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 taxonomic study on eight species of the Ovia (Araneae, Lycosidae) from China

 


A taxonomic study on eight species of the Ovia (Araneae, Lycosidae) from China

Abstract

Eight species of the genus Ovia are recorded from China, including five new species: O. chayu sp. nov. (♂♀, Xizang, China), O. dawai sp. nov. (♂♀, Xizang, China), O. dulong sp. nov. (♂♀, Yunnan, China), O. medog sp. nov. (♂♀, Xizang, China) and O. separata sp. nov. (♂♀, Guangdong and Yunnan, China). Additionally, the definition and distribution range of O. alboannulata (Yin, Peng, Xie, Bao & Wang, 1997) and O. procurva (Yu & Song, 1988) are provided. Detailed species descriptions, morphological photos, illustrations of copulatory organs, and a distribution map of the genus are presented.

Xu Y-Q, Wang L-Y, Zhang Z-S (2026) A taxonomic study on eight species of the Ovia (Araneae, Lycosidae) from China. Zoosystematics and Evolution 102(3): 731-750. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.102.188856