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...

Arachnology VOL. 20 · NO. 4 | March 2026

 


Arachnology VOL. 20 · NO. 4 | March 2026

New Articles from the Arachnology

A new species of Hamataliwa (Araneae: Oxyopidae) from Makira rainforest, north-eastern Madagascar

Rebecca A. E. Saxton; Brogan L. Pett;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.1

Cupiennius chiapanensis Medina, 2006 (Araneae: Trechaleidae) in Honduras: distribution and a case of female genital malformation

Alex M. Cubas-Rodríguez;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.10

A new species of Karakumosa Logunov & Ponomarev, 2020 (Araneae: Lycosidae) from the Republic of Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan

Dmitri V. Logunov; Mardona Bektursunova; Ikram Abdullaev;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.11

Habitat use and ecological traits of the orb-weaving spider Argiope lobata (Pallas, 1772) (Araneae: Araneidae) in Iberian dehesas

Daniel Parejo-Pulido; Carlos Mora-Rubio;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.12

Insecticide-contaminated prey alters predatory behaviour in the scorpion Tityus pusillus (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

Thayna Rhayane de Brito-Almeida; Geraldo Jorge Barbosa de Moura; André Felipe de Araujo Lira;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.13

A new species of Paratropis Simon, 1889 (Araneae: Paratropididae) from Colombia

Germán Rodríguez-Castro; Esteban Agudelo-Rodríguez; Luis Fernando García;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.14

Development and reproduction in the range-expanding spider, Zoropsis spinimana (Araneae, Zoropsidae)

Minghui Fei; Selena Maijer; Erminia Conti; Jeffrey A. Harvey;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.15

The spatio-temporal ecology of the spider Kryptonesticus eremita (Nesticidae) in a guano-rich temperate cave

Luisa Dainelli; Alejandro Martínez; Fabrizio Serena; Giulio Petroni; Stefano Mammola;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.16


Diversity of soil- and leaf-litter-dwelling spiders in Colombian Caribbean Tropical Dry Forest

María José García-Lora; Sandy García-Atencia; Neis Martínez-Hernández;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.17

Contributions to the knowledge of Mauritian araneofauna: new records (Araneae: Araneomorphae) and description of a remarkable new species of intertidal trapdoor spider (Araneae: Barychelidae)

Danniella Sherwood; Nik C. Cole; Sarah Falconer; Alexandra Ferguson; Rouben Mootoocurpen; Ken Norris; Kevin Ruhomaun; Vikash Tatayah; Charlotte H. Taylor; Pablo Orozco-terWengel; Christina Fisher; Maximillian P. T. G. Tercel;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.18

Taxonomic notes on the tarantula genus Heterothele Karsch, 1879 (Araneae: Theraphosidae) with a new synonymy, resurrection of H. longipalpis Karsch, 1879, two nomina dubia, and description of a new species from Tanzania

Richard C. Gallon; Danniella Sherwood;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.19

The taxonomic status of two poorly described Chinese spiders: Cheiracanthium gobi Schmidt & Barensteiner, 2000 (Araneae: Cheiracanthidae) and Alopecosa hoevelsi Schmidt & Barensteiner, 2000 (Araneae: Lycosidae)

Danniella Sherwood; Donard Geci; Yejie Lin;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.2

Auximus Simon, 1892 is the valid name for the spider genus Analtella Denis, 1947 (Araneae: Lathyidae)

Theo Blick;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.20

Erratum

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.21

A new species of the ant-mimicking crab spider Aphantochilus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1871 (Araneae: Thomisidae) from the Ecuadorian Amazon canopy

David R. Díaz-Guevara; Adrián Troya; Mariela Dominguez-Trujillo;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.3


Redescription of Nhandu chromatus Schmidt, 2004 stat. rest. and revalidation of Nhandu sylviae Sherwood, Gabriel & Brescovit, 2023 stat. rest. (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

Danniella Sherwood; Ray Gabriel; Pedro Peñaherrera-R; Antonio D. Brescovit; Sylvia M. Lucas;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.4

Scorpions described by Carl Ludwig Koch in Die Arachniden (1836–1847): correct publication dates, volume citations, and updated taxonomy

Javier Blasco-Aróstegui; Theo Blick; Lorenzo Prendini;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.5

Love in the grasslands: sexual encounters and size dimorphism in the wolf spider Paratrochosina amica (Mello-Leitão, 1941)

Verónica Gonnet; Leticia Bidegaray-Batista; Miguel Simó; Anita Aisenberg;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.6

Description of the male and redescription of the female of Cesonia cuernavaca Platnick & Shadab, 1980 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae)

Daniel Reyes-Arvizu; David Chamé-Vázquez; Petra Sánchez Nava; Marco Antonio Desales-Lara;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.7

Widespread, yet unknown: redescription of the Carpathian harvestman Dicranopalpus fraternus Szalay, 1950 (Arachnida: Opiliones)

Hay Wijnhoven;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.8

Notes on jumping spiders from Mount Tonkoui (Ivory Coast) with description of new species

Wanda Wesołowska; Pierre Oger;

Arachnology. 20 (4), (21 April 2026). doi:10.13156/arac.2026.20.4.9