# Linothele venom



## Venom (Feb 18, 2010)

I just found this while doing some research. It cites the LD50 of a Linothele species (exact species not given in abstract ) as being 0.6 mg/kg for the whole venom. Two specific toxins were isolated from the whole venom, and the LD50 of these purified components were 24 and 19 MICROgrams / kg in mice. This would suggest that whatever Linothele sp. was used, has at least the potential to deliver quite a nasty whack of a bite! The venom has a mix of peptide and protein components, with molecular masses ranging from 5 to 100 kDa, which definitely puts it in the category of being an allergic risk. The main toxin of Latrodectus spp., by comparison has a mass of 120 kDa, and is known for causing anaphylaxis comparatively frequently. Anyway, here is the abstract and link to article ( need a membership to read the whole thing)



http://www.springerlink.com/content/r107n74225307547/


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## Moltar (Feb 19, 2010)

Very interesting Venom, thanks for that. I never thought of them as dangerous.


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## Bastian Drolshagen (Feb 19, 2010)

no membership necessary at all... the paper is not worth it 

also, did you notice those "nasty" components together make less than 1% of the total weight of the venom?


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## Venom (Feb 19, 2010)

Bastian Drolshagen said:


> no membership necessary at all... the paper is not worth it
> 
> also, did you notice those "nasty" components together make less than 1% of the total weight of the venom?


Well, they still report an LD50 of 0.6 mg/kg. Whether it's dilute or not...that's significant. I didn't see what method ( subcutaneous...intravenous etc. ) they used to get that LD50. Regardless, I thought this merited sharing....and personally it leads me to take Linothele spp. a bit more seriously.


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## Mack&Cass (Feb 19, 2010)

I found this very interesting. Although it is worth noting that since the LD50 tests were done on mice, the efficacy of the venom on humans may be different. Many other mygales have venom that affects a specific group stronger than others, tarantulas on mice (according to the TKG) or _Atrax_ on primates. Unfortunately there aren't any bite reports for this genus that I have found.
I still would not want to be tagged by one of these, especially with regards to the allergic risk.
Mackenzie


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## The Spider Faery (Feb 19, 2010)

Linothele's a nice looking genus, but there hasn't been much to surface on venom potency and I've heard rumours that it may be strong, so thanks for sharing.


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## Erigo (Nov 26, 2010)

Hello Mates

I read this article and i think that there is some misunderstandings.

The values are related at a injection in brain (cerebro ventricular-direct injection), so this is devoid of medical value. In medicine the is frequently used a value intra venous and subcutanous injections.

Then I remember that in the firs part of article the author write that the venom injected in intraperitoneal way have a little LD 50 in mammals.

So these records trues, but we must to interpret them correctly.

Author write:

The evaluation of toxicity with the aid of intravenous ad ntraperitoneal injection also showed a substrantially lower lethality of venom for mammals.

Reactions: Like 1


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