Deadly and venomous Lonomia caterpillars are more than the two usual suspects
Caterpillars of the Neotropical genus Lonomia (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) are responsible for some fatal envenomation of humans in South America inducing hemostatic disturbances in patients upon skin contact with the caterpillars’ spines. Currently, only two species have been reported to cause hemorr...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ae900e680a744c42b200bb7221facf4d 2023-05-15T15:12:35+02:00 Deadly and venomous Lonomia caterpillars are more than the two usual suspects Camila González Liliana Ballesteros-Mejia Juana Díaz-Díaz Diana M. Toro-Vargas Angela R. Amarillo-Suarez Delphine Gey Cielo León Eduardo Tovar Mónica Arias Nazario Rivera Luz Stella Buitrago Roberto H. Pinto-Moraes Ida S. Sano Martins Thibaud Decaëns Mailyn A. González Ian J. Kitching Rodolphe Rougerie 2023-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doaj.org/article/ae900e680a744c42b200bb7221facf4d EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9949635/?tool=EBI https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 https://doaj.org/article/ae900e680a744c42b200bb7221facf4d PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 17, Iss 2 (2023) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2023 ftdoajarticles 2023-03-05T01:35:28Z Caterpillars of the Neotropical genus Lonomia (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) are responsible for some fatal envenomation of humans in South America inducing hemostatic disturbances in patients upon skin contact with the caterpillars’ spines. Currently, only two species have been reported to cause hemorrhagic syndromes in humans: Lonomia achelous and Lonomia obliqua. However, species identifications have remained largely unchallenged despite improved knowledge of venom diversity and growing evidence that the taxonomy used over past decades misrepresents and underestimates species diversity. Here, we revisit the taxonomic diversity and distribution of Lonomia species using the most extensive dataset assembled to date, combining DNA barcodes, morphological comparisons, and geographical information. Considering new evidence for seven undescribed species as well as three newly proposed nomenclatural changes, our integrative approach leads to the recognition of 60 species, of which seven are known or strongly suspected to cause severe envenomation in humans. From a newly compiled synthesis of epidemiological data, we also examine the consequences of our results for understanding Lonomia envenomation risks and call for further investigations of other species’ venom activities. This is required and necessary to improve alertness in areas at risk, and to define adequate treatment strategies for envenomed patients, including performing species identification and assessing the efficacy of anti-Lonomia serums against a broader diversity of species. Author summary Caterpillars of the genus Lonomia (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) are responsible for some fatal envenomation of humans in South America due to the hemotoxic activity of their venom. Historically, only two species have been reported to cause such hemorrhagic syndromes in humans, Lonomia achelous and Lonomia obliqua; however, the number of species described in the last decade within the genus has increased by 300% indicating that the diversity of the genus has been ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Camila González Liliana Ballesteros-Mejia Juana Díaz-Díaz Diana M. Toro-Vargas Angela R. Amarillo-Suarez Delphine Gey Cielo León Eduardo Tovar Mónica Arias Nazario Rivera Luz Stella Buitrago Roberto H. Pinto-Moraes Ida S. Sano Martins Thibaud Decaëns Mailyn A. González Ian J. Kitching Rodolphe Rougerie Deadly and venomous Lonomia caterpillars are more than the two usual suspects |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Caterpillars of the Neotropical genus Lonomia (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) are responsible for some fatal envenomation of humans in South America inducing hemostatic disturbances in patients upon skin contact with the caterpillars’ spines. Currently, only two species have been reported to cause hemorrhagic syndromes in humans: Lonomia achelous and Lonomia obliqua. However, species identifications have remained largely unchallenged despite improved knowledge of venom diversity and growing evidence that the taxonomy used over past decades misrepresents and underestimates species diversity. Here, we revisit the taxonomic diversity and distribution of Lonomia species using the most extensive dataset assembled to date, combining DNA barcodes, morphological comparisons, and geographical information. Considering new evidence for seven undescribed species as well as three newly proposed nomenclatural changes, our integrative approach leads to the recognition of 60 species, of which seven are known or strongly suspected to cause severe envenomation in humans. From a newly compiled synthesis of epidemiological data, we also examine the consequences of our results for understanding Lonomia envenomation risks and call for further investigations of other species’ venom activities. This is required and necessary to improve alertness in areas at risk, and to define adequate treatment strategies for envenomed patients, including performing species identification and assessing the efficacy of anti-Lonomia serums against a broader diversity of species. Author summary Caterpillars of the genus Lonomia (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) are responsible for some fatal envenomation of humans in South America due to the hemotoxic activity of their venom. Historically, only two species have been reported to cause such hemorrhagic syndromes in humans, Lonomia achelous and Lonomia obliqua; however, the number of species described in the last decade within the genus has increased by 300% indicating that the diversity of the genus has been ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Camila González Liliana Ballesteros-Mejia Juana Díaz-Díaz Diana M. Toro-Vargas Angela R. Amarillo-Suarez Delphine Gey Cielo León Eduardo Tovar Mónica Arias Nazario Rivera Luz Stella Buitrago Roberto H. Pinto-Moraes Ida S. Sano Martins Thibaud Decaëns Mailyn A. González Ian J. Kitching Rodolphe Rougerie |
author_facet |
Camila González Liliana Ballesteros-Mejia Juana Díaz-Díaz Diana M. Toro-Vargas Angela R. Amarillo-Suarez Delphine Gey Cielo León Eduardo Tovar Mónica Arias Nazario Rivera Luz Stella Buitrago Roberto H. Pinto-Moraes Ida S. Sano Martins Thibaud Decaëns Mailyn A. González Ian J. Kitching Rodolphe Rougerie |
author_sort |
Camila González |
title |
Deadly and venomous Lonomia caterpillars are more than the two usual suspects |
title_short |
Deadly and venomous Lonomia caterpillars are more than the two usual suspects |
title_full |
Deadly and venomous Lonomia caterpillars are more than the two usual suspects |
title_fullStr |
Deadly and venomous Lonomia caterpillars are more than the two usual suspects |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deadly and venomous Lonomia caterpillars are more than the two usual suspects |
title_sort |
deadly and venomous lonomia caterpillars are more than the two usual suspects |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doaj.org/article/ae900e680a744c42b200bb7221facf4d |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 17, Iss 2 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9949635/?tool=EBI https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 https://doaj.org/article/ae900e680a744c42b200bb7221facf4d |
_version_ |
1766343242772643840 |