SALT
SPIDERS VS. BEETLES II
THE BEST SPIDER
Conversation with Marshal Hedin Arachnid Systematics, Evolution and Conservation, San Diego State Universiy
http://sites.google.com/site/marshalhedinlab/Home/fieldwork
In his opinion it would make more sense for Salt to use a spider than a beetle. Spider venom is more varied and often more powerful. There aren’t as many chemically defensive beetles. The spider doesn’t have to be killed to extract the venom. You knock out the spider with CO2, give it a shock with an electric shocking apperatus and then “milk” or collect the venom that is expressed from the fangs.
He made the following 2 spider suggestions:
1. SYDNEY FUNNEL-WEB SPIDER:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_funnel-web_spider
These venomous spiders are some of the deadliest in the world. They are found primarily around Sydney and are known to be very aggressive. “The bite of a Funnel-web spider affects the neuromuscular junction between your motor neurons and muscle cells, opening sodium channels. This affects your ability to repolarize your cell interior.”
2. MAKE UP A NEW SPECIES
While there is no known venom that has the exact neurotoxic property we need the study of venoms and their properties is so unknown it is more than plausible that such a chemical could be found and extracted from a new species of spider. Venoms are a cocktail of multiple components so it’s reasonable someone working in this field would come upon something new.
Based on research here is suggestion #3:
3. HOLOLENA CURTA
http://www.sdnhm.org/fieldguide/inverts/holo-cur.html
This is another funnel-web spider in which a Already the new neuroactive chemical, known as HF-7, has been isolated. This spider occurs in the Pacific States of the U.S. ranging to northern Baja California in Mexico. This is a common species that builds webs on trees, shrubs, fences, and on the ground. “Jerrold Meinwald, professor of chemistry and chemical biology, told the American Chemical Society meeting that smoke-inhalation or stroke can cause overproduction of amino-acid neurotransmitters, possibly resulting in brain damage. "What this venom could do is block the effect of the overproduction of some of the neurotransmitters," he said. "In effect, we're turning off the receiver."
THE BEST BEETLE
DIAMPHIDIA BEETLES
The poison compound in the pupae of the Diamphidia beetle used by the San People (Bushmen) of South Africa is a unique compound diamphotoxin. The bushmen dig up cocoons and then squeeze the larvae on their arrow. Up to 10 larvea may be applied to one arrow. Although there are few reports about the affects on humans the main action of the poison is hymolisis. Means destruction of the red blood cells with a subsequent release of hemoglobin, or the protein in the blood that carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body.
BLISTER BEETLES
http://www.sdnhm.org/fieldguide/inverts/holo-cur.html
They are known as "blister beetles" because they secrete cantharidin, a poisonous chemical causing blistering of the skin and painful swelling. Cantharidin is used medically to remove warts, and is collected for this purpose from species of the genera Mylabris and Lytta, especially Lytta vesicatoria, better known as "Spanish fly".
Blister beetles are hypermetamorphic, going through several larval stages, the first of which is typically a mobile triungulin. The larvae are insectivorous, mainly attacking bees, though a few feed on grasshopper eggs; while sometimes considered parasitoids, it appears that in general, the meloid larva consumes the immature host along with its provisions, and can often survive on the provisions alone, thus they are not obligatory parasitoids but rather food parasites that are facultatively parasitoid, or simply predatory. The adults sometimes feed on flowers and leaves of plants of such diverse families like Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Solanaceae.
