The field of systematics involves at least three major elements: biodiversity exploration
(inventory); taxonomic discovery and description (taxonomy); and the estimation of …

Black widow spiders (members of the genus Latrodectus) are widely feared because of their
potent neurotoxic venom. α-Latrotoxin is the vertebrate-specific toxin responsible for the …

The brown widow spider, Latrodectus geometricus, is a large spider of the family Theridiidae
that belongs to a genus of medical interest owing to its potent neurotoxic venom, which …

Populations of the Australian redback spider, Latrodectus hasseltii Thorell 1870, were first
recorded in New Zealand in the early 1980s and in Osaka, Japan in 1995. Reliable records …

Background The origin and diversification patterns of lineages across the Indian Ocean
islands are varied due to the interplay of the complex geographic and geologic island …

The Noble False Widow, Steatodanobilis (Thorell, 1875)(Araneae, Theridiidae), is, due to its
relatively large size and potential medical importance, one of the most notable invasive …

Invasive species are common around the world, but we still do not know which traits are
most important for successfully establishing in new environments. Different stages of the …

THE NEW ZEALAND MEDICAL JOURNAL Page 1 THE NEW ZEALAND MEDICAL
JOURNAL Journal of the New Zealand Medical Association NZMJ 27 February 2009, Vol …

The origin of the terrestrial biota of Madagascar and, especially, the smaller island chains of
the western Indian Ocean is relatively poorly understood. Madagascar represents a mixture …

The ribosomal internal transcribed spacer ITS2 is probably the most popular nuclear DNA
marker used to examine relationships among and within species in animals and plants. ITS2 …