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 species and new records of the spider genus Dubiaranea (Araneae, Linyphiidae) from southern Brazil and Uruguay, with an analysis of the potential distribution of the species

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A new species and new records of the spider genus Dubiaranea (Araneae, Linyphiidae) from southern Brazil and Uruguay, with an analysis of the potential distribution of the species

Abstract

Dubiaranea magatama Cajade, Hagopián & Rodrigues n. sp. is described from Uruguay, and southern Brazil based on males and females from several types of native forests, and a potential distribution for this species is modeled. The predicted model for this species indicates a Pampean province and southern Atlantic Forest biome distribution. Three variables contributed significantly to the model with positive influence: the spatial component, the proximity to large rivers, and the tree cover. Also, we provide new records of Dubiaranea difficilis (Mello-Leitão 1944) for Uruguay and a model of its potential distribution was performed. It showed that tree cover, the proximity to large rivers, the spatial component and precipitation/evapotranspiration constraints were recovered for the model with positive influence, expanding the potential distribution area previously proposed.

Cajade, M., Hagopián, D., Rodrigues, E. N. L., Guerrero, J. C., Laborda, Á. & Simó, M. (2024). A new species and new records of the spider genus Dubiaranea (Araneae, Linyphiidae) from southern Brazil and Uruguay, with an analysis of the potential distribution of the species. Zootaxa 5437(2): 223-224. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5437.2.3