Venomics of the six-eyed sand spider, Sicarius rugosus (Araneae: Sicariidae), from the neotropical dry forest of Costa Rica

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  Venomics of the six-eyed sand spider, Sicarius rugosus (Araneae: Sicariidae), from the neotropical dry forest of Costa Rica Abstract Background Sicarius rugosus , the only member of the genus that inhabits Central America, is phylogenetically related to South American  Sicarius  spiders. These originated from a common ancestor with sister African species. Like  Loxosceles ,  Sicarius  exhibits venom phospholipase D activity due to a group of toxins known collectively as SicTox. Methods A gel-assisted, bottom-up, proteomic analysis was performed to characterize the venom composition of  S. rugosus . Hyaluronidase activity was determined using zymography. Results We identified several SicTox sequences, all classified as β-clade paralogs and sharing unique peptides with proteins from  S. patagonicus ,  S. peruensis,  and other species. Enzymes such as metalloproteinases, including putative astacins, carboxypeptidases, and angiotensin-conv...

Medically significant spiders (Araneae), camel spiders (Solifugae), and centipedes (Chilopoda) of Iran: new distributional records and public health implications

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Medically significant spiders (Araneae), camel spiders (Solifugae), and centipedes (Chilopoda) of Iran: new distributional records and public health implications

Abstract

Several species of spiders, camel spiders and centipedes have medical significance due to their envenomation and causing painful wounds. These arthropods are responsible for various public health problems in different regions of Iran. Encountering these arthropods often causes fear, anxiety, and obsession among many people. The bites from certain species can be dangerous and include various clinical symptoms such as pain, burning, inflammation, nausea, injury, infection, muscle spasm, and
rarely death. This paper seeks to investigate the medically important species of spiders, camel spiders and centipedes of Iran, their distribution, and the clinical symptoms associated with their bites. In this
study, a literature review using reliable scientific databases was conducted and informative data were summarized and presented. Several spider species of the genera Latrodectus and Loxosceles (Araneae), most large galeodid and rhagodid species (Solifugae), and four Scolopendra species (Chilopoda) are listed as the most important species in terms of medical significance in Iran. New distributional records of camel spider species Galeodopsis bilkjeviczi (Birula), Paragaleodes nesterovi Birula, Rhagodorta zorab (Birula), and centipede species Scolopendra canidens Newport and Scolopendra mirabilis (Porat) are provided.

Citation: Khoobdel, M., Maddahi, H. and Hatami, M. (2025). Medically significant spiders (Araneae), camel spiders (Solifugae), and centipedes (Chilopoda) of Iran: new distributional records and public health implications. Journal of Animal Diversity, 7 (1): 57–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.22034/JAD.2025.7.1.5