Look but do not touch: the occurrence of venomous species across Lepidoptera

Andrea Battisti (1, 2) , Andre A. Walker (3) , Mizuki Uemura (4) , Myron P. Zalucki (4) , Anne Sophie A. S. Brinquin (5) , Rudy Caparros-Megidos (6) , Emmanuel Gachet (7) , Carole Kerdelhué (8) , Nicolas Desneux (9)

1 Unipd - Università degli Studi di Padova = University of Padua
2 Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment
3 Institute for Molecular Bioscience
4 UQ [All campuses : Brisbane, Dutton Park Gatton, Herston, St Lucia and other locations] - The University of Queensland
5 UEFM - Unité Expérimentale Entomologie et Forêt Méditerranéenne
6 Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech [Gembloux]
7 LSV Angers - Laboratoire de santé des végétaux
8 UMR CBGP - Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations
9 ISA - Institut Sophia Agrobiotech

Lepidoptera can cause several health issues in humans and domestic animals due to their setae, which are defensive adaptations that protect them from predators. The diversity of venomous Lepidoptera has been explored in several reviews starting from the first comprehensive attempt in 1984 by Kawamoto and Kumada (KK) who compiled a list of 228 species based on previous reviews; however, KK did not cite the original publications for listed species. In this review we validated and updated the KK table. The updated list of venomous Lepidoptera includes 5 superfamilies, 14 families, 208 genera, and 576 species, representing a two-fold increase for genera and 2.9-fold for species with respect to KK. The total number of species in the genera including at least one venomous species, which we argue is likely closer to the true number of venomous species, is 7 times higher (3,620). GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) occurrences for venomous species are 1-4 orders of magnitude higher than those of confamilial non-venomous species. The presence of venomous structures is independent of the relatedness of the clades or geographic region; venom is produced by many species of Zygaenoidea, Lasiocampoidea and Bombycoidea but only by some specialized groups in Papilionoidea and Noctuoidea. There are likely to be multiple evolutionary origins of venom within Lepidoptera, but the exact number is difficult to estimate. The knowledge gap between medical and natural history fields needs to be addressed with novel approaches to study ecology and toxicology. This review offers health practitioners a tool to better understand the origin of the reactions observed and to improve the identification of the causal agents.

Mots clés: defence; hair; health; predation; seta; spine; toxin; urticaria

Domaines: Santé publique et épidémiologie; Biodiversité et Ecologie; Médecine vétérinaire et santé animale; Systématique, phylogénie et taxonomie; Génétique des populations [q-bio.PE]; Toxicologie

Andrea Battisti, Andre A. Walker, Mizuki Uemura, Myron P. Zalucki, Anne Sophie A. S. Brinquin, et al.. Look but do not touch: the occurrence of venomous species across Lepidoptera. Entomologia Generalis, In press, ⟨10.1127/entomologia/2023/2295⟩. ⟨hal-04520674⟩