Arachnologische Mitteilungen 56

Arachnologische Mitteilungen / Arachnology Letters 56: 40-44 Karlsruhe, September 2018 The genus Allochernes Beier, 1932 includes 33 species and one subspecies distributed mainly in the northern hemisphere. So far, 15 of them have been discovered in Europe (Harvey 2013). Allochernes solarii (Simon, 1898) can be considered as a rare species, since it has been found, until the current study, only in the north of Italy, Sardinia and in the south of France (Gestro 1904, Leclerc 1979, Gardini 2000, 2004) (Fig. 1).The species was originally described as Chelifer solarii by Simon (1898) from Monte Capraro near Tortona, Piedmont, Italy and sub- sequently transferred to the genus Allochernes by Beier (1932). Gestro (1904) mentioned its occurrence in Sardinia which was questioned by Lazzeroni (1969a). Lazzeroni (1969a) re- corded A . solarii fromMontecchio near Verona,Venetia, under a stone next to a mountain station. Leclerc (1979) published a record from a small cave with colony of bats located in Ruoms à Labeaumem, Ardèche, France. However, Leclerc‘s (1979) identification of A . solarii is doubtful since the author indi- cated differences in characters between the French specimens and the description in Beier (1932). Records of the species from Riva Valdobbia near Vercelli (Piedmont) and Mt. Pas- tello near Verona (Venetia), both from ant nests ( Formica sp., Lasius sp.), were mentioned by Gardini (2004). In Slovakia, three Allochernes species are known: A . peregrinus Lohmander, 1939, A . powelli (Kew, 1916) and A . wideri (C.L. Koch, 1843) (Christophoryová et al. 2011, 2012). The aim of the present paper is to describe the newly found specimens of A . solarii from Slovakia and re-describe the holotype from Italy. Material and methods Slovakian specimens were collected from two nests of Formi- ca gagates Latreille, 1798 (det. Adrián Purkart) (Fig. 2). Both ant nests (distance from each other was at most four meters) were situated under stones and consisted mainly of soil and leaf litter. After rolling the stone, two pseudoscorpions were observed crawling on the stone and on the surface of the ant nest. Two more expeditions were carried out at the study lo- cality. The specimens were collected individually and in ad- dition samples from the centre of ant nests were taken and heat extracted in Tullgren funnels. Collected specimens were studied as temporary slide mounts using lactic acid and pho- tographed using a Canon EOS 1100D camera connected to a Zeiss Stemi 2000-C stereomicroscope. Measurements were taken from the photographs using the AxioVision 40LE ap- plication (v. 4.5). Nomenclature follows Harvey (2013). Ta- ken measurements and terminology largely follow Chamberlin (1931).The use of the terms rallum, antiaxial and paraxial fol- Allochernes solarii (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae) newly recorded from ant nests in Slovakia Martina Červená, Jana Christophoryová, Adrián Purkart & Katarína Krajčovičová doi: 10.30963/aramit5607 Abstract. Allochernes solarii (Simon, 1898) is recorded for the first time from Slovakia. Six adults and two tritonymphs were found in two nests of Formica gagates Latreille, 1798. A description of the species is provided based on Slovakian specimens and the holotype from Italy. Keywords: Central Europe, faunistics, Formica gagates , myrmecophily, taxonomy Zusammenfassung. Allochernes solarii (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae) erstmals in Ameisenbauten in der Slowakei nachgewie- sen. Allochernes solarii (Simon, 1898) wird das erste Mal für die Slowakei nachgewiesen. Sechs Adulte und drei Tritonyphmen wurden in zwei Ameisenbauten von Formica gagates Latreille, 1798 gefunden. Die Art wird auf Basis slowakischer Tiere und des Holotypus aus Italien beschrieben. Martina ČERVENÁ, Jana Christophoryová, Adrián PURKART, Katarína KRAJČOVIČOVÁ, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, SK 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia; E-mails: martinacervena.lr@gmail.com, christophoryova@gmail.com , mravce.info@gmail.com, krajcovic.katarina@gmail.com submitted 21.8.2018, accepted 20.11.2018, online 6.12.2018 Fig. 1: Distribution of Allochernes solarii . Abbreviations: Blue triangle – the type locality of the species in Italy (IT), green circle – localities in Italy, Sar- dinia and France (FR), yellow star – newly discovered locality in Slovakia (SK) Fig. 2: One individual of Allochernes solarii crawling on a stone in a Formica gagates nest in Slovakia (photo: A. Purkart)