End-mites catalogue of the Gesäuse National Park — first processing of the animal group: Pseudoscorpiones (Arachnida:Pseudoscorpiones)

Pseudoscorpions are very small to small spiders (1-6 mm), which are reminiscent of scorpions by large, character-tic gripping shears. However, they do not have a poison spike. Around 3,500 species are known worldwide, 71 from Austria. Through historical collections of Herbert Franz 1940-1950, various ÖKOTEAM projects (2006-2016) and a targeted mapping in the summer of 2016, a total of 15 pseudoscorpion species were detected in the Gesäuse National Park. Native pseudoscorpions are found mainly in foliage and moss on the ground, under bark and in the mulm of old trees and dead wood, as well as in the area of human settlements; here they like to colonise barns, stables and compost heaps. The soil-inhabiting Pseudoskor-PIOne often have very small distribution areas so endmites. Bark and settlement residents, on the other hand, can spread effectively and further by clinging to flight insects. In the Gesäuse National Park, an endemic pseudoscorpion species has been detected, whose area is more than 75 % in eastern Austria, Chthonius (C.) pusillus. This very small species with a body length of 1.5 mm preferably lives in the deep soil litter of mountain mixed forests at 300 to 1 300 m above sea level. The reduction of the back eyes and the pale body coloration indicate a partly underground way of life. Recent genetic studies show that the biodiversity of pseudoscorpiones is likely to be significantly higher in Central Europe than previously thought. Many species can hardly be distinguished externally or the relevant characteristics have not yet been recognised. The situation in the common moss scorpions around neobisium carcinoides is particularly complex. First results show that up to seven species from this conglomerate could occur in the NP groom alone, possibly also endemic forms. Endangered pseudoscorpions are mainly found among bark and mud inhabitants as well as in species adapted to small-scale structures. The approval of natural dynamics in forest stocks and, in particular, the increase in the proportions of old stocks and dead wood are important management measures. In the settlement area, pseudoscorpions benefit from small-scale economic structures and the preservation of traditional forms of animal husbandry.