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

  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 cob-web spider Platnickina adamsoni (Berland, 1934) from Ascension Island (Araneae: Theridiidae)

 


First record of the cob-web spider Platnickina adamsoni (Berland, 1934) from Ascension Island (Araneae: Theridiidae)

Abstract 

Platnickina adamsoni (Berland, 1934) is recorded from Ascension Island for the first time, based on an examined adult female, collected by vegetation beating. The complex taxonomic history of P. adamsoni is discussed, to contextualize the significance of this record, which may have been misidentified as a similar congener – Platnickina mneon (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) – if not for recent corrections to the literature by Dupérré (2023).

Sherwood, Danniella & Sharp, Adam. (2023). First record of the cob-web spider Platnickina adamsoni (Berland, 1934) from Ascension Island (Araneae: Theridiidae). SERKET The Arachnological Bulletin of the Middle East and North Africa. 19. 355-358.