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...

Spider (Arachnida, Araneae) fauna of the lowland part of the Balkhash-Alakol Basin (SE Kazakhstan): an integrated assessment

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Spider (Arachnida, Araneae) fauna of the lowland part of the Balkhash-Alakol Basin (SE Kazakhstan): an integrated assessment

Background

Despite more than a century of research (since 1896 to the present), a comprehensive summary of the spider fauna of the lowland part of the Balkhash-Alakol Basin is still lacking. The scattered and fragmentary nature of the available data hampers a thorough assessment of the species diversity and zoogeographical features of this territory.

New information

For the first time, based on original material, published scientific sources and records from open-access resources (GBIF, iNaturalist), a comprehensive assessment of the diversity of the spider fauna in the lowland and foothill arid parts of the Balkhash-Alakol Basin has been carried out. To date, this is the only and most complete list of spiders in the region.

Original records are presented, including rare and little-known species for the region, with refined data on their ranges. The quality of open-access data was evaluated and its main shortcomings were identified. It is shown that, with the involvement of experienced naturalists who maintain contact with specialists, the proportion of reliable records can be significantly higher. The results broaden our knowledge of spider biodiversity in the region and may serve as a basis for future faunistic and zoogeographical studies.

Nekhaeva A, Kim L, Ishayeva A, Ozernoy A, Sozontov A (2026) Spider (Arachnida, Araneae) fauna of the lowland part of the Balkhash-Alakol Basin (SE Kazakhstan): an integrated assessment. Biodiversity Data Journal 14: e181501. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.14.e181501