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...

Two new species and a new provincial record of Draconarius (Araneae, Agelenidae) from China

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Two new species and a new provincial record of Draconarius (Araneae, Agelenidae) from China

Abstract: Two new species of Draconarius Ovtchinnikov, 1999 are described based on material collected in Zhejiang Province, eastern China: D. chenhaojuni sp. nov. (♀) and D. kozue sp. nov. (♂♀). Additionally, D. aspinatus (Wang, Yin, Peng & Xie, 1990) is newly found in Hubei Province, central China, which was only recorded in Anhui Province before. The above-mentioned three species are illustrated and their collected localities are mapped. Specimens are deposited in the Centre for Behavioral Ecology and Evolution, College of Life Sciences, Hubei University in Wuhan (CBEE).

Yu F-B & Wei M 2024: Two new species and a new provincial record of Draconarius (Araneae, Agelenidae) from China. The Indochina Entomologist, 1 (10): 65–74.