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...

Taxonomic revision of the wolf spider genus Artoria (Araneae, Lycosidae, Artoriinae) from Northern Territory and Queensland, with additions to the fauna of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory

 


Taxonomic revision of the wolf spider genus Artoria (Araneae, Lycosidae, Artoriinae) from Northern Territory and Queensland, with additions to the fauna of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory

Abstract

Artoria Thorell, 1877 is revised for the Northern Territory and Queensland. Three species are recorded from the Northern Territory: A. parvula Thorell, 1877 (♂♀, type species), A. superelliptica sp. (♀) and A. vectis sp. Nov. (♂♀). Twenty-seven species (including 18 new ones) are recorded from Queensland: A. albopilata (Urquhart, 1893) (♂♀), A. berenice (L. Koch, 1877) (♂♀), A. bicornuta sp. nov. (♂), A. catinata sp. nov. (♂♀), A. coclearia sp. nov. (♂♀), A. cunicularia sp. nov. (♂♀), A. geniculata sp. ( ♂♀), A. globula sp. nov. (♂♀), A. grahammilledgei Framenau & Baehr, 2018 (♂♀), A . halterata sp. nov. (♀), A. hamifera sp. ( ♂♀), A. laciniata sp. nov. (♀), A. lineata (L. Koch, 1877) (♂♀), A. lingulata sp. nov. (♂♀), A. mckayi Framenau, 2002 (♂♀), A. nasuta sp. nov. (♂), A. orcina sp. nov. (♂♀), A. proboscidea sp. nov. (♂♀), A. quadrata Framenau, 2002 (♂♀), A. reniformis sp. nov. (♀), A. scapulata sp. nov. (♀), A. semicircularis sp. nov. (♂), A. terania Framenau & Baehr, 2018 (♂♀), A. triangularis Framenau, 2002 (♂♀), A. velata sp. nov. (♂), A. victoriansis Framenau, Gotch & Austin, 2006 (♂♀) and A. werrikimbe sp. Nov. (♂♀). This study also added 13 new species of Artoria to New South Wales, seven of these species endemic to the state— A. abscondita sp. nov. (♀), A. ancorata sp. nov. (♀), A. cucurbita sp. nov. (♀), A. limitata sp. nov. (♀), A. longinqua sp. nov. (♀), A. serpentidens sp. (♂♀), and A. tenuis sp. nov. (♀), and one also occurring in the Australian Capital Territory— A. pedroi sp. nov.(♂♀). Summing up, 39 species are taxonomically treated in this paper, including 28 new ones. In addition, we propose the beaury and lingulata species-groups, and redefine the lineata species-group based on male and female genital characteristics.

Prado, A. W. do, Baptista, R. L. C. & Framenau, V. W. (2026). Taxonomic revision of the wolf spider genus Artoria (Araneae, Lycosidae, Artoriinae) from Northern Territory and Queensland, with additions to the fauna of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Megataxa 19(2): 379-456. doi: 10.11646/megataxa.19.2.3