Abstract
Australian redback spiders Latrodectus hasseltii, known for their strong neurotoxic venom, are a quarantine threat for much of the world. Female redback spiders produce a sex pheromone that attracts males of the species, yet the compounds involved in their attraction remain unresolved. Our project set out to identify these compounds and use them to trap male redback spiders as the first step in the development of a pest management/surveillance tool for these spiders. Headspace volatiles from the silk of virgin and mated female redback spiders was collected by solid phase microextraction and analysed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Silk samples were also solvent extracted for analysis by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Comparison with synthetic standards on multiple column phases identified the candidate volatile pheromone components as 2-methylpropanoic acid, (S)-2-methylbutanoic acid and 2-pyrrolidone, while N-3-methylbutanoyl-O-(S)-2-methylbutanoyl-L-serine was identified as the main candidate short-range cue. Bioassays with a combination of these four compounds showed similar levels of attraction to the natural virgin female’s silk. Field trapping trials using a mixture of all four compounds successfully trapped male redback spiders in New Zealand vineyards.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the landowners and vineyard managers for access to their sites and acknowledge Ōtākou rūnanga as kaitiaki of the whenua. Special thanks are extended to Vern Collette for his guidance and assistance preparing the funding applications which allowed this research to proceed. We would also like to thank Jon Sullivan (Lincoln University) for statistical advice, along with Lee-Anne Manning, Flore Mas and three anonymous reviewers for their review of the manuscript and constructive comments.
Funding
This work was funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, grant number C11 × 2302, and was supported with co-funding from the Department of Conservation (New Zealand).
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Twidle, A.M., Sullivan, T.E.S., Arahanga, M.T. et al. Identification and testing of sex pheromone components of the invasive Australian redback spider (Lactrodectus hasseltii). Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-49837-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-49837-w
