Venom Mass Fingerprints for Species Delimitation, Reloaded: A Test Case with Italian Scorpions (Euscorpius)

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  Venom Mass Fingerprints for Species Delimitation, Reloaded: A Test Case with Italian Scorpions (Euscorpius) Abstract Scorpion venoms are complex mixtures of bioactive compounds including proteins, peptides and enzymes. Although venoms exhibit substantial intraspecific variation, some compounds appear to be species-specific, highlighting their potential as chemotaxonomic markers. Venom mass fingerprints (MFPs) derived from Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) Mass Spectrometry (MS) have been proposed as a means of delimiting species. However, their utility for species delimitation has rarely been evaluated against independent sources of taxonomic evidence. In the present study, the performance of MALDI-TOF MS-based venom peptide barcoding (mass ranges of m/z 800‒4500 and m/z 3000‒10,000) was assessed in 52 populations of eight Italian species of the scorpion genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876, representing different levels of evolutionary divergenc...

New synonymy and combinations in Megamyrmaekion Reuss, 1834 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae)

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New synonymy and combinations in Megamyrmaekion Reuss, 1834 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae)

Abstract

The drassodine ground spider genus Megamyrmaekion Reuss, 1834 is recorded from Vietnam for the first time as a result of the following new combinations here proposed: M. luridum (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874) comb. nov., ex Drassodes Westring, 1851, and M. vickyae (Sherwood, Marusik, Sharp & Ashmole, 2023) comb. nov., ex Australoechemus Schmidt & Piepho, 1994. Detailed redescriptions and illustrations of the male and female of M. luridum comb. nov., from Vietnam are provided. Additionally, A. celer Schmidt & Piepho, 1994 syn. nov., is recognized as a junior synonym of M. caudatum Reuss, 1834. Drassus tarrhunensis Karsch, 1881 is removed from the synonymy of M. caudatum and provisionally transferred to the genus Megamyrmaekion as M. tarrhunense (Karsch, 1881) comb. nov.

Truong, B.P., Le, T.T.S., Uyen, P.T.T., Phan, Q.T. & Hoang, Q.D. (2026) New synonymy and combinations in Megamyrmaekion Reuss, 1834 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae). Zootaxa, 5853 (3), 433–440. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5853.3.10