Foraging strategies and geographic factors jointly shape gut microbiota of spiders in the Sichuan and Guizhou regions of China.

ABSTRACT: Spiders, a keystone predatory group for terrestrial ecosystem balance, have underexplored gut microbiotas. We collected 1090 spiders from 34 families in southwestern China, performing 16S rRNA sequencing to investigate their gut microbiota. Wandering and ambushing spiders exhibited higher α-diversity, while web-building spiders showed the lowest α-diversity with the highest endosymbiont infection rates. Gut microbiota diversity was significantly higher in Guizhou-region spiders than in Sichuan-region spiders. All spiders showed high amount of endosymbiont ASVs, which varied with foraging strategies and regions. Additionally, closer geographic distances between spiders were associated with more similar gut microbiota diversity levels. Environmental factor analysis preliminary revealed a pos

SUBMITTER: Wang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12820294 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature