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

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  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...

Solitary Confinement: Surprising Post-Copulatory Behaviour of an Australian Species of Wishbone Spider (Mygalomorphae: Anamidae: Aname)

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Solitary Confinement: Surprising Post-Copulatory Behaviour of an Australian Species of Wishbone Spider (Mygalomorphae: Anamidae: Aname)

ABSTRACT

Among invertebrates, spiders are regarded as a model group for sexual selection studies. However, our understanding of their mating behaviour is highly biased towards species in the infraorder Araneomorphae. Knowledge of the mating systems of mygalomorph spiders (infraorder Mygalomorphae) remains rudimentary at best. Here, we report on the mating behaviour of a recently described Australian wishbone spider (Anamidae: Aname inexpecta) from south-western Western Australia. In doing so, we present the first detailed observations of mating behaviour of a member of the family Anamidae and describe a remarkable, novel male sexual behaviour for mygalomorph spiders (‘burrow plugging’). This behaviour involves the male collecting soil with his chelicerae and placing it over the entrance to the female's burrow, sealing the entrance before actively guarding the plugged retreat. We provide some of the first insights into post-copulatory mate guarding in burrowing mygalomorph spiders, contributing to our understanding of mating systems in a group where such studies are rare.

Piccinini, A., Wilson, J. D., Harvey, M. S., Rix, M. G., N. Wong, K. S., & Simmons, L. W. (2026). Solitary Confinement: Surprising Post-Copulatory Behaviour of an Australian Species of Wishbone Spider (Mygalomorphae: Anamidae: Aname). Ecology and Evolution, 16(5), e73606. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.73606