Spider venom peptides Ht1a and Gg1a are toxic to honeybee parasite Varroa destructor by topical application

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  Spider venom peptides Ht1a and Gg1a are toxic to honeybee parasite Varroa destructor by topical application Abstract Global food supply strongly depends on honeybee pollination services, which are threatened by insecticides and pests such as parasitic Varroa destructor mites. Chemical varroacides/acaricides are hampered by resistance development, necessitating the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives, with arthropod venom peptides being considered promising sources of acaricidal toxins. With only a few acaricidal venom peptides being reported, we performed a systematic topical screening of 50 arthropod venoms against V. destructor , with 78% of the venoms causing 100% mortality after 24 h. Deconvolution of the venoms from the Tasmanian cave spider Hickmania troglodytes and the Giant Japanese funnel-web spider Gigathele gigas led to identification of the varroacidal peptides Ht1a and Gg1a. Topical application of Ht1a and Gg1a reduced varroa mite ...

A new species of Asceua Thorell, 1887 (Araneae, Zodariidae) from the Western Ghats of India

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A new species of Asceua Thorell, 1887 (Araneae, Zodariidae) from the Western Ghats of India

The genus Asceua Thorell, 1887 represents small to medium sized, ant-eating spiders distributed in Africa, Australia, and East and Southeast Asia (Jocqué 1991; World Spider Catalog 2024). At present, two Asceua species are known from India: Asceua cingulata (Simon, 1905) (male, female), and A. thrippalurensis Sankaran, 2023 (male, female) (Caleb & Sankaran 2024; World Spider Catalog 2024). While examining some recent spider collections from the southern Western Ghats of Kerala, India, we recognized a new Asceua species, which is described and illustrated here as Asceua tertia sp. nov.

Asima, A., Sankaran, P. M. & Prasad, G. (2024). A new species of Asceua Thorell, 1887 (Araneae, Zodariidae) from the Western Ghats of India. Zootaxa 5492(4): 596-599. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5492.4.8