Biodiversity Data Journal :
Taxonomy & Inventories
|
Corresponding author: Aimee Lynn A. Barrion-Dupo (abdupo@up.edu.ph)
Academic editor: Alireza Zamani
Received: 08 Dec 2023 | Accepted: 13 Feb 2024 | Published: 19 Feb 2024
© 2024 Aimee Lynn Barrion-Dupo, Ireneo Lit, Jr., Camille Faith Duran, Ma. Francia Kyla Cammayo, Marnelli Alviola, Sheila Mae Mercado, Cecille Ann Osio, Orlando Eusebio, Cristian Lucañas, Alberto Barrion
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Barrion-Dupo ALA, Lit, Jr. IL, Duran CFD, Cammayo MaFKM, Alviola MS, Mercado SMQ, Osio CAL, Eusebio OL, Lucañas CC, Barrion AT (2024) Integrative taxonomy reveals first record of Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820) (Araneae, Sicariidae) in the Philippines. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e117072. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e117072
|
|
The spider family Sicariidae Keyserling, 1880 represented by the synanthropic Mediterranean recluse spider, Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820), is reported in the Philippines for the first time, based on morphological and molecular data. The introduced spider was observed in a small cave (Kamantigue Cave) in Lobo, Batangas Province. Considering the medical importance of this spider, the proximity of its habitat to human habitation and tourist sites poses a potential public health concern.
This study reports on the first record of the family Sicariidae in the Philippines and the fourth recorded occurrence of L. rufescens in Southeast Asia.
caves, Loxosceles rufescens, loxoscelism, Mediterranean recluse
Spiders are amongst the most widely distributed organisms in the world, with currently more than 50,000 recorded valid species belonging to 132 families (
Loxosceles Heineken & Lowe, in
Loxosceles rufescens or the Mediterranean recluse probably originated from North Africa and became naturalised in the circum-Mediterranean Region (
Specimens were collected from Kamantigue Cave, Barangay Biga, Lobo, Batangas on 10-13 September 2022 and 9-13 November 2022 under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Wildlife Gratuitous Permit (DENR WGP): R4A-WGP-2021-BAT-006. Photographs of spiders in their natural habitat were taken using a Nikon D3100 with a macro lens. All specimens were deposited in the Entomology Section, Museum of Natural History, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB-MNH).
Kamantigue Cave (Fig.
The cave has three low and narrow entrances and multiple narrow chambers with abundant guano deposits. The temperature inside the cave is notably high and air flow is very limited. Portions of the cave have collapsed and eroded rocks blocked some of its chambers.
Collected specimens were submerged in 80% ethanol, examined and measured under a Nikon SMZ 800 stereomicroscope, fitted with an ocular micrometer. Body measurements followed the standard procedure adopted by
