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 ...

Three new genera of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) living on the forest floor in East Asia

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Three new genera of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) living on the forest floor in East Asia

Abstract

Three new genera as well as one new species belonging to Lycosidae are described, Houcosa gen. nov. (type species: Houcosa zhaoi sp. nov., ♂♀), Kuncosa gen. nov. (type species: Arctosa ningboensis Yin, Bao & Zhang, 1996) and Loongcosa gen. nov. (type species: Pardosa dentitegulum Yin, Peng, Xie, Bao & Wang, 1997). Seven new combinations are proposed: Kuncosa fujiii (Tanaka, 1985), comb. nov., K. hikosanensis (Tanaka, 1985), comb. nov., K. kwangreungensis (Paik & Tanaka, 1986), comb. nov., K. ningboensis (Yin, Bao & Zhang, 1996), comb. nov. (all ex. Arctosa), K. zhui (Yu & Song, 1988), comb. nov., Loongcosa dentitegulum (Yin, Peng, Xie, Bao & Wang, 1997), comb. nov. and L. wuyiensis (Yu & Song, 1988), comb. nov. (all ex. Pardosa). The male of Kuncosa ningboensis and the female of Loongcosa dentitegulum are described for the first time. Detailed descriptions of copulatory organs and somatic features of the new and known species are provided, along with photographs and a distribution map.

Wang L-Y, Marusik YM, Zhang Z-S (2025) Three new genera of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) living on the forest floor in East Asia. ZooKeys 1239: 123-145. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1239.152834