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

  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...

Flatties in Italy: online naturalist networks confirm a wide distribution of Selenops radiatus (Araneae: Selenopidae) in southeastern Sicily

 


Flatties in Italy: online naturalist networks confirm a wide distribution of Selenops radiatus (Araneae: Selenopidae) in southeastern Sicily


Abstract


In Italy, the selenopid spider Selenops radiatus Latreille, 1819, was hitherto only known from the Aeolian Archipelago (northeastern Sicily), with a record from the island of Alicudi and plausible sightings from the island of Filicudi. In this paper, we present twentysix new records from Sicily sensu stricto and its satellite islands, consisting of observations gathered from online naturalist networks and one adult specimen collected from the area where most observations were made. Nearly all records were made in buildings or similar artificial habitats, supporting the hypothesis that occurrences of S. radiatus are mainly limited to synanthropic environments in Sicily.


Dentici, Antonino & Galasso, Paolo & Faraone, Francesco Paolo. (2024). Flatties in Italy: online naturalist networks confirm a wide distribution of Selenops radiatus (Araneae: Selenopidae) in southeastern Sicily. Arachnologische Mitteilungen Arachnology Letters. 67. 13-17. 10.30963/aramit6703.