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...

Spider Web DNA Metabarcoding Provides Improved Insight into the Prey Capture Ability of the Web-Building Spider Tetragnatha keyserlingi Simon (Araneae: Tetragnathidae)

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Spider Web DNA Metabarcoding Provides Improved Insight into the Prey Capture Ability of the Web-Building Spider Tetragnatha keyserlingi Simon (Araneae: Tetragnathidae)

Abstract

Spiders play a crucial role as predators in terrestrial ecosystems, particularly in controlling insect populations. Tetragnatha keyserlingi Simon (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) is a dominant species in rice field ecosystems, where it builds webs amidst rice clusters to capture prey. Despite its known predation on major rice pests like rice planthoppers, comprehensive field reports on its prey composition are scarce. Herein, we performed a field investigation to explore the population dynamic relationships between T. keyserlingi and major rice pests. Additionally, we employed DNA metabarcoding to analyze the prey spectrum of this spider from both the spider’s opisthosoma and its web. The results showed that the population dynamics of T. keyserlingi and Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) displayed synchrony. Dietary DNA metabarcoding analysis revealed that, compared with the opisthosoma, DNA extracted from spider webs exhibited a higher abundance of prey reads and yielded a higher diversity of identified prey species. Phytophagous pests were the dominant prey group identified in both sample types. In web samples, the most abundant prey reads were from Chironomidae, followed by Delphacidae, Ceratopogonidae, Aleyrodidae, Muscidae, Coenagrionidae, and other prey families. Notably, Delphacidae constituted the predominant prey reads identified from the spider’s opisthosoma, and the corresponding positive rate for Delphacidae was 86.7%. These results indicate that the web of T. keyserlingi can capture a diverse range of prey in rice fields. Among the prey captured by the spider web, rice planthoppers appear to be a primary dietary component of T. keyserlingi, emphasizing its potential as a biocontrol agent for rice planthoppers in integrated pest management strategies. Leveraging spider web DNA metabarcoding enhances our understanding of T. keyserlingi’s prey capture ability, as the residual prey DNA in webs provides critical insights into the foraging dynamics and ecological interactions of web-building spiders.

Sun, Jie, Xuhao Song, Bin Wang, Dongmei Chen, Tingbang Yang, and Shichang Zhang. 2025. "Spider Web DNA Metabarcoding Provides Improved Insight into the Prey Capture Ability of the Web-Building Spider Tetragnatha keyserlingi Simon (Araneae: Tetragnathidae)" Agriculture 15, no. 12: 1235. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15121235