Tropical House Gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) predation on brown spiders (Loxosceles intermedia)
Brown spiders (Loxosceles spp.) are venomous arachnids, successfully adapted to urban habitats in Brazil. Loxoscelism became a serious public health problem in Paraná State, especially at the capital Curitiba, where the most abundant species is Loxosceles intermedia. Hemidactylus mabouia (Gekkonidae...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8fb6d42cf638475fabe6b7eefcdb1075 2023-05-15T15:07:12+02:00 Tropical House Gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) predation on brown spiders (Loxosceles intermedia) E.N. Ramires G.M. Fraguas 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-91992004000200008 https://doaj.org/article/8fb6d42cf638475fabe6b7eefcdb1075 EN eng SciELO http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1678-91992004000200008 https://doaj.org/toc/1678-9199 doi:10.1590/S1678-91992004000200008 1678-9199 https://doaj.org/article/8fb6d42cf638475fabe6b7eefcdb1075 Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases, Vol 10, Iss 2, Pp 185-190 (2004) Hemidactylus mabouia predatory behavior Loxosceles intermedia Sicariidae Araneism Gekkonidae biological control Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Toxicology. Poisons RA1190-1270 Zoology QL1-991 article 2004 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-91992004000200008 2022-12-31T06:30:58Z Brown spiders (Loxosceles spp.) are venomous arachnids, successfully adapted to urban habitats in Brazil. Loxoscelism became a serious public health problem in Paraná State, especially at the capital Curitiba, where the most abundant species is Loxosceles intermedia. Hemidactylus mabouia (Gekkonidae) lizards are synanthropic predators of arthropods. In this paper, we describe the predatory behavior of the Tropical House Gecko H. mabouia on L. intermedia under laboratory conditions. Twelve geckos were observed, and all of them fed on brown spiders (n=123 observations). The attack consisted of a fast run followed by one bite on the spider’s abdomen or legs. The geckos did not attack L. intermedia anterior body parts, probably due to the fangs present in this region. Two Hemidactylus individuals were killed by L. intermedia bites: during a predatory encounter, and by an induced bite on a restrained lizard. The observations summarized in this paper show that H. mabouia could be used in the biological control of Loxosceles populations in human dwellings. However, additional field studies are necessary to quantify the impact of H. mabouia predation on urban populations of L. intermedia and other species of the same genus. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases 10 2 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Hemidactylus mabouia predatory behavior Loxosceles intermedia Sicariidae Araneism Gekkonidae biological control Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Toxicology. Poisons RA1190-1270 Zoology QL1-991 |
spellingShingle |
Hemidactylus mabouia predatory behavior Loxosceles intermedia Sicariidae Araneism Gekkonidae biological control Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Toxicology. Poisons RA1190-1270 Zoology QL1-991 E.N. Ramires G.M. Fraguas Tropical House Gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) predation on brown spiders (Loxosceles intermedia) |
topic_facet |
Hemidactylus mabouia predatory behavior Loxosceles intermedia Sicariidae Araneism Gekkonidae biological control Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Toxicology. Poisons RA1190-1270 Zoology QL1-991 |
description |
Brown spiders (Loxosceles spp.) are venomous arachnids, successfully adapted to urban habitats in Brazil. Loxoscelism became a serious public health problem in Paraná State, especially at the capital Curitiba, where the most abundant species is Loxosceles intermedia. Hemidactylus mabouia (Gekkonidae) lizards are synanthropic predators of arthropods. In this paper, we describe the predatory behavior of the Tropical House Gecko H. mabouia on L. intermedia under laboratory conditions. Twelve geckos were observed, and all of them fed on brown spiders (n=123 observations). The attack consisted of a fast run followed by one bite on the spider’s abdomen or legs. The geckos did not attack L. intermedia anterior body parts, probably due to the fangs present in this region. Two Hemidactylus individuals were killed by L. intermedia bites: during a predatory encounter, and by an induced bite on a restrained lizard. The observations summarized in this paper show that H. mabouia could be used in the biological control of Loxosceles populations in human dwellings. However, additional field studies are necessary to quantify the impact of H. mabouia predation on urban populations of L. intermedia and other species of the same genus. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
E.N. Ramires G.M. Fraguas |
author_facet |
E.N. Ramires G.M. Fraguas |
author_sort |
E.N. Ramires |
title |
Tropical House Gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) predation on brown spiders (Loxosceles intermedia) |
title_short |
Tropical House Gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) predation on brown spiders (Loxosceles intermedia) |
title_full |
Tropical House Gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) predation on brown spiders (Loxosceles intermedia) |
title_fullStr |
Tropical House Gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) predation on brown spiders (Loxosceles intermedia) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tropical House Gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) predation on brown spiders (Loxosceles intermedia) |
title_sort |
tropical house gecko (hemidactylus mabouia) predation on brown spiders (loxosceles intermedia) |
publisher |
SciELO |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-91992004000200008 https://doaj.org/article/8fb6d42cf638475fabe6b7eefcdb1075 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases, Vol 10, Iss 2, Pp 185-190 (2004) |
op_relation |
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1678-91992004000200008 https://doaj.org/toc/1678-9199 doi:10.1590/S1678-91992004000200008 1678-9199 https://doaj.org/article/8fb6d42cf638475fabe6b7eefcdb1075 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-91992004000200008 |
container_title |
Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
2 |
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1766338749201907712 |