Cupiennius salei
| Cupiennus salei | |
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| Species: | C. salei
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| Cupiennius salei | |
Cupiennius salei, commonly called American wandering spider or tropical wandering spider or hunting spider, is a large venomous spider belonging to a group of wandering spiders found in Central America. It produces neurotoxic peptide called CsTx-1 for paralysing its prey.[1] It does not produce web for trapping preys, and therefore, venom is its only strategy for catching preys for food. It is known to prey on all kinds of insects.
Venom
Cupiennius salei produces neurotoxins and most powerful among them is a peptide called CsTx-1.[1] The spider does not produce web for trapping preys, and therefore, entirely depends on its venom for predation. It is known to prey on a variety of insects including, butterfly, moth, earwig, cockroach, fly and grasshopper.[2] Its venom glands store only about 10 μl crude venom. Refilling of the glands takes 2-3 days and the lethal efficacy of the venom is very low for several days, requiring 8 to 18 days for full effect.[3] It was found that the amount of venom released differed for each specific prey. For example, for bigger and stronger insects like beetle, the spider uses the entire amount of its venom; while for small ones, it uses only small amount, thus economising its costly venom.[4][5]
References
- ^ a b Kuhn-Nentwig L, Fedorova IM, Lüscher BP, Kopp LS, Trachsel C, Schaller J, Vu XL, Seebeck T, Streitberger K, Nentwig W, Sigel E, Magazanik LG (2012). "A venom-derived neurotoxin, CsTx-1, from the spider Cupiennius salei exhibits cytolytic activities". J Biol Chem. 287 (30): 25640-25649. doi:10.1074/jbc.M112.339051. PMC 3408166. PMID 22613721.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ Nentwig W (1986). "Non-webbuilding spiders: prey specialists or generalists?". Oecologia. 69 (4): 571–576. doi:10.1007/BF00410365.
- ^ Boevé JL, Kuhn-Nentwig L, Keller S, Nentwig W (1995). "Quantity and quality of venom released by a spider (Cupiennius salei, Ctenidae)". Toxicon. 33 (10): 1347–1357. PMID 8599185.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Wigger E, Kuhn-Nentwig L, Nentwig W (2002). "The venom optimisation hypothesis: a spider injects large venom quantities only into difficult prey types". Toxicon. 40 (6): 749-752. doi:10.1016/S0041-0101(01)00277-X. PMID 12175611.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Morgenstern D, King GF (2013). "The venom optimization hypothesis revisited". Toxicon. 63: 120-128. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2012.11.022. PMID 23266311.