Quantitative Characterization Of Pederin In The Rove Beetle, Staphilinidae Paederus, In Mazandaran And Fars Provinces, Iran.

Rove beetles, genus Paederus have a vesicant toxin amid, in their hemolymph, named pederin, and caused lesions on human skin. It was first described by a procedure on 25 million Paederus fuscipes collected from the field. A few studies were conducted about pederin content of each beetle. It is very various in each specimen. According to a Pavan study in 1963, at least 1µg pederin per one male adult beetle is expected and 10 times more in females. Kellner and Dettner (1995) assessed a new method for quantification of pederin in each beetle for the first time. Before that, severity of dermatitis caused by Paederus beetles was the only method for determination of pederin content. They also reported 0.1-1.5 µg of the toxins in males and 0.2-20.5 µg in females, 10 fold more than males in most cases. Results: In this study pederin is quantified in field specimens of two province of Iran, Fars (south of Iran) and Mazandaran (north of Iran). Males contain 0.76µg, 0.73µg and 0.36µg for P. Fuscipes Mazandaran, P. Fuscipes Fars and P. littoralis Fars and females 10.89 µg, 10.31 µg and 3.29 µg of the toxin respectively