Confirmation of species identification was also performed via molecular analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Genomic DNA was extracted from the whole specimen using Wizard® Genomic DNA Purification Kit (Promega, Madison, WI, USA), following the manufacturer’s protocol. The COI gene was amplified using the forward (5′-GGAGGATTTGGAAATTGATTAGTTCC-3′) and reverse (5′-CCCGGTAAAATTAAAATATAAACTTC-3′) primers designed by
The raw sequences were preprocessed by trimming the ends to remove the low-quality bases (< 10 quality scores) and editing the ambiguous bases using Chromas 2.6.6 (http://technelysium.com.au/wp/chromas/). The nucleotide basic local alignment search tool (BLASTn,
Species |
Locality |
Accession |
Reference |
L. bentejui |
Agaete, Gran Canaria |
|
|
L. foutadjalloni |
Segueya, Guinea |
|
|
L. hupalupa |
Igualero, La Gomera |
|
|
L. mahan |
Teguitar, Fuerteventura |
|
|
L. mrazig |
Douz, Tunisia |
|
|
L. persica FI |
Kaviri Cave, Ghaemiye, Fars, Iran |
|
|
L. persica KI |
Ker Palang Cave, Mal Agha, Khuzestan, Iran |
|
|
L. persica YI |
Khaneh Khoda Cave, Harat, Yazd, Iran |
|
|
L. rufescens AU | Adelaide, Australia | GQ279229 |
|
L. rufescens CH | Guangxi, China |
|
|
L. rufescens CS |
Cabo de Gata, Spain |
|
|
L. rufescens GC |
Subida San Felipe, Gran Canaria |
|
|
L. rufescens ID | Maharashtra, India | Gaikwad et al. unpublished data | |
L. rufescens KT |
Kepez, Turkey |
|
|
L. rufescens PH1 |
Kamantigue Cave, Lobo, Batangas, Philippines |
this study |
|
L. rufescens PH2 |
Kamantigue Cave, Lobo, Batangas, Philippines |
this study |
|
L. rufescens PH3 |
Kamantigue Cave, Lobo, Batangas, Philippines |
this study |
|
L. rufescens PH4 |
Kamantigue Cave, Lobo, Batangas, Philippines |
this study |
|
L. rufescens PT |
Porto Santo, Portugal |
|
|
L. rufescens SI |
Sardinia, Italy |
|
|
L. rufescens SS |
Sagunt, Spain |
|
|
L. rufescens US | New York, USA |
|
|
L. rufescens VS |
Vilamarxant, Spain |
|
|
L. tibicena |
Cumbre Arico, Tenerife |
|
Scytodes rufescens Dufour, 1820 -
Male (Fig.
Carapace pale orange-brown marked with dorsal dark orange-brown violin-shaped marking. Eyes six in three dyads in a recurved transverse row. Sternum pale yellowish to cream. Chelicerae, labium and maxillae reddish-brown. Legs orange-brown. Abdomen ground colour cream brown to greyish-brown, with short, grey setae. Leg formula 2-1-4-3 (Table
Leg measurements of Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820) from the Philippines.
Sex |
Leg |
Femur |
Patella |
Tibia |
Metatarsus |
Tarsus |
Total |
Male |
1 |
7.25 |
0.88 |
8.30 |
8.65 |
1.33 |
26.40 |
2 |
8.95 |
1.08 |
9.20 |
9.25 |
1.65 |
30.13 |
|
3 |
6.55 |
0.90 |
7.55 |
7.45 |
1.45 |
23.90 |
|
4 |
7.10 |
0.85 |
7.00 |
7.50 |
1.68 |
24.13 |
|
Pedipalp |
1.33 |
0.28 |
0.75 |
- |
1.33 |
3.68 |
|
Female |
1 |
5.33 |
0.91 |
5.80 |
5.00 |
1.09 |
18.13 |
2 |
5.85 |
0.96 |
6.28 |
5.58 |
1.18 |
19.84 |
|
3 |
4.85 |
1.00 |
4.45 |
4.83 |
1.05 |
16.21 |
|
4 |
5.31 |
0.95 |
5.43 |
6.18 |
1.13 |
18.99 |
|
Pedipalp |
1.21 |
0.35 |
0.83 |
- |
1.21 |
3.60 |
Southern Europe, northern Africa to Afghanistan, Iran. Introduced to the USA, Mexico, Peru, Macronesia, South Africa, India, Yemen, China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Hawaii and Philippines (new record).
