Southern black widow spider (Latrodectus mactans) with its prey house cricket (Acheta domesticus) trapped in spider web.
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Moreover, it will also open avenues of the research scope in the areas of biodiversity studies, pest management and the conversation research and broadening the analysis of the biodiversity on a larger spectrum. The researchers said an empty spider trap doesn’t always mean empty.
This new study reveals how analyzing genetic material that are left on spider webs can also provide clues about their diet during the weeks after they catch their prey.
For the study, Xu and his colleagues studied the that were kept in separate enclosures.
Scientists are learning a bit more about insects thanks to the black widow spider. Nevertheless, with the current research, scientists will be able to examine the accurate DNA samples of the species. For that, they used primers, which are single-stranded DNA fragments. These primers amplify DNA, or cause it to create millions of copies of itself.
The team extracted the mitochondrial DNA from the webs.
Usually found in temperate world regions, everyone knows that the bite of the black widow spider can be very deadly; and to underscore how awful they are, the female black widow spider can kill and eat up a male partner after mating. They call it as DNA barcoding for the goal of learning genetic patterns of species. Afterwards, they analyzed the genetic patterns of webs to match with the DNA of spiders and cricket.
This process can help researchers in identifying what kinds of species reside on a certain area without needing to keep track or capture them.
The researchers noted the detectability of spider DNA did not differ between assays. “We see potential for broad environmental monitoring because spiders build webs in so many places”. “They could allow earlier detection of [endangered or invasive] species”.
This new one could help experts more quickly identify a species from 45,000 without having to compare markings and body size etc, which can be incredibly hard.
In addition, spiders can now be identified without physically collecting or capturing the spiders themselves, as scientists can now use this DNA traces on the webs.
Spiderweb DNA tells a story about both the spider that made the web and its prey, a new study in the journal PLOS One reports. The study lead author is Evolutionary Biologist Charles C.Y. Xu.
“Sticky spider webs are natural DNA samplers, trapping nearby insects and other things blowing in the wind”.
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The new study was published today (Nov. 25).
