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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Harvesting Venom Toxins from Assassin Bugs and Other Heteropteran Insects
Published on: April 21, 2018
First insights into the role of evolutionary history in shaping venom composition of Vipera ammodytes
Margareta Lakušić1, Costanza Piccoli1, Marko Anđelković2
1CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, 4485-661, Portugal; BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, 4485-661, Portugal.
Abstract:
Understanding intraspecific venom variation requires distinguishing the contributions of neutral population history from natural selection. This study aims to determine whether venom variation in Vipera ammodytes species complex is structured across eight phylogenetic groups. Despite a complex evolutionary history, venom composition did not differ among phylogenetic groups within the analytical framework used, suggesting that shared ancestry alone does not explain venom variation. Whether local adaptation to environmental conditions explains the observed variation remains an open question for future studies.
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