They found that at the molecular level caddisfly silk differs greatly from other terrestrial spun silks such as those from spiders or silkworms.
#Australian tarantula venom contains novel insecticide against agricultural pestsspider venoms are usually toxic when injected into prey
but a new protein discovered in the venom of Australian tarantulas can also kill prey insects that consume the venom orally.
Isolated peptides from the venom of spiders or other venomous insectivorous animals such as centipedes and scorpions may have the potential to serve as bioinsecticides.
King elaborates The breakthrough discovery that spider toxins can have oral activity has implications not only for their use as bioinsecticides
but also for spider-venom peptides that are being considered for therapeutic use. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Public library of Science.
The disease is spread by black-legged ticks which feed on infected mice and other small mammals. Foxes and other mammal predators help control the disease by keeping small mammal populations in check.
and matched that with information on the average number of ticks each small mammal carried. The results showed that each timber rattler removed 2500-4500 ticks from each site annually.
Because not every human bitten by an infected tick develops Lyme disease the team did not estimate how many people are spared the disease because of the ecosystem service that timber rattlesnakes provide.
But Kabay who is now a science teacher at East Chapel hill High school and his research colleagues will talk about the human health implications of their work on Aug 6.
No one knows how they find their prey presumed to be bodied soft insects spiders millipedes and centipedes.
Sifting for Antslongino collected about 90 percent of the ants in his new studies during the past 30 years working on a series of projects to inventory insects spiders
and other arthropods in Costa rica Mexico Nicaragua Guatemala and Honduras. Many of the species also are in the Caribbean and South america.
and other crops and the insecticide fluvalinate used by beekeepers to control Varroa mites common honey bee pests.
The miticides used to control Varroa mites also harmed the bees'ability to withstand parasitic infection.
if mites were left unchecked. But the study's finding that common fungicides can be harmful at real world dosages is new
but not their behaviorhoney bees Apis mellifera) infected with the parasitic mite Varroa destructor or the microsporidia Nosema ceranae have changes in the chemical profile of their skin
and monitoring of pyrethroid resistance in mosquitoes and other arthropod pests Dong said. It could have broad impacts in agriculture and medicine that affect people's lives especially in developing countries.
and spiders--herbivores and predators in the study's food chain--and how it affects the movement of carbon through a grassland ecosystem.
and an herbivore grasshopper and some others that had plants and herbivores along with a carnivore spider species--all three tiers of the food chain.
The study found that the presence of spiders drove up the rate of carbon uptake by the plants by about 1. 4 times more than
The grasshoppers apparently were afraid of being eaten by the spiders and consumed less plant matter
They found that plantings of sweet alyssum attracted a host of spiders and predator bugs that in turn preyed on woolly apple aphids a pest that growers often control with chemical sprays.
when the researchers found a diverse community of spiders and predatory insects in the plots with sweet alyssum.
and later captured insects and spiders at a distance from the flower plots. Many of the insects and spiders tested positive for the proteins proving that they had visited the flowers.
The woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid attacking tree shoots and roots said Betsy Beers an entomologist based at WSU's Tree Fruit Research
They found that plantings of sweet alyssum attracted a host of spiders and predator bugs that in turn preyed on woolly apple aphids a pest that growers often control with chemical sprays.
when the researchers found a diverse community of spiders and predatory insects in the plots with sweet alyssum.
and later captured insects and spiders at a distance from the flower plots. Many of the insects and spiders tested positive for the proteins proving that they had visited the flowers.
The woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid attacking tree shoots and roots said Betsy Beers an entomologist based at WSU's Tree Fruit Research
and finches add high-nicotine cigarette butts to their nests to reduce mite infestations. But less attention has been given to the many cases in
and another type of pesticide coumaphos that is used in honeybee hives to kill the Varroa mite a parasitic mite that attacks the honey bee.
However little consideration has been given to the miticidal pesticides introduced directly into honeybee hives to protect the bees from the Varroa mite.
#A new cryptic spider species from Africathe species from the genus Copa are very common spiders found in the leaf litter of various habitats.
