Two new arthropod toxins purified from the venom of the Mexican scorpion Centruroides nigrescens

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  Two new arthropod toxins purified from the venom of the Mexican scorpion Centruroides nigrescens Abstract The venom of the slender black scorpion Centruroides nigrescens , from the State of Guerrero México, was fractionated by Sephadex G–50 gel filtration, followed by carboxymethyl cellulose ion separation and high–performance liquid chromatography, permitting to obtain two new peptides toxic to arthropods. The estimate LD 50 of the soluble venom for the insect Acheta domesticus was 11.1 μg/g body weight, and for the arthropod Armadillidium vulgare was 61.1 μg body weight . The amino acid sequence of toxin Cnige1 (toxic to A. domesticus and A. vulgare ) contains 65 amino acids, with a molecular mass of 7273.37 mass units, whereas toxin Cnige2, toxic to A. domesticus , contains 68 amino acids, with a molecular mass of 7548.81 units. Both peptides are well packed, containing 8 cysteines, which in the native venoms are forming 4 disulfide bridges each. The amino acid sequences f...

First Record of the Scorpion Vachoniolus globimanus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Jordan

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First Record of the Scorpion Vachoniolus globimanus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Jordan


Abstract 


Four species of the genus Vachoniolus have been described from Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The scorpion Vachoniolus globimanus Levy, Amitai and Shulov, 1973 is recorded from Jordan for the first time. Specimens of this species have been collected from Wadi Rum, southern Jordan. Morphological analysis, morphometric values, and taxonomic features were used to identify the collected specimens. This record extends the known distribution range of the genus Vachoniolus from central, western and southern Arabian Peninsula and Iran to the northwest in southern Jordan. The aim of the present study is to identify and describe the newly collected scorpion species from Wadi Rum desert in Jordan with additional ecological notes on their habitat.