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...

Revision of the South American Ninetinae genus Guaranita (Araneae, Pholcidae)

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Revision of the South American Ninetinae genus Guaranita (Araneae, Pholcidae)

Abstract


The southern South American genus Guaranita includes tiny spiders (body length ~1 mm) that lead reclusive lives under ground-objects and run rapidly when disturbed.  As a  result,  they have been poorly collected and studied.  Here we report on a  recent collection of  Guaranita spiders from  Argentina, describing one new species (G. auadae Huber sp. nov.) and the previously unknown female of G. dobby Torres et al., 2016. In addition, we provide CO1 barcodes for all (now five) known species, first SEM data, and first chromosome data for the genus. The diploid number of GuaranitagoloboffiHuber, 2000 (2n♂ = 11) is among the lowest in araneomorph spiders with monocentric chromosome structure.


Huber, B. A., Meng, G., Král, J., Ávila Herrera, I. M., & Izquierdo, M. A. (2023). Revision of the South American Ninetinae genus Guaranita (Araneae, Pholcidae). European Journal of Taxonomy, 900(1), 32–80. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2023.900.2301