The spiders from this cryptic ground-dwelling genus in the continental Afrotropical Region are revised in a study published in the open access journal Zookeys.
Historically we've seen symptoms similar to IBDS associated with viruses spread by large-scale infestations of parasitic mites says Dr. David Tarpy an associate professor of entomology at North carolina State university
But now we're seeing these symptoms--a high percentage of larvae deaths--in colonies that have relatively few of these mites.
That suggests that IBDS is present even in colonies with low mite loads which is not what we expected.
The team focused on six species of mites ticks and intestinal worms commonly known to infect lemurs.
Others particularly mites and ticks can transmit diseases such as plague typhus or scabies. When the researchers compared their present-day maps with parasite distributions predicted for the future they found that lemur parasites could expand their range by as much as 60 percent.
After nearly ten years of work we have determined that Panama's San Lorenzo forest is home to 25000 arthropods.
The primary source of uncertainty in calculating the answer has been the status of arthropods. Arthropod (Phylum arthropoda) is a collective term comprising insects arachnids
and crustaceans commonly referred to in the vernacular as bugs. Although arthropods make up the majority of all living animal species little is known about their true numbers.
Knowing that arthropods comprise approximately 70 per cent of all living species and that the vast majority of them live in tropical rainforests it makes perfect sense that you can carry out a census of all the bugs in the rainforest to find an answer to the overriding question.
This is precisely what the researchers have done. Rainforest holds the keyfrode à degaard and his international team of 102 researchers went directly to the source.
Greater diversity of flora means more speciesyet another interesting result of the study is that the number of arthropods can be determined based on the number of plants living in the forest.
The researchers discovered that for every species of plant found there would be 20 species of arthropod.
Similarly there are 83 arthropods per species of bird and 312 per species of mammal. Now that we know the answer what is the question?
#Key to identifying spiders in international cargospiders found in international cargo brought into North america are submitted sometimes to arachnologists for identification.
Often these spiders are presumed to be of medical importance because of their size or similarity to spiders that are known to be toxic to humans.
In 2006 after witnessing multiple episodes where harmless spiders were mistaken for toxic ones Richard Vetter an arachnologist at the University of California Riverside asked other arachnologists
and international fruit importers to provide data on specimens they found in international cargo that had been submitted to them for identification.
He also asked that they identify spiders in their museum collections that had previously been found in cargo.
Together with colleagues from Canada and Washington state Vetter identified 135 spiders taken from international cargo between 1926 to June 2014
and facilitate the proper identification of cargo-borne spiders because misidentifications can lead to costly and unwarranted eradication measures unnecessary employee health education heightened employee anxiety
In order to help avoid misidentifications in the future the new paper contains a simple key that covers the most common non-mygalomorph spiders found in their study.
This key should provide some utility for those confronted with a spider found in international shipments they wrote.
The authors found that the most frequently submitted spiders were the pantropical huntsman spider (Heteropoda venatoria) and the redfaced banana spider (Cupiennius chiapanensis) and that the most common cargo from
which spiders were submitted was bananas with most specimens coming from Central america Ecuador or Colombia. Spiders of medical importance were rare.
Spiders found in international cargo especially those in banana cartons are typically harmless species they wrote.
It would be beneficial if this article curtails the hyperbole and media attention whenever a large spider is discovered in a banana shipment
and thereby reduce unwarranted paranoia and anxiety when media stories about toxic banana spiders are unleashed onto an unsuspecting and easily frightened North american general public.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Entomological Society of America. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
This will help prepare Australia for the expected incursion of the Varroa mite which is causing great damage and cost to bee and horticultural industries around the world.
The dominant groups were mites millipedes beetles and an assortment of ants said Carrel. What was surprising was that the salamanders collected on trees did not have anything one would associate with a plant-feeding insect like aphids.
#More wolf spiders feasting on American toads due to invasive grass, study showsan invasive grass species frequently found in forests has created a thriving habitat for wolf spiders who then feed on American toads a new University of Georgia study has found.
