Mary Bates, PhD

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Sharing is Caring for Pseudoscorpions

One species of tiny arachnid is not only unusually social, it also has a system for meal sharing that puts the young at the head of the table. Pseudoscorpions look like miniature scorpions, minus the stinger at the back end. They are formidable predators of small invertebrates but pose no danger to humans.Paratemnoides nidificator, a species native to Central and South America, is one of the few that can tolerate others of its own kind. They are known to hunt cooperatively to take down large prey such as beetles, stinkbugs, ants, and spiders. Now scientists are taking a closer look at how these critters work together to capture prey and divvy it up amongst colony members.Read the whole story at New Scientist: Ferocious Pack-Hunting Pseudoscorpions Believe in Sharing Fairly.