Latrodectus tredecimguttatus is a kind of highly venomous black widow spider, with toxicity coming from not only venomous glands but also other parts of its body as well as newborn spiderlings and eggs. Up to date, although L. tredecimguttatus eggs have been demonstrated to be rich in proteinaceous toxins, there is no systematic investigation on such active components at transcriptome level. In...

Snakebite is an important medical emergency in rural Nepal. Correct identification of the biting species is crucial for clinicians to choose appropriate treatment and anticipate complications. This is particularly important for neurotoxic envenoming which, depending on the snake species involved, may not respond to available antivenoms. Adequate species identification tools are lacking. This st...

Laboratory studies are invaluable in the field of animal behavior because they offer experimenters the ability to conduct manipulations that cannot be easily accomplished in the field. However, laboratory experiments can be limited in their relevance to natural history and evolution. Numerous examples exist of field studies that fail to validate results that are robust in laboratory (Mappes et ...

Venomous snake bites can be life threatening, occasionally requiring intensive care. For Mamushi bites, conservative treatment may be possible in mild cases but for severe cases or in cases where symptoms do not improve, a horse-derived antivenom is indicated.

Background: Poisoning due to the bites and stings of venomous snakes and scorpions is a neglected public health problem, particularly in rural areas. Poor health facilities and inadequate knowledge of health care personnel are the major factors that result in envenomated human victims not receiving adequate care and medical attention. There is a great need for up-to-date and effective healthcar...

Piscine venom glands have implicitly been assumed to be anti-predatory adaptations, but direct examinations of the potential fitness benefits provided by these structures are relatively sparse. In previous experiments examining this question, alternative phenotypes have not been presented to ecologically relevant predators, and the results are thus potentially confounded by the presence of shar...