In a new study recently published in the journal Ecology UGA researchers found that Japanese stiltgrass also is affecting arachnid predators:
Lycosid spiders commonly known as wolf spiders thrive in the grass. As their numbers grow more spiders then feed on young American toads ultimately reducing the amphibian's survival wherever this grass grows.
John Maerz an associate professor in UGA's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural resources and one of the paper's authors said they found the grass had the greatest negative impact on toad survival in forests where toad survival
However after noticing the wolf spiders routinely preying upon toads in invaded habitats it began to click Maerz said.
Spiders are incredible predators he explained and they eat everything--even other spiders. That typically keeps spider populations in check Maerz said
but Japanese stiltgrass is kind of like a tall shag carpet and it provides the cannibalistic spiders refuge from one another.
The accumulation of large predatory spiders in these invaded habitats then results in higher mortality for small toads that have emerged recently from wetlands.
To test their hypothesis Devore and Maerz created cages where they could control the presence of stiltgrass and spiders.
They found that spider densities were 33 percent higher and toad survival decreased by 65 percent in cages with the presence of stiltgrass.
The presence of stiltgrass alone in the absence of spiders did not affect toad survival.
Spiders are actually tremendously important and incredibly abundant predators on the forest floor and they will eat many of the small species that live there
so this effect is unlikely to only influence toads Devore said. And there are also other ways in
which invasion by this Asian plant may influence species on the forest floor. We documented changes in invertebrate densities
#Of bees, mites, and viruses: Virus infections after arrival of new parasitic mite in New zealand honeybee colonieshoneybee colonies are dying at alarming rates worldwide.
A variety of factors have been proposed to explain their decline but the exact cause--and how bees can be saved--remains unclear.
An article published on August 21st in PLOS Pathogens examines the viral landscape in honeybee colonies in New zealand after the recent arrival of the parasitic Varroa destructor mite.
and adult bees the mites can transmit several honeybee viruses with high efficiency. Uncontrolled Varroa infestation can thereby cause an accelerating virus epidemic and so kill a bee colony within two to three years.
Interested in the complex interplay between bees mites and viruses Fanny Mondet from the University of Otago Dunedin New zealand and INRA Avignon France and colleagues took advantage of a unique situation in New zealand:
Each of seven different virus species examined in detail responded in a unique way to the arrival establishment and persistence of the mite.
DWV which can multiply in the mites and is thought to be a direct cause of Varroa-induced colony collapse was seen almost never in New zealand bee colonies before the arrival of Varroa or ahead of the expansion zone after 2001.
They hope that their results to date will be useful for the beekeeping industry by highlighting the importance of beekeeper awareness of mite monitoring and the timing and efficiency of Varroa control.
As a result there has been a flurry of research on honeybee parasitic mite infestations viral diseases and the direct and indirect impacts of pesticides.
Unfortunately bees all over the world are under pressure from pesticides mites viruses bacteria fungi and environmental changes among other things.
The factors that had the greatest influence on the survival of the bees were infection with varroa mites problems with the queen and infection with the disease nosema.
Organic farming benefited the four taxonomic groups of plants earthworms spiders and bees --which were sampled as surrogates for the multitude of creatures living on farmland--in different ways.
In general more species of plants and bees were found on organic than on nonorganic fields but not more species of spiders and earthworms.
#Could spiders be the key to saving our bees? A novel bio-pesticide created using spider venom
and a plant protein has been found to be safe for honeybees --despite being highly toxic to a number of key insect pests.
New research led by Newcastle University UK has tested the insect-specific Hv1a/GNA fusion protein bio-pesticide--a combination of a natural toxin from the venom of an Australian funnel web spider
During the study the bees were exposed to varying concentrations of the spider/snowdrop bio-pesticide over a period of seven days.
This is an oral pesticide so unlike some that get absorbed through the exoskeleton the spider/snowdrop recombinant protein has to be ingested by the insects.
which suggests the highly selective spider-venom toxin does not interact with the calcium channels in the bee.
Biting arthropods can transmit a whole range of diseases to humans and it is vital to protect ourselves.
