Letter: Description of Two Cases of Spider Bites Attributed to Loxosceles rufescens (Araneae, Sicariidae) in Albania

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  Letter: Description of Two Cases of Spider Bites Attributed to Loxosceles rufescens (Araneae, Sicariidae) in Albania Fewer than 0.5% of spider species are medically significant, with the genus  Loxosceles  responsible for most dermonecrotic envenomings. 1 , 2  In the Mediterranean,  Loxosceles rufescens  is the primary species associated with loxoscelism. 2  This synanthropic spider thrives in human dwellings, typically biting only when inadvertently provoked. 1 , 3 , 4  Its venom, containing sphingomyelinase D, triggers local inflammation and necrosis, 1 , 5  and rarer the acute localized exanthematous pustulosis. 6  Diagnosis is often challenged by initial painlessness, leading to frequent misidentification as bacterial infections. 2 , 4 , 5  These cases in Albania highlight the need for improved clinical recognition of regional spider-bite occurrences. 7 Two cases were retrospectively documented via interviews and photos. Infor...

Four new species of the spider genus Oecobius Lucas, 1846 (Araneae: Oecobiidae) from northwestern Mexico

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Four new species of the spider genus Oecobius Lucas, 1846 (Araneae: Oecobiidae) from northwestern Mexico

Abstract

Four new species of the genus Oecobius Lucas, 1846 (Araneae, Oecobiidae) from northwestern Mexico are described, all of them based on both sexes: O. culichi spec. nov. and O. yoreme spec. nov. from Sinaloa, O. yaqui spec. nov. from Sonora, and O. sudcaliforniana spec. nov. from Baja California Sur. In addition, we provide taxonomic remarks of two native species: O. hoffmannae Jiménez & Llinas, 2005 and O. isolatoides Shear, 1970.

Alcántar-Valenzuela, J.J., Chamé-Vázquez, D. & Jiménez, M.-L. (2025) Four new species of the spider genus Oecobius Lucas, 1846 (Araneae: Oecobiidae) from northwestern Mexico. Zootaxa, 5679 (4), 501–520. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5679.4.3