It s one thing to flip a single protein as he did to create transgenic goats that produce spider-silk protein in their milk.
He was inspired by spiders and insects that make secretions that stick to wet surfaces he says.
The new species previously unknown to science include 38 different ants 12 fishes 14 plants eight beetles two spiders one reptile and one amphibian.
This year Academy scientists were able to identify 38 previously unknown ant species seven new plants and two new spider species from Madagascar.
The wasp belongs to the Hymenoptera superfamily known as Chalcidoidea which parasitize other insects spiders and some plants.
With insects and other arthropods like spiders and scorpions they're around still. So we have modern forms to compare our fossil forms to
#A new scorpion species from ancient Lyciascientists discover and describe a new species of scorpion Euscorpius lycius coming from the area of ancient Lycia nowadays the regions of the Muä la and Antalya Provinces in Southwestern Turkey.
With the new discovery the scorpions from this genus found in the country go up to a total of five known species. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.
Euscorpius is a genus of scorpions commonly called small wood-scorpions. As their name suggest these scorpions don't impress with a large size the biggest representative being around 5 cm long.
The group is widespread in North africa and across Europe. Euscorpius scorpions are relatively harmless with poison that has effects similar to a mosquito bite.
The new species is named after the historical region of Ancient Lycia which is referenced in Egyptian and Ancient greek myths.
Like the mystical history of the region the new species is rather secretive and can be found mainly in pine at night hidden away in pine forests crawling on rocks or sitting on stone garden walls.
The new scorpion is a relatively small representative reaching a size ranging between two and two and a half centimeters.
--and genomic (DNA) data from a number of species of ants bees and wasps including bradynobaenid wasps a cuckoo wasp a spider wasp a scoliid wasp a mud dauber wasp a tiphiid wasp
Dust mites are close relatives of spiders and ticks and are too small to see without a microscope.
#A day in the life of the mysterious odd-clawed spider Progradungula otwayensisa recent paper published in the open access journal Zookeys provides a first time glimpse in the natural history of the enigmatic spider species Progradungula otwayensis.
Lurking in the hollows of old myrtle beech trees and thus hard to collect this extraordinary spider is an endemic species confined strictly to the beautiful Great Otway National park (Victoria Australia.
P. otwayensis belongs to the small spider family Gradungulidae which consists of seven genera with a total of 16 described species found exclusively in eastern Australia and New zealand.
A single thick and shiny silk thread is used then by the spiders to provide a zip-line like connection between the external webs and the security of the enigmatic retreat in the hollows of ancient myrtle beech and mountain ash tree.
and Museum of the University of Greifswald (Germany) about the unusual bit of luck to have a glimpse into the secluded retreats of the spiders.
The unusual living habits and high degree of endemicity makes this spider a rare and remarkable species. The new study suggests that this spider is dependent on the microclimate in the hollows of old myrtle beech trees
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.
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 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
#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.
Arthropod (Phylum arthropoda) is a collective term comprising insects arachnids and crustaceans commonly referred to in the vernacular as bugs.
#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.
#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
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.
This simulates an attack by a crab spider a predator that lurks on flowers to catch pollinators
#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.
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.)
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
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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