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 ...

Diversity survey of Pholcus spiders (Araneae, Pholcidae) from eastern Sichuan and neighboring areas, with descriptions of six new species

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Diversity survey of Pholcus spiders (Araneae, Pholcidae) from eastern Sichuan and neighboring areas, with descriptions of six new species

Abstract

Thirteen spider species of the genus Pholcus Walckenaer, 1805 are reported from a diversity survey in eastern Sichuan and neighboring areas (northeastern Yunnan and western Guizhou). They belong to three species groups and include six newly described species: Pholcus qiaojia Li, Li & Yao, sp. nov. (♂♀, Yunnan) in the bidentatus group; P. aba Li, Li & Yao, sp. nov. (♂♀, Sichuan) and P. wenchuan Li, Li & Yao, sp. nov. (♂♀, Sichuan) in the crypticolens group; P. mengding Li, Li & Yao, sp. nov. (♂♀, Sichuan), P. miyi Li, Li & Yao, sp. nov. (♂♀, Sichuan) and P. yaan Li, Li & Yao, sp. nov. (♂♀, Sichuan) in the yichengicus group. P. bidentatus Zhu, Zhang, Zhang & Chen, 2005 is recorded from Yunnan for the first time and P. kunming Zhang & Zhu, 2009 is recorded from Guizhou and Sichuan for the first time. Detailed diagnoses, descriptions, photomicroscope images, and DNA barcodes of all newly described species are provided.

Li J, Li S, Zhang X, Yao Z (2025) Diversity survey of Pholcus spiders (Araneae, Pholcidae) from eastern Sichuan and neighboring areas, with descriptions of six new species. ZooKeys 1240: 39-64. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1240.147905