Winter-active spiders (Clubiona) have a hyperactive antifreeze protein with a unique beta-solenoid fold ❄️🕷️💧
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#winterspiders #antifreezeprotein #Clubiona #spiderscience #natureinnovation
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#winterspiders #antifreezeprotein #Clubiona #spiderscience #natureinnovation
FEBS Press
Antifreeze proteins from winter-active spiders were purified using their affinity for ice. After LC–MSMS characterization, corresponding transcripts were identified. The antifreeze protein folds as a...
Science News
This tiny Australian spider uses a high‑powered web catapult to trap and eat aggressive ants: « There’s more than one way a spider can spin its web. Some construct large vertical orb webs, while others build horizontal sheet webs or tangled cobwebs that ensnare…
🕷️ A new "ballista spider" discovered in Queensland's Cape York Peninsula has a unique hunting strategy, using a spring-loaded snare triggered by green tree ants.
🕸️ The spider creates a fan-shaped web of tension lines and wraps it in silk that attracts and provokes ants. When an ant bites the cone, it detaches, launching the ant into the core web at accelerations of up to 1,367 m/s².
💪 The ballista spider's snare demonstrates superior energy performance compared to other biological catapults, storing more energy and exerting more power per gram. This extreme power is likely to quickly remove ants from their colony's vicinity.
📍 This spider is notable for its extreme specialisation to a single prey species and its snare being triggered by the prey itself, showcasing how prey specialisation can drive biomechanical evolution.
#SpiderScience #NewDiscovery #IncredibleNature
🕸️ The spider creates a fan-shaped web of tension lines and wraps it in silk that attracts and provokes ants. When an ant bites the cone, it detaches, launching the ant into the core web at accelerations of up to 1,367 m/s².
💪 The ballista spider's snare demonstrates superior energy performance compared to other biological catapults, storing more energy and exerting more power per gram. This extreme power is likely to quickly remove ants from their colony's vicinity.
📍 This spider is notable for its extreme specialisation to a single prey species and its snare being triggered by the prey itself, showcasing how prey specialisation can drive biomechanical evolution.
#SpiderScience #NewDiscovery #IncredibleNature
Science News
Scientists discover a spider in the Amazon that disguises itself as a zombie fungus Read Full Article #ZombieFungus #AmazonScience #SpiderDiscovery
🕷️ New Spider Species Discovered: Taczanowskia waska mimics a dead spider infected with parasitic fungus (Gibellula) to fool both predators and prey.
🕸️ Deceptive Tactics: The spider uses pale coloration and specialized body structures to resemble the fungus, remaining motionless on leaf undersides where the real fungus grows, and does not spin webs.
🔬 Scientific Classification: First spotted by conservationist Alexander Bentley and uploaded to iNaturalist, the species was formally classified by an international team led by biologist David Ricardo Díaz-Guevara and published in the journal Zootaxa.
#SpiderScience #NewSpecies #Biodiversity
🕸️ Deceptive Tactics: The spider uses pale coloration and specialized body structures to resemble the fungus, remaining motionless on leaf undersides where the real fungus grows, and does not spin webs.
🔬 Scientific Classification: First spotted by conservationist Alexander Bentley and uploaded to iNaturalist, the species was formally classified by an international team led by biologist David Ricardo Díaz-Guevara and published in the journal Zootaxa.
#SpiderScience #NewSpecies #Biodiversity