An unusually complex venom system in araneophagous palp-footed spiders (Palpimanidae)

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  An unusually complex venom system in araneophagous palp-footed spiders (Palpimanidae) Venoms are key adaptive traits in many animal lineages, yet their structural and functional diversity in spiders remains poorly investigated. Here, we present an initial characterization of the venom system of palp-footed spiders (Palpimanidae), a family specialized in hunting other spiders. Using micro-computed tomography, we found that the venom glands of the single species examined, Palpimanus gibbulus , exhibit a complex, multi-lobed morphology that is unusual among araneomorph spiders. Proteo-transcriptomic analyses of two Palpimanus venoms ( P. gibbulus and P. cyprius ) revealed highly diverse putative toxin repertoires comprising hundreds of peptides and proteins, including numerous novel putative neurotoxins, cytotoxins, enzymes, and allergens. Five major families of cysteine-rich palpitoxins were identified as the dominant putative neurotoxic components in both species, displaying con...

The largest Palaeozoic whip scorpion and the smallest (Arachnida: Uropygi: Thelyphonida); a new species and a new ichnospecies from the Carboniferous of New England, USA

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The largest Palaeozoic whip scorpion and the smallest (Arachnida: Uropygi: Thelyphonida); a new species and a new ichnospecies from the Carboniferous of New England, USA


Abstract

Palaeozoic fossils of whip scorpions (Arachnida: Uropygi: Thelyphonida) are extremely rare, with only seven species of this age previously described. A new species of fossil whip scorpion, as well as the first ichnospecies assignable to this group, are described here from the Carboniferous Narragansett Basin of Massachusetts, USA. A body fossil from the Rhode Island Formation (Moscovian) is referred to as Parilisthelyphonus bryantae gen. nov., sp. nov.. At more than 34 mm long it represents both the largest known Palaeozoic whip scorpion and the first fossil arachnid found in the Rhode Island Formation in ~130 years of scrutiny. The whip scorpion trace fossil, comprising a full-body impression and associated tracks, is described from the subjacent Wamsutta Formation (Late Bashkirian) of Massachusetts, USA as Inmontibusichnus charleshenryturneri  igen. nov., isp. nov.. With an estimated body length of less than 10 mm, the producer would be the smallest known Palaeozoic thelyphonid. These discoveries within the Narragansett Basin represent only the second site in the western hemisphere, in what was western Laurasia, to yield Palaeozoic whip scorpions. The Narragansett Basin is of significant Pangaean biogeographical importance among whip scorpion sites, being located between the westernmost Mazon Creek Lagerstätte of Illinois and the eastern assemblage of localities in Europe, and serves as an important new fossil calibration point for phylogenetic studies of this arachnid group.


Richard J Knecht and others, The largest Palaeozoic whip scorpion and the smallest (Arachnida: Uropygi: Thelyphonida); a new species and a new ichnospecies from the Carboniferous of New England, USA, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2023;, zlad088, https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad088


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