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...

Revealing the identity of Josa chazaliae (Simon, 1897) (Araneae: Anyphaenidae): new species and the highest altitude record for a spider in South America

 


Revealing the identity of Josa chazaliae (Simon, 1897) (Araneae: Anyphaenidae): new species and the highest altitude record for a spider in South America

Abstract

We examined the type series of Josa chazaliae (Simon, 1897) from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, composed of three females of two different species. Herein, we propose a lectotype for Josa chazaliae, redescribe the female, and describe the male of this species for the first time. A new species, Josa samaria sp. nov., is proposed based on a female paralectotype of Josa chazaliae. Three additional species, all based on both sexes are described: Josa nadineae sp. nov., Josa berlandi sp. nov., and Josa olimpica sp. nov. All species studied in this work occur in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the highest coastal mountain system in the world. We compared our geographical data with the records of spiders available in GBIF, the MACN-Ar database along with unpublished records for the described Josa species. The results indicate that the presence of Josa olimpica at altitudes of at least 5500 masl represents the highest record for a spider in South America, and apparently the highest record for any spider in the Western Hemisphere.

Martínez, L., Kochalka, J. A., Cabra-García, J. & Ramírez, M. J. (2025). Revealing the identity of Josa chazaliae (Simon, 1897) (Araneae: Anyphaenidae): new species and the highest altitude record for a spider in South America. Zootaxa 5566(2): 201-242. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5566.2.1