Venom Mass Fingerprints for Species Delimitation, Reloaded: A Test Case with Italian Scorpions (Euscorpius)

Posted by
  Venom Mass Fingerprints for Species Delimitation, Reloaded: A Test Case with Italian Scorpions (Euscorpius) Abstract Scorpion venoms are complex mixtures of bioactive compounds including proteins, peptides and enzymes. Although venoms exhibit substantial intraspecific variation, some compounds appear to be species-specific, highlighting their potential as chemotaxonomic markers. Venom mass fingerprints (MFPs) derived from Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) Mass Spectrometry (MS) have been proposed as a means of delimiting species. However, their utility for species delimitation has rarely been evaluated against independent sources of taxonomic evidence. In the present study, the performance of MALDI-TOF MS-based venom peptide barcoding (mass ranges of m/z 800‒4500 and m/z 3000‒10,000) was assessed in 52 populations of eight Italian species of the scorpion genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876, representing different levels of evolutionary divergenc...

Cymbiapophysa seldeni, a new theraphosine species from Ecuador (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

Posted by


 

Cymbiapophysa seldeni, a new theraphosine species from Ecuador (Araneae: Theraphosidae)


Abstract

Cymbiapophysa Gabriel & Sherwood, 2020 is a theraphosine genus endemic to South America, diagnosable on genital organ morphology in both sexes, and the presence of a distal-retrolateral apophysis on the male cymbium. Examination of historical material in the Natural History Museum, London, recently revealed a new species from Carondelet, Ecuador, with distinct palpal bulb and tibial apophysis morphology, described herein as Cymbiapophysa seldeni sp. nov.


Danniella Sherwood and Ray Gabriel "Cymbiapophysa seldeni, a new theraphosine species from Ecuador (Araneae: Theraphosidae)," Arachnology 19(5), 777-779, (10 July 2023). https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2023.19.5.777