Inter-individual variability in equine antibody responses to African snake venoms follows heavy-tailed distributions with implications for antivenom production

  Inter-individual variability in equine antibody responses to African snake venoms follows heavy-tailed distributions with implications for antivenom production Abstract Variability in the antibody response of horses used for snake antivenom manufacture is well recognized, yet its statistical structure and implications for industrial productivity remain poorly characterized. In this study, we quantified antivenom antibody titers by ELISA in a cohort of 14 horses immunized with venoms from the clinically most important snakes in sub-Saharan Africa. To integrate antibody levels with plasma availability, we calculated the Cumulative Plasma Productivity (CPP) by converting individual plasma volumes into titer-corrected equivalents and sequentially pooling these volumes according to their corrected contribution. Distributional analysis revealed right-skewed, heavy-tailed patterns better approximated by a log-normal model than by a strict Pareto (power-law) form, with approximately 20–3...

A new species of Brotheas C. L. Koch, 1838 from Brazilian Amazonia (Scorpiones: Chactidae)

 


A new species of Brotheas C. L. Koch, 1838 from Brazilian Amazonia (Scorpiones: Chactidae)

Abstract

A new species of scorpion, Brotheas pseudogranulatus sp. n. (Scorpiones: Chactidae), is described from the state of Amazonas in Brazil, near the border with Colombia. The new species is notably characterized by a strong granulation over the carapace and tergites, and appears as a possible vicariant element with Brotheas granulatus Simon, 1877, from the Guayana region of South America. The total number of Brotheas species is now raised to 31, of which 14 occur in the Amazon Basin, including 11 from the Brazilian Amazonia. The geographical distribution of the genus Brotheas is also enlarged.

Ythier E. & Lourenço W. R., 2026. – Une nouvelle espèce de Brotheas C. L. Koch, 1838 de l’Amazonie Brésilienne (Scorpiones: Chactidae). Faunitaxys, 14(30): 1 – 7. https://archive.org/details/faunitaxys-f-431