Venoms are one of the most convergent of animal traits known, and encompass a much
greater taxonomic and functional diversity than is commonly appreciated. This knowledge …

Spiders are diverse, predatory arthropods that have inhabited Earth for around 400 million
years. They are well known for their complex venom systems that are used to overpower …

Instances of multicellularity across the tree of life have fostered the evolution of complex
organs composed of distinct cell types that cooperate, producing emergent biological …

A central goal in biology is to determine the ways in which evolution repeats itself. One of the
most remarkable examples in nature of convergent evolutionary novelty is animal venom …

Venomous animals have been admired and feared since prehistoric times, and their venoms
have been used to both benefit and impair human health. In 326 BCE, Alexander the Great …

The insects are a hyperdiverse class containing more species than all other animal groups
combined—and many employ venom to capture prey, deter predators and micro-organisms …

Venoms have evolved> 100 times in all major animal groups, and their components, known
as toxins, have been fine-tuned over millions of years into highly effective biochemical …

Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are diverse and ubiquitous, and their ability to sting is
familiar to many of us. However, their venoms remain largely unstudied. We provide the first …

Toxins are substances produced from biological sources (eg, animal, plants,
microorganisms) that have deleterious effects on a living organism. Despite the obvious …

The cnidarian Nematostella vectensis has become an established lab model, providing
unique opportunities for venom evolution research. The Nematostella venom system is …