Excitatory insect beta-toxins induce a spastic paralysis. They bind voltage-independently at site-4 of sodium channels (Nav) and shift the voltage of activation toward more negative potentials thereby affecting sodium channel activation and promoting spontaneous and repetitive firing. This toxin is active only on insects. Expressed by the venom gland. Has the structural arrangement of an alpha-helix connected to antiparallel beta-sheets by disulfide bonds (CS-alpha/beta). PD(50) is 0.099 ng/mg of insects. Could be used to reinforce the natural insecticidal ability of baculoviruses. The insertion of the gene coding for AaHIT causes a higher killing speed of insects by the baculovirus (particularly against lepidopterans). Could be considered as a biological insecticide candidate, when fused to Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA), a protein with the potential to cross the insect gut. This chimeric AaIT/GNA variant shows increased resistance and toxicity to both chewing and sucking pests (the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera, the whitefly Bemisia tabaci, and the rice brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens), when expressed in transgenic plants. Belongs to the long (4 C-C) scorpion toxin superfamily. Sodium channel inhibitor family. Beta subfamily.