This represents a new record of the family Sicariidae Keyserling, 1880 and species in the Philippines. It can be distinguished from other spider families in the Philippines by the six eyes arranged in three dyads in a recurved row, relatively flat carapace, rounded abdomen and tarsal claws two (compared to Scytodidae: humped carapace, tarsal claws 2-3; and 6-eyed Pholcidae: eyes arranged in two distinct triads, abdomen usually elongate and narrow, tarsal claws 2-3).The Philippine specimens exhibit the typical spermatheca and male palp features of the rufescens-species group (
The spermatheca of Philippine specimens are short and rounded distally with reduced or absent spermathecal bilobation, similar to those from the Balkan Peninsula (
Similarly, the male palp of Philippine specimens conforms with the report of
Overall, the examined morphological characters of the Philippine species conform with the present description of L. rufescens as presented in
Furthermore, the results of the molecular analysis corroborate those obtained using classical morphological techniques. The BLASTn results of the COI sequences generated from four Philippine spider specimens (412–433 bp long) reveals significantly high similarity (percent identity = 98–100%) with those of L. rufescens. Meanwhile, the pairwise distance between the Philippine samples and those from Mediterranean samples ranges from zero to nearly 0.1 (Table
Pairwise Distance Matrix of COI sequences of Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820) from the Philippines and other localities: AU – Adelaide, Australia; CS – Cabo de Gata, Spain; CH – Guangxi, China; GC – Subida San Felipe, Gran Canaria; ID – Maharastra, India; KT – Kepez, Turkey; PH – Batangas, Philippines; PT – Porto Santo, Portugal; SI – Sardinia, Italy; SS – Sagunt, Spain; US – New York, USA; VS – Vilamarxant, Spain.
AU | CH |
CS |
GC |
ID |
KT |
PH1 |
PH2 |
PH3 |
PH4 |
PT |
SI |
SS |
US |
VS |
|
AU | 0.0221 | 0.0248 | 0.0024 | 0.0000 | 0.0229 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0224 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0201 | |
CH | 0.0731 | 0.0105 | 0.0241 | 0.0249 | 0.0029 | 0.0237 | 0.0249 | 0.0242 | 0.0238 | 0.0237 | 0.0113 | 0.0237 | 0.0225 | 0.0111 | |
CS | 0.0851 | 0.0314 |
0.0259 |
0.0276 |
0.0111 |
0.0254 |
0.0267 |
0.0259 |
0.0255 |
0.0254 |
0.0077 |
0.0254 |
0.0252 |
0.0076 |
|
GC |
0.0025 | 0.0832 |
0.0916 |
0.0028 |
0.0249 |
0.0022 |
0.0023 |
0.0023 |
0.0022 |
0.0022 |
0.0244 |
0.0022 |
0.0025 |
0.0223 |
|
ID | 0.0000 | 0.0806 | 0.0944 | 0.0286 | 0.0248 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0259 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0241 | |
KT |
0.0763 | 0.0023 |
0.0340 |
0.0816 |
0.0806 |
0.0247 |
0.0257 |
0.0250 |
0.0245 |
0.0244 |
0.0113 |
0.0244 |
0.0232 |
0.0118 |
|
PH1 |
0.0000 | 0.0805 |
0.0889 |
0.0023 |
0.0000 |
0.0834 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0239 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0218 |
|
PH2 |
0.0000 | 0.0846 |
0.0934 |
0.0024 |
0.0000 |
0.0877 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0251 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0230 |
|
PH3 |
0.0000 | 0.0822 |
0.0908 |
0.0024 |
0.0000 |
0.0852 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0244 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0219 |
|
PH4 |
0.0000 | 0.0806 |
0.0889 |
0.0023 |
0.0000 |
0.0835 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0239 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0219 |
|
PT |
0.0000 | 0.0805 |
0.0889 |
0.0023 |
0.0000 |
0.0835 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0239 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0218 |
|
SI |
0.0765 | 0.0340 |
0.0191 |
0.0865 |
0.0877 |
0.0339 |
0.0837 |
0.0880 |
0.0855 |
0.0840 |
0.0838 |
0.0239 |
0.0227 |
0.0062 |
|
SS |
0.0000 | 0.0805 |
0.0889 |
0.0023 |
0.0000 |
0.0835 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 |
0.0838 |
0.0000 |
0.0219 |
|
US | 0.0000 | 0.0741 | 0.0862 | 0.0025 | 0.0000 | 0.0773 |
0.0000 |
0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | 0.0776 | 0.0000 | 0.0204 | |
VS |
0.0673 | 0.0338 |
0.0190 |
0.0778 |
0.0806 |
0.0364 |
0.0751 |
0.0789 |
0.0766 |
0.0753 |
0.0751 |
0.0141 |
0.0775 |
0.0682 |
Interestingly, distances between Philippine specimens and those from India (Maharashtra), Portugal (Porto Santo) and Spain (Sagunt) were recovered to be zero. Historically around the 18th century, there is an existing trade route between India - Philippines (
Additionaly, distances between Philippine specimens and those from Australia (Adelaide) and USA (New York) were also recovered to be zero.
