The chromosome-level genome of Mesobuthus martensii provides insights into its evolution and the diversity of venom peptides

  The chromosome-level genome of Mesobuthus martensii provides insights into its evolution and the diversity of venom peptides Abstract Mesobuthus martensii , the source species of the traditional Chinese medicine “Quanxie”, has long been utilized for its therapeutic properties. Venom peptides are recognized as the major active molecular basis of these pharmacological activities. Despite this, their development as therapeutic agents remains poorly explored. In this study, we performed an integrated multi-omics investigation to systematically explore the venom peptides of Mesobuthus martensii . We generated a chromosome-level genome assembly of Mesobuthus martensii using third-generation sequencing technologies, yielding a genome size of 1.08 Gb with a contig N50 of 46.46 Mb. Integrated genomic and transcriptomic analyses led to the identification of 51 putative novel venom peptide candidates. From the broader venom peptide set, five lysine- and arginine-rich candidates were select...

Three new genera of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) living on the forest floor in East Asia

 


Three new genera of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) living on the forest floor in East Asia

Abstract

Three new genera as well as one new species belonging to Lycosidae are described, Houcosa gen. nov. (type species: Houcosa zhaoi sp. nov., ♂♀), Kuncosa gen. nov. (type species: Arctosa ningboensis Yin, Bao & Zhang, 1996) and Loongcosa gen. nov. (type species: Pardosa dentitegulum Yin, Peng, Xie, Bao & Wang, 1997). Seven new combinations are proposed: Kuncosa fujiii (Tanaka, 1985), comb. nov.K. hikosanensis (Tanaka, 1985), comb. nov.K. kwangreungensis (Paik & Tanaka, 1986), comb. nov.K. ningboensis (Yin, Bao & Zhang, 1996), comb. nov. (all ex. Arctosa), K. zhui (Yu & Song, 1988), comb. nov.Loongcosa dentitegulum (Yin, Peng, Xie, Bao & Wang, 1997), comb. nov. and L. wuyiensis (Yu & Song, 1988), comb. nov. (all ex. Pardosa). The male of Kuncosa ningboensis and the female of Loongcosa dentitegulum are described for the first time. Detailed descriptions of copulatory organs and somatic features of the new and known species are provided, along with photographs and a distribution map.

Wang L-Y, Marusik YM, Zhang Z-S (2025) Three new genera of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) living on the forest floor in East Asia. ZooKeys 1239: 123-145. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1239.152834