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...

A survey of Gnaphosidae (Arachnida, Araneae) from Ascension Island with description of a new species of Australoechemus Schmidt & Piepho, 1994

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A survey of Gnaphosidae (Arachnida, Araneae) from Ascension Island with description of a new species of Australoechemus Schmidt & Piepho, 1994

Abstract

An updated checklist of the gnaphosid spiders of Ascension Island – comprising five species, in five genera – is presented, based on examination of historical and new specimens from across Ascension, including its islet Boatswain Bird Island. The continued presence of the non-native Marinarozelotes jaxartensis (Kroneberg, 1875), Urozelotes rusticus (L. Koch, 1842), and Zelotes laetus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872), previously recorded by prior workers, is confirmed. Two species are newly recorded from the island: Synaphosus syntheticus (Chamberlin, 1924) from the mainland and Australoechemus vickyae sp. nov. (♂♀) from both Boatswain Bird Island and the mainland.

Sherwood D, Marusik YuM, Sharp A, Ashmole P (2023) A survey of Gnaphosidae (Arachnida, Araneae) from Ascension Island with description of a new species of Australoechemus Schmidt & Piepho, 1994. African Invertebrates 64(3): 291-302. https://doi.org/10.3897/afrinvertebr.64.113946