On the other hand, Philippine specimens were recovered to be distant from those from Guangxi, China suggesting that they may have followed different routes of introduction.
Phylogenetic analysis shows three major clusters consisting of L. rufescens specimens (100% bootstrap support), Canarian species (74% bootstrap) and L. persica (57% bootstrap) (Fig.
UPGMA tree generated using the COI sequences of the four Philippine Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1892) specimens and 20 other Loxosceles species. Evolutionary distances were calculated using the Tamura-Nei parameter model with 1,000 bootstrap iterations. AU – Adelaide, Australia; CH – Guangxi, China; CS – Cabo de Gata, Spain; FI – Fars, Iran; GC – Subida San Felipe, Gran Canaria; ID - Maharashra, India; KT – Kepez, Turkey; PH – Batangas, Philippines; PT – Porto Santo, Portugal; SI – Sardinia, Italy; SS – Sagunt, Spain; US – New York, USA; VS – Vilamarxant, Spain; YI – Yazd, Iran.
The genus Loxosceles Heineken & Lowe, in
Loxosceles rufescens are usually found in caves, under rocks and leaf litter in its Mediterranean distribution (
In more recent studies outside the Mediterranean Region, L. rufescens was also found in caves. In Laos, they were documented to occur in two caves, The Pak Ou (Tham Phun) and Tham Sing Mang Caves, which are both dry caves (
The abiotic conditions (e.g. precipitation and temperature) used by
The spider can be easily spread through human means as they are able to resist long periods of starvation and they are highly synanthropic (i.e. live in close association with humans and benefits from their habitats, surroundings and activities;
Potential invasiveness in the environment. The cave where L. rufescens has been found is inhabited by another invasive species, the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana (L.), which are known prey for these spiders (
Despite their invasiveness and potential harm, L. rufescens do not disperse on their own means easily. All Loxosceles species have low dispersal capacity and do not balloon like other spiders (
Medical importance. The genus Loxosceles is amongst the known dangerous spiders in the world (
In most cases involving Loxosceles rufescenes, most bites do not result in serious skin injuries (
Implication in cave classification and management. Kamantigue Cave located at Barangay Biga, Lobo, Batangas is currently classified as Class I due to extremely hazardous conditions, such as its bad air condition and presence of rock fall (
We thank the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Region IV-A Office for the grant of Gratuitous Permits (R4A-WGP-2021-BAT-006) and the local government units of Lobo and Barangay Biga for hosting us during our fieldwork; the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for the financial support through the Niche Centers in the Regions for Research and Development (NICER): Center for Assessment of Cave Ecosystems (CAVES) in CALABARZON Project 3 entitled “Terrestrial Arthropod Diversity Assessment of Cave and Karst Areas in CALABARZON”; the UPLB Museum of Natural History for hosting the said project under the UPLB MNH Cave Biodiversity Research Program; the Institute of Biological Sciences, CAS, UPLB, specifically the Environmental Biology Division, Cave Ecology Laboratory and Genetics and Molecular Biology Division – Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Laboratory (Molecular Genetics) for the use of space, laboratory supplies and facilities. This paper is also part of the series of outputs in our effort to document the diversity of Philippine terrestrial arthropods under the Philippine Terrestrial Arthropods Biodiversity Survey (PhilTABS). Lastly, we would also like to take this opportunity to thank Alireza Zamani and Tobias Bauer for their constructive insights in reviewing our manuscript.