Further although other studies have suggested that CCD-related mortality in honey bee colonies may come from bees'reduced resistance to mites
This simulates an attack by a crab spider a predator that lurks on flowers to catch pollinators
The invasive pests include including Nosema microsporidia and Varroa mites. Our East African honeybees appear to be resilient to these invasive pests
The team first discovered Varroa mites in Kenya in 2009. This new study also provides baseline data for future analyses of possible threats to African honeybee populations.
The researchers found that Varroa mites were present throughout Kenya except in the remote north.
despite the heavy presence of recently introduced Varroa mites and it suggests that the approach to manage these pests should not follow the application of pesticides as has been done in the western world said Muli.
Although the approved tablets are beneficial only for those suffering from some forms of grass allergy the FDA's approval will help open the door for others getting approved such as tablets for ragweed and dust mite allergy.
#Students on field course bag new spider speciesas a spin-off (pun intended) of their Tropical Biodiversity course in Malaysian Borneo a team of biology students discover a new spider species
Discovering a new spider species was not what she had anticipated when she signed up for her field course in Tropical Biodiversity says Elisa Panjang a Malaysian master's student from Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
and the course focus is on these small things that run the world--such as the tiny orb-weaving spiders of the tongue-twistingly named family Symphytognathidae.
These one-millimetre-long spiders build tiny webs that they suspend between dead leaves on the forest floor.
What they weren't prepared for was that the webs turned out to be the work of an unknown species as spider specialist Jeremy Miller an instructor on the course quickly confirmed.
They rigged the field centre's microscopes with smartphones to produce images of the tiny spider's even tinier genitals (using cooking oil from the station's kitchen to make them more translucent) dusted the spider's webs with puffs of corn flour (also from the kitchen) to make them stand out
They also put a spider in alcohol as holotype the obligatory reference specimen for the naming of any new species
Even though thousands of similarly-sized spider species still await discovery Miller thinks the publication is an important one.
This tiny new spider is a nice counterpoint to the large-mammal work we're doing
Despite intensive search the students could not find the new spider in the plantations. Story Source:
#Diet of elusive red widow spider revealed by biologistbeetles: it's what's for breakfast--at least for the red widow spider of Florida's scrub habitat according to a study by University of Missouri biologist James Carrel.
The study provides a first glimpse at the diet of this mysterious spider revealing that it primarily preys upon species of scarab beetles common to the scrub habitat.
Carrel's findings shed light on red widow spiders'restriction to the Florida scrub habitat and the need for habitat conservation efforts.
The pine scrub habitat found on sandy ridges in Central and Southeastern Florida is one of the oldest in North america said Carrel Curators Professor Emeritus in the MU Division of Biological sciences.
Many of the plants and animals found on these ridges including the red widow spider are restricted to these high dry areas.
Carrel said that red widow spiders are difficult to study due to habitat confinement and the hidden nature of their webs which are built in palmetto shrubs.
The only clues to the spiders'presence visible solely on foggy mornings during four months of the year are spun the threads loosely between tips of palmetto frond.
Since 1987 Carrel has been monitoring populations of this spider at the Archbold Biological Station which protects a 5193-acre Florida scrub preserve near Lake Placid Only twice in those 23 years--in March 1989
and in May 2003--have enough webs been located to study the dietary habits of these elusive spiders.
The study revealed that the primary prey of the spider especially in early spring are five species of scarab beetles endemic to the Florida scrub habitat.
which often are larger and stronger than the spiders themselves fly just above the tops of scrub vegetation said Mark Deyrup senior research biologist for the Archbold Biological Station who co-authored the study.
Carrel has monitored red widow spider populations at the Station since 1987 but has found enough webs to study red widows'dietary habits only twice.
and identify prey from spiders'webs. Carrel's study entitled Red widow spiders prey extensively on scarab beetles endemic in Florida scrub appeared in the March issue of the Florida Entomologist.
Funding for the study came in part from a grant from the University of Missouri in Columbia MO.
After the fireit is the first time that a study compares different responses of a set of animal organisms to fire (snails spiders beetles ants grasshoppers bugs birds and reptiles.
