Hunting ecology predicts eye arrangements in the modular visual system of spiders

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  Hunting ecology predicts eye arrangements in the modular visual system of spiders Summary Vision is one of the most important senses used by animals and contributes to fundamental behaviors, including foraging, navigation, and mate detection and selection. 1 Although much is known about how eye position and orientation correlate to ecology in the context of binocularity, 2 animals with multipartite visual systems (more than two eyes) remain comparatively neglected. Spiders are highly successful predators that occupy a range of ecological niches and usually possess eight eyes. Here, we use three-dimensional geometric morphometrics and evolutionary modeling to test whether eye positions, orientations, and interocular angles correlate with hunting strategies in 52 species across the spider phylogeny. We demonstrate that eye configurations diversified from an ancestral medial cluster, as seen in modern trapdoor spiders, to a halo-like configuration in orb-weavers, and to the fronta...

Cantharidin: a double-edged sword in medicine and toxicology

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Cantharidin: a double-edged sword in medicine and toxicology

Cantharidin (CTD), a natural terpenoid toxin secreted by blister beetles, acts as a potent inhibitor of protein phosphatase. As the principal active component of Mylabris, a traditional Chinese medicine, CTD has attracted considerable interest due to its dual properties, combining potent anti-tumor activity with significant toxicity. Contemporary pharmacological research demonstrates that CTD inhibits the growth and proliferation of diverse cancer cells lines. It exhibits antibacterial and antiparasitic properties, and demonstrates pesticidal activity in agricultural applications. Despite these benefits, CTD exhibits a prominent double-edged profile, marked by severe toxic effects, including cardiotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, gastrointestinal toxicity, and reproductive toxicity. Our prior research has identified the heart and liver as primary targets of CTD’s acute toxicity, where it induces apoptosis and necrosis of cardiomyocytes and hepatocytes. Recent efforts to mitigate its toxicity while preserving efficacy have focused on the structural modifications of CTD and the development of its derivatives. Additionally, CTD has been demonstrated to enhance anti-tumor efficacy when combined with other drugs, particularly against certain drug-resistant tumors. This review comprehensively evaluates CTD’s pharmacology and toxicology, synthesizes pertinent toxicological data, and explores strategies for toxicity reduction to guide future research.

Zhang, J., Tian, T., Li, C., Liu, Y., Wang, Y., Liu, L., Liu, L., & Yao, Y. (2025). Cantharidin: A double-edged sword in medicine and toxicology. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 16, 1644186. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2025.1644186