The chromosome-level genome of Mesobuthus martensii provides insights into its evolution and the diversity of venom peptides

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  The chromosome-level genome of Mesobuthus martensii provides insights into its evolution and the diversity of venom peptides Abstract Mesobuthus martensii , the source species of the traditional Chinese medicine “Quanxie”, has long been utilized for its therapeutic properties. Venom peptides are recognized as the major active molecular basis of these pharmacological activities. Despite this, their development as therapeutic agents remains poorly explored. In this study, we performed an integrated multi-omics investigation to systematically explore the venom peptides of Mesobuthus martensii . We generated a chromosome-level genome assembly of Mesobuthus martensii using third-generation sequencing technologies, yielding a genome size of 1.08 Gb with a contig N50 of 46.46 Mb. Integrated genomic and transcriptomic analyses led to the identification of 51 putative novel venom peptide candidates. From the broader venom peptide set, five lysine- and arginine-rich candidates were select...

Further notes on the fossorial wolf spiders of Central Asia and the Near East (Aranei, Lycosidae)

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Further notes on the fossorial wolf spiders of Central Asia and the Near East (Aranei, Lycosidae)

Abstract
The paper presents new taxonomic-faunistic data on 25 species of the fossorial Lycosidae (Aranei) from Central Asia and the Near East. The lectotype male is designated for Tarentula fedotovi Charitonov, 1946. New combinations have been proposed for four species: Alopecosa nigriventris (Schmidt, 1895), comb.n., stat.n. (ex Lycosa), Asiacosa ambigua Denis, 1947, comb.n. (ex Arctosa), A. asiatica Sytshevskaja, 1980, comb.n. (ex Lycosa), and A. kulagini Spassky, 1941, comb.n. (ex Lycosa). One genus – Asiacosa gen.n. (Central Asia) – and 10 species are described as new to science: viz., Alopecosa darvaz sp.n. (♀; Tajikistan), A. pamirica sp.n. (♀; Tajikistan), A. safidorak sp.n. (♀; Tajikistan), A. zonsteini sp.n. (♂♀; Uzbekistan), Asiacosa babatagh sp.n. (♀; Uzbekistan), Karakumosa ferganensis sp.n. (♀; Uzbekistan), K. ovtchinnikovi sp.n. (♂♀; Uzbekistan), K. severtsovi sp.n. (♀; Tajikistan), Lycosa uzbekistanica sp.n. (♀; Uzbekistan), Zyuzicosa kvak sp.n. (♂♀; Tajikistan). The name Karakumosa golestanica Shafaie, Nadolny et Mirshamsi, 2022, syn.n. is synonymized with K. turanica Logunov et Ponomarev, 2020. The unknown male is described for Lycosa aragogi Nadolny et Zamani, 2017 from Iran.


Logunov, Dmitri. (2023). Further notes on the fossorial wolf spiders of Central Asia and the Near East (Aranei, Lycosidae). Arthropoda Selecta. 32. 475-512. 10.15298/arthsel.32.4.12. via ResearchGate and Journals of KMK