An unusually complex venom system in araneophagous palp-footed spiders (Palpimanidae)

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  An unusually complex venom system in araneophagous palp-footed spiders (Palpimanidae) Venoms are key adaptive traits in many animal lineages, yet their structural and functional diversity in spiders remains poorly investigated. Here, we present an initial characterization of the venom system of palp-footed spiders (Palpimanidae), a family specialized in hunting other spiders. Using micro-computed tomography, we found that the venom glands of the single species examined, Palpimanus gibbulus , exhibit a complex, multi-lobed morphology that is unusual among araneomorph spiders. Proteo-transcriptomic analyses of two Palpimanus venoms ( P. gibbulus and P. cyprius ) revealed highly diverse putative toxin repertoires comprising hundreds of peptides and proteins, including numerous novel putative neurotoxins, cytotoxins, enzymes, and allergens. Five major families of cysteine-rich palpitoxins were identified as the dominant putative neurotoxic components in both species, displaying con...

On the Antillean spiders of the genus Scytodes Latreille, 1804 (Araneae, Scytodidae)

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On the Antillean spiders of the genus Scytodes Latreille, 1804 (Araneae, Scytodidae)

Abstract

In this paper, we revise specimens of the genus Scytodes Latreille collected during the Caribbean Biogeography Project (CarBio) on several Antillean islands. Of a total of 480 vials, 199 contained only juveniles that could not be identified to species level. The remaining 281 included specimens of 13 species: the previously known S. blanda Bryant, 1940, S. cubensis Alayón, 1977, S. fusca Walckenaer, 1837, S. longipes Lucas, 1844, and nine species herein described: S. coltrainei sp. nov. (♀) and S. joniae sp. nov. (♂♀) from the Dominican Republic; S. harissoni sp. nov. (♀) from Saint Martin; S. jimmorrisoni sp. nov. (♀), S. mingusi sp. nov. (♂♀), and S. reinhardti sp. nov. (♂♀) from Puerto Rico; S. nicksae sp. nov. (♀) from Jamaica; S. ritae sp. nov. (♀) from Martinique; and S. sabbath sp. nov. (♀) from Cuba. The male originally described as S. cubensis is regarded as a misidentification, and a new male is described based on our material. The species is newly recorded from Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. Scytodes blanda is newly recorded from Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and both S. blanda and S. cubensis are redescribed. Scytodes fusca is recorded from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Barbados, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Scytodes longipes is recorded from Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Saint Martin, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Scytodes darlingtoni Alayón, 1977 is redescribed from the holotype. Updated distribution maps are provided for all species, and additionally, we describe a new type of female genitalia observed only in island-inhabiting species.

Iost, F.M., Alayón, G. & Rheims, C.A. (2025) On the Antillean spiders of the genus Scytodes Latreille, 1804 (Araneae, Scytodidae). Zootaxa, 5728 (3), 496–530. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5728.3.3