Inter-individual variability in equine antibody responses to African snake venoms follows heavy-tailed distributions with implications for antivenom production

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  Inter-individual variability in equine antibody responses to African snake venoms follows heavy-tailed distributions with implications for antivenom production Abstract Variability in the antibody response of horses used for snake antivenom manufacture is well recognized, yet its statistical structure and implications for industrial productivity remain poorly characterized. In this study, we quantified antivenom antibody titers by ELISA in a cohort of 14 horses immunized with venoms from the clinically most important snakes in sub-Saharan Africa. To integrate antibody levels with plasma availability, we calculated the Cumulative Plasma Productivity (CPP) by converting individual plasma volumes into titer-corrected equivalents and sequentially pooling these volumes according to their corrected contribution. Distributional analysis revealed right-skewed, heavy-tailed patterns better approximated by a log-normal model than by a strict Pareto (power-law) form, with approximately 20–3...

A new specimen of whip scorpion (Arachnida; Thelyphonida) from the Crato Formation, Lower Cretaceous of Brazil

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A new specimen of whip scorpion (Arachnida; Thelyphonida) from the Crato Formation, Lower Cretaceous of Brazil

Abstract

Fossil whip scorpions (Thelyphonida) are extremely rare in the Crato Formation strata, Araripe Basin, Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) of Brazil. Only four specimens of whip scorpions have been described in this unit so far. All specimens have been assigned to the genus Mesoproctus Dunlop and only one species has been formally proposed, M. rowlandi Dunlop. For Mesozoic times, apart from Crato Formation, whip scorpions are only documented by two species in the amber deposits of the Hukawng Valley, northern Myanmar. In this scenario, each new discovery of Mesozoic whip scorpion is highly important. In addition, we present the first documented example of book lungs from a fossil whip scorpion. Here, we present and illustrate a new specimen of whip scorpion found in the Crato strata. 

Alberto, G. de M., Bezerra, F. I., Giupponi, A. P. de L., & Mendes, M. (2023). A new specimen of whip scorpion (Arachnida; Thelyphonida) from the Crato Formation, Lower Cretaceous of Brazil. Revista Brasileira De Paleontologia, 26(3), 147–155. https://doi.org/10.4072/rbp.2023.3.01