There are two species of stick out spiders that specialize in hunting mosquitoes , and one of them is peculiarly guide to distaff mosquito filled with human blood . The findings , published in theJournal of Arachnologylast month , intimate that these mosquito exterminator might be innate ally in our fight against malaria .
Many spiders eat these bothersome , parentage - fellate vectors of disease , but accord toUniversity of Canterbury ’s Robert JacksonandFiona Cross , there are only two species that can be characterized as mosquito specializer : Evarcha culicivoraandParacyrba wanlessi .
“ These two spider species are extremely specialised mosquito assassin , ” Cross says in astatement . “ Like Bram Stoker ’s Dracula or Arnold Schwarzenegger in the James Cameron movie The Terminator , these little specialist predators ignore any other insects that get in the path as they pursue their objective victim – mosquitoes . ”
Typically found on the wall of buildings engross by people in East Africa , Evarcha culicivorais draw to femaleAnophelesmosquitoes with guts fill with ( human ) blood . This genus of mosquito broadcast the malaria parasite , Plasmodium , and they ’re responsible for for half a million expiry a yr , according to thelatest estimates from the World Health Organization . “ E. culicivoraandAnophelesare both found in Kenya and are attracted to human odor ( particularly the aroma of foul socks),”Jackson explains . “ This small spider is a predatory animal that likes us and use up our foe . ”
But while they have a taste for human blood , they ’re no danger to us : They lack the mouthparts to thrust our tegument and ingest our parentage . And thanks to their complex optic , these spider can tell if a mosquito has just taken a blood line meal base on the sway of their abdomens , and then they swoop . “ This is unique . There ’s no other animal that target its prey based on what that prey has eaten , ” Cross tellsSciDev . Furthermore , by eating blood - filled mosquito , these spider of both sexes seem to get a “ essence ” that makes them more attractive to potential couple . That means they shoot down blood - carrying mosquitoes for food as well as for sex .
Meanwhile , the MalaysianParacyrba wanlessiis often find in the hollow radical ( call culm ) of bamboo . There , they bung on the mosquito larvae squirming on the Earth’s surface of the little pools of water that have organize within the bamboo . An adult male is pictured to the right .
So , can we practice these mosquito hunters for pestilence control ? They set no threat to us , andE. culicivoraalready willingly enter our business firm and kills malaria vectors . “ encourage people to welcome these guests into their homes sounds like a adept idea,”the author write . “ Yet it is concentrated to be affirmative about cultivate the secular populace when there are even bugologist , people who work with maggots and cockroaches , who find spiders repulsive . ”
Image in text : Daiqin Li
