Oribatid Mites Supply Tetrodotoxin to Poisonous Newts
, suggesting that newts and poison frogs have convergently evolved to exploit toxin-bearing microarthropods for chemical defense. We propose a "terrestrial toxic web" hypothesis in which oribatid mites act as a shared environmental reservoir linking putative microbial toxin production to vertebrate chemical defense, highlighting microarthropods as potential key mediators in terrestrial toxin flow.
Authors
- Toshio Nishikawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1955-6618)
- Kentaro Takada (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3835-1482)
- Tadachika Miyasaka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3143-4576)
- Masaatsu Adachi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7615-3861)
- Masafumi Amano
- Kazutoshi Yoshitake (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8247-9443)
- Yuto Nakazawa
- Satoshi Shimano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8672-4362)
- Shigeru Sato
Institutions
- Tohoku University (JP)
- Hosei University (JP)
- Nagoya University (JP)
- Kitasato University (JP)
- Kumamoto University (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Natural Products
- Published
- 2026-04-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jnatprod.6c00280
- Primary Topic
- Marine Toxins and Detection Methods
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science