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 ...

Weathering the storm for love? The mate-searching behaviour of wild male Sydney funnel-web spiders, Atrax robustus

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Weathering the storm for love? The mate-searching behaviour of wild male Sydney funnel-web spiders, Atrax robustus

The risky business of mate-searching often leaves the actively searching sex facing threats and rapidly changing conditions. Yet, active mate-searching behaviour is rarely studied in invertebrates, and we have a limited understanding of how mate-searching strategies have evolved to cope with risks posed by harsh weather. We investigated how mate-searching males move through their habitat and how their movement is affected by weather conditions in the Sydney funnel-web spider, Atrax robustus, one of the world’s most venomous spiders. As is common in mygalomorph spiders, females are highly sedentary and are thought to spend their entire lives in a single burrow, whereas males must permanently abandon their burrows to mate during the breeding season. Nineteen male spiders were fitted with micro-radio transmitters and tracked during their mating seasons over several consecutive years in Lane Cove National Park, in Sydney, Australia. Males moved at night, typically in a zig-zag pattern, and were found in new locations on approximately 50% of daily resightings. Males often spent several days in a female burrow and were recorded visiting multiple females; some female burrows were also visited by multiple males. When outside a female’s burrow, males constructed and occupied temporary shelters (‘temporacula’). Males were most likely to move when there was no rain and they (more tentatively) moved further on dry, warm nights after cool days. Our findings suggest that mate-searching A. robustus males prefer to search for females in less risky environmental conditions, revealing novel risk-minimizing strategies.


Creak, C. N., Muirhead, H., Kasumovic, M. M., Bonduriansky, R., & Buzatto, B. A. (2025). Weathering the storm for love? The mate-searching behaviour of wild male Sydney funnel-web spiders, Atrax robustus. Animal Behaviour, 123253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123253