This is the first opportunity to simulate the effects of several factors together such as food availability mite infestation and disease over realistic time scales.
The first results of the model show that colonies infested with a common parasitic mite (varroa) can be much more vulnerable to food shortages.
The recorded cases of resistance in insects mites and other arthropods which include resistance to multiple pesticides per species more than doubled from 5141 in 1990 to 11254 in 2013.
who directs the online Arthropod Pesticide Resistance Database and who also serves as the Entomological Society of America's Liaison to the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs.
The Indian warning label shows an image of a symbolic scorpion and the Nigerian warning label uses only a vague text message (The Federal Ministry of Health warns that smokers are liable to die young.)
That the major causes of annual losses include pests (e g. the Varroa mite) pathogens (e g. viruses that these mites carry) and the need for research and advancements in management techniques available for large-scale apiaries
'and bees are no exception--the role of introduced mites and the pathogens they carry is researched under
the toll of agricultural intensification on this semi-free ranging managed species and the confounding pressure of viruses spread through Varroa mites and the burden of these viruses and mites at the individual bee and colony level.
and related arthropods in GM crop fields was essentially the same as that among conventional crops.
The study is described in an article called Comparative Diversity of Arthropods on Bt Maize and Non-Bt Maize in two Different Cropping Systems in South africa
The aims of the study were to compile a checklist of arthropods that occur on maize in South africa
and abundance of arthropods and functional groups on Bt maize and non-Bt maize the authors wrote.
and diversity of arthropods in maize and the different functional guilds were affected not significantly by Bt maize either in terms of diversity or abundance.
A total of 8771 arthropod individuals comprising 288 morphospecies were collected from 480 plants sampled from Bt maize and non-Bt maize fields over a two-year period.
The results of our study indicate that arthropod diversity even in high-input farming systems is as high as in subsistence farming systems said Dr. Johnnie Van den berg a professor at North-West University
More recently surveys of arthropod and plant beta-diversity inside and adjacent to maize fields have been completed during
which 30000 arthropods and 15000 plant individuals were surveyed along a 1000 kilometer transect. It seems that maize field diversity is homogenized
and coumaphos are used commonly by beekeepers on crops to control Varroa mites and are found to persist within beehives for about five years.
TRSV was detected also inside the bodies of Varroa mites a vampire parasite that transmits viruses between bees while feeding on their blood.
However unlike honeybees the mite-associated TRSV was restricted to their gastric cecum indicating that the mites likely facilitate the horizontal spread of TRSV within the hive without becoming diseased themselves.
According to the researchers common garden spider webs around the world could be used for environmental monitoring as they actively filter airborne pollutants with an efficiency comparable to expensive industrial sensors.'
Many spiders recycle their webs by eating them and would include any particles and chemicals that are drawn electrically to the web.
We already know that spiders spin different webs when on different drugs for example creating beautiful webs on LSD and terrible webs on caffeine.
'Working with Dr Donald Edmonds from Oxford university's Department of physics Professor Vollrath showed that webs like that of the garden cross spider also cause local distortions in Earth's electric field
When the researchers exposed the mice to an extract of house dust mites the mice with the low-fiber food developed a stronger allergic reaction with much more mucus in the lungs than the mice with the standard diet.
Attracted by the extract of house dust mites these immune cells wander into the lungs where they eventually trigger a weaker allergic response.
habitat degradation due to development, insecticides, parasites such as the Varroa mite and air pollution, that interferes with a bees'ability to find scents.
Dennis vanengelsdorp provides an excellent TED talk on the role of bees and their demise in the United states. The potentially devastating impact of exotic pests such as the Varroa mite,
and spiders in space and why she wouldnt be a good candidate for space flight.
An astronaut on STS-126 activating an experiment Tell me about the spider in space for your K-12 program.
There are two spiders up there oegolden orb weavers, native to southern parts of the United states. Theyre on the Space station, coming back on the 135 shuttle.
Then all the different trees we can get our hands on--trees researchers have published on spiders
livestock which produce medications or biological substances such as spider-silk; and an optimal source of biofuel.
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