A University of the Sunshine Coast researcher working with the world's 'largest arachnid venom collection' is aiming to invent a honey bee-friendly bio insecticide for farmers battling swarms of hungry locusts.
A University of the Sunshine Coast researcher is milking hundreds of venomous spiders in the hope of creating a biological insecticide that can help farmers battle swarms of hungry locusts without killing honey bees.
"We now have the world's largest arachnid venom collection, comprising more than 750 species of spiders, scorpions and centipedes from around the globe," he said.Australia has three main pest species of native locusts, with adult plague locusts and spur-throated locusts capable of flying several hundred kilometres overnight.
"There's also a number of cave spiders that hang on threads and catch insects as they go past so they're very reliant on very quick activity."Mr Meibusch, who used to work for Australia's Grains Research and Development Corporation, said if the arachnid venom peptides were able to be synthesised in a fermentation process, they could potentially be used on juvenile locusts breeding in national parks.
Sunshine Coast Farm Farmer Agriculture Research Bioinsecticide Venom University Of The Sunshine Coast Spider Venom
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