A new table of Scorpion LD50 numbers

fusion121

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Hi
I notice that sources of LD50 info are often asked for on this forum so I thought I'd post this here, I hope you enjoy :) :

http://scorpions.dimensional-rift.co.uk/LD50table.htm

It’s a list of LD50 values that as far as I can tell covers nearly all LD50 values recorded for scorpions in the literature, as well as the amount of venom injected by the scorpion per sting. There are already some great lists out there but this includes the last 10+ years of venom research and so quite a few new species.

I've been compiling it for a while, mostly while reading up on recent scorpion venom research, its designed for the hobbyist primarily so leaves out allot of other data on the experimental method, but I think it should give people a good idea of the danger that certain species present.

If you've got any other venom data to add to it, give me an PM (any on the Vaejovidae would be great as I could find diddly squat :( )
 

demolitionlover

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Yeah this is pretty cool. I have been looking for something like this for awhile now. Thanks : )
 

fusion121

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Thanks, I hope people find it useful, I'll try to update it as I get more data.
 

G. Carnell

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Hi
glad to see the T.cambrigdei is 12 and not 0.12

this IS T.paraensis yes?
 

fusion121

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Its the minimum dose of the venom ( in mass of venom/ mass of body mass) required to kill 50% of the test animals. Basically you get a group of mice, say ten (though more if you want statistical significance), and inject them with different amounts of the venom. The dose of venom which kills 50% of the mice is then scaled up (from the mouse’s body mass) to get the LD50 in mg/kg. This test cannot be done in a lot of countries now as you need to kill a lot of mice to get a meaningful value.

The lower the number, the lower the minimum lethal dose and so the more dangerous the venom (assuming the same correlations hold for humans as for mice)

Other possible methods exist for determining the toxicity of scorpion venom such as the “Contraction-Paralysis Unit” (CPU) done with blowfly larvae. However these methods are not very common, and given a different indication of the toxicity then the LD50 value with mice.
 

Ythier

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fusion121 said:
Good point, I need to update that
Hi,
You don't need, Lourenço just said me that he will probably change the name soon (T.nigrisomething or something like that, I don't remember).

Thanks for this very useful work :clap:
Btw, did you use the more recent works to do the table ? Because I saw that some data don't correspond to the table of http://web.singnet.com.sg/~chuaeecc/venom/rpotent.htm :? (for example O.doriae : your is 5,6 (Latifi et al, 79), the other is 0,19 (Hassan, 1984)).
Cheers,
Eric
 

fusion121

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Hi
I tried to use the most recent work where available, or if I thought one paper was particularly good and I liked its methods then I would use that value. Basically it my opinion of what is the most accurate value (which may not be a very good opinion :D )

In the case of O.doriae, both Hassan's and Latifi et al. were very good works (though I haven't seen all of Hassan's). I chose Latifi et al because I saw his data on his sample sizes all of which were very large so I trusted the value. (he milked 16,672mg of O.doriae venom :eek: ). Often Its very difficult to tell which value should be trusted, for example Hassan and Latifi gave very different values for H. lepturus, 5.81 and 113 mg/kg respectively (both were I think i.v. injections), which I think reflects that LD50 values are not really a great measurement of toxicity.

My table is not meant to be comparison between literature values (often the literature values are massively different, which for the hobbyist isn’t that useful).
 

Nazgul

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Hi Oliver,

it would be nice if you´d mention in the table if the venom had been injected s.c. or i.v. (if being mentioned in the citation).

Regards
Alex
 

fusion121

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Hi Alex
Most of them are s.c. results (80-90%) since I thought that this was the most relevant value for people who keep scorpions. The list is designed for hobbyist and I thought including the method of injection complicated the issue, when all I wanted to do was make a list of the general danger of various scorpion species.

I think I may make another more technical list including injection method as well as the known proteins that make up the various venoms, since its a topic I find quite interesting.
 

Tityus

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Nice work, Oliver, :worship: I just printed it out now :clap:
 

Ythier

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fusion121 said:
In the case of O.doriae, both Hassan's and Latifi et al. were very good works (though I haven't seen all of Hassan's). I chose Latifi et al because I saw his data on his sample sizes all of which were very large so I trusted the value. (he milked 16,672mg of O.doriae venom :eek: ). Often Its very difficult to tell which value should be trusted, for example Hassan and Latifi gave very different values for H. lepturus, 5.81 and 113 mg/kg respectively (both were I think i.v. injections), which I think reflects that LD50 values are not really a great measurement of toxicity.

My table is not meant to be comparison between literature values (often the literature values are massively different, which for the hobbyist isn’t that useful).
Ok thanks a lot for your reply Oliver.
Good job :clap:
Cheers,
Eric
 

Ythier

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Hey Oliver,
C.sculpturatus = anc. name of C.exilicauda, no ?
Cheers,
Eric
 
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fusion121

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Hi Eric
I'm not sure, but you are probably right. :) I'm going to update the list tonight.
 

Nazgul

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Hi,

yes, sculpturatus is a synonym for C. exilicauda.

Regards
Alex
 
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