Efficacy of neem oil (Azadirachta indica) as an antiparasitic treatment for scorpions (Androctonus bicolor) and its impact on venom production

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  By Guy Haimovitch - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=630184 Efficacy of neem oil (Azadirachta indica) as an antiparasitic treatment for scorpions (Androctonus bicolor) and its impact on venom production Abstract Mite infestations are a recurrent welfare issue that significantly affect the health, venom production, and survival of scorpions, particularly under human care. Chemical acaricides such as permethrins and fipronil, widely used in veterinary medicine for mite and tick control, are contraindicated in scorpions. Since mites and scorpions both belong to the class Arachnida, even minimal exposure can result in severe toxicity or death. Neem oil ( Azadirachta indica ) has been widely recognized for its acaricidal, antibacterial, and antifungal properties. Its main compound, azadirachtin, interferes with mite development and reproduction, leading to reduced infestations and egg viability. This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of a 1...

Caerostris (Araneidae: Araneae) cryptic diversity highlights the need for taxonomic expertise in the genomic era

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Caerostris (Araneidae: Araneae) cryptic diversity highlights the need for taxonomic expertise in the genomic era

Abstract

Bark spiders (Caerostris Thorell, 1868, Araneidae Clerck, 1757) are large spiders distributed across the Old-World tropics. This genus was understudied until recently, but received more attention following the discovery of unique web evolution and biomaterial properties of its species. Caerostris are characterized by web gigantism, reaching extremes in Darwin’s Bark spider (C. darwini Kuntner & Agnarsson, 2010), which employs the toughest known silk. Due to the exceptional silk of C. darwini, recent research provided whole-genome sequencing and silk-gene mapping for C. darwini and a sympatric congener misassigned, due to cryptic diversity, to C. extrusa Butler, 1882. We describe a case of convergent evolution in somatic morphology that further hinders species identification in the field. Conducting a morphological and molecular investigation of exemplars that share the “C. extrusa morphotype”, we conclude they belong to four distinct species. We redescribe the two valid ones, C. extrusa and C. hirsuta (Simon, 1895), elevate the previously synonymized C. bankana Strand, 1915 to species level, and newly describe C. kuntneri sp. nov., the species used in the assembly of its genome. We argue this to be an example of how the global taxonomic impediment can lead to errors in rapidly advancing fields such as genomics.

Gregorič, Matjaž, Kuang-Ping Yu, Winny Rojas Velez, and Jessica E. Garb. 2025. “Caerostris (Araneidae: Araneae) Cryptic Diversity Highlights the Need for Taxonomic Expertise in the Genomic Era”. European Journal of Taxonomy 989 (1):1–23. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2025.989.2877.