2.1. Venom selection and preparation

All venom work was undertaken under the auspices of UQ IBSC approval #IBC134BSBS2015. 55 lyophilized venom samples were selected from the long-term, cryogenic collection available at the Venom Evolution Lab. Furthermore, the NNTRC (an NIH/ORIP funded center) provided 23 venoms, and MToxins provided 14 venoms. Priority was given to venom samples associated with a specific locality and/or information on the animal’s age, size, and sex in order to account for multiple factors that might influence venom activity. ddH₂O (ultra pure water) was added to the powdered venom sample before vortexing for 5 s and centrifuging at 14,000 rcf for 10 min. After centrifugation, the supernatant was transferred to a 1.5 mL Eppendorf tube and vortexed in preparation for testing in triplicate on a Nanodrop 2000 spectrophotometer (ThermoFisher Scientific) to measure concentration of venom proteins in the diluted sample at a 280 nm absorbance wavelength. The resulting concentration values were used to calculate the amount of ddH₂O and venom solution to add in order to bring the concentration to 2 mg/mL. Subsequently, glycerol was added to obtain 50% ddH₂O:50% glycerol final stock with a venom concentration of 1 mg/mL.