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...

A Vespertilionid Bat (Eptesicus sp.) Caught in a Spider Web of Eriophora ravilla

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A Vespertilionid Bat (Eptesicus sp.) Caught in a Spider Web of Eriophora ravilla

Abstract

In this note we report on a small Vespertilionid bat belonging to the genus Eptesicus (Vespertilionidae) caught in a web of the orb-weaver spider Eriophora ravilla (Araneae: Araneidae). The observation was made in the Isthmian–Atlantic Moist Forests ecoregion of Costa Rica. Predation on bats by Eriophora species has only previously been positively documented for Eriophora fuliginea. This is the first record of E. ravilla catching a bat in its web, and also represents the first record of an Eptesicus bat as a potential prey of spiders.

Fabrício H. Oda, Andrew R. Gray "A Vespertilionid Bat (Eptesicus sp.) Caught in a Spider Web of Eriophora ravilla," Caribbean Journal of Science, 55(1), 151-155, (27 May 2025)