats in caves where saprobiotic nematodes and small arthropods can complete their life-cycles, for example something like deposits of bat guano. The transportation of Rhabditophanes J3 by pseudoscorpions indicate that Neobisium specimens often visit these micro-habitats to find their prey.