Venom Mass Fingerprints for Species Delimitation, Reloaded: A Test Case with Italian Scorpions (Euscorpius)

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  Venom Mass Fingerprints for Species Delimitation, Reloaded: A Test Case with Italian Scorpions (Euscorpius) Abstract Scorpion venoms are complex mixtures of bioactive compounds including proteins, peptides and enzymes. Although venoms exhibit substantial intraspecific variation, some compounds appear to be species-specific, highlighting their potential as chemotaxonomic markers. Venom mass fingerprints (MFPs) derived from Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) Mass Spectrometry (MS) have been proposed as a means of delimiting species. However, their utility for species delimitation has rarely been evaluated against independent sources of taxonomic evidence. In the present study, the performance of MALDI-TOF MS-based venom peptide barcoding (mass ranges of m/z 800‒4500 and m/z 3000‒10,000) was assessed in 52 populations of eight Italian species of the scorpion genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876, representing different levels of evolutionary divergenc...

Effect of spider’s weight on signal transmittance in vertical orb webs

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Effect of spider’s weight on signal transmittance in vertical orb webs

Abstract

Spider orb web is a sophisticated structure that needs to fulfil multiple roles, such as trapping prey and transmitting web-borne signals. When building their web, heavier spiders tend to increase the pretension on the web, which seems counterintuitive since a tighter web would decrease the chances of stopping and retaining prey. In this article, we claim that heavier orb-weaving spiders increase tension on the web in order to reduce the attenuation of the vibratory signal coming from the bottom part of the web. We support our claim by first building a detailed spider web model, which is tuned by a tension-adjusting algorithm to fit the experimentally observed profiles. Then, the effects of the spider weight and the web tension on the signal transmittance properties are investigated using state-of-the-art finite element analysis tools.

2024Effect of spider’s weight on signal transmittance in vertical orb websR. Soc. Open Sci.11240986, 
http://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240986