The initially phytophagous caterpillars of Maculinea alcon and M. rebeli complete their development in Myrmica ant colonies as social parasites. Recent genetic studies show no differences at the species level among various populations of each butterfly taxa. Usually M. alcon and M. rebeli are identified by habitat and larval food plants (Gentianaceae) and host ant specificity is also considered to be an important feature. However most of the ecological characteristics overlap at least in some parts of their distributions. The developmental and survival characteristics of caterpillars reared by different Myrmica species were compared in laboratory experiments and in the field. Morphologically indistinguishable M. alcon and M. rebeli, which originated from Polish populations, are very similar in terms of host specificity i.e. larvae survived both with M. scabrinodis and M. sabuleti. However they showed different growth characteristics. The earlier flight period of M. rebeli, which is synchronized with the phenology of Gentiana cruciata, resulted from the quick growth of caterpillars in Myrmica nests in the pre-winter phase, when they gained about half of their final body biomass. After the end of winter they recommenced growth almost immediately. M. alcon larvae entered diapause shortly after adoption by ants and began to increase in weight significantly just one month after the onset of spring, which synchronized their development with that of their larval food plant, G. pneumonanthe. Therefore neither population group is transferable between habitats and should still be regarded, at least, as distinct conservational units.
Cicada orni L. is one of the most abundant and common species of cicada in Greece. However, this species was not found during recent field work on the Greek islands of Samos and Ikaria. Instead, the very closely related C. mordoganensis Boulard was found practically everywhere on these islands. C. orni and C. mordoganensis are very closely related species which are morphologically very similar (sibling species), even the male genitalia, and the acoustic signals produced by males during courtship and pair formation have the same general pattern. In order to describe the acoustic signals produced by these sibling species, temporal and spectral analyses were made of the calling songs of the males and certain acoustic variables were measured. Based on the duration of echemes, the number of pulse units they contain, the intervals between echemes and the number of echemes per second, the song of C. mordoganensis is distinct from that of C. orni. Cluster analysis of the acoustic characteristics of C. mordoganensis from Samos and Ikaria and of C. orni from the Greek mainland (Dionysos, north of Athens) gave a clear and distinct separation of these species.
Moreover, as there has been very little divergence between these two species at the protein electrophoretic level, the acoustic divergence has evolved independently of allozyme divergence. This may imply that in these cicadas acoustic divergence, and therefore premating isolation, may have evolved rapidly and resulted in rapid speciation at low levels of general genetic differentiation.
Some moth larvae feed not on plants but on keratin and/or chitin produced by animals. These substances are polymers and are commonly found in bird nests as feathers and raptor pellets. Many qualitative studies have examined the association of keratin/chitin feeding moths with bird nests. However, few studies have quantified the species composition with respect to type of nest and habitat. Hence, we have studied the degree to which the niches of these moths differ in terms of type of nest and habitat. We set-up open-top nest boxes for the Ural owl Strix uralensis (damp exposed nests from which owl chicks were fledged successfully) and artificial bird nests (mesh bags filled with duck down to imitate dry exposed nests) in a deciduous forest and artificial bird nests in an urban setting in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, and collected the contents of the nests every two months from June to December 2014. We recorded 592 individuals of five keratin/chitin feeding moth species (Tineidae, Tineinae) from the contents. Using non-metric multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis of the relative abundances of individual species in each type of nest in forest and urban settings, these species were classified into three groups: (1) Monopis longella and M. congestella inhabiting forest, (2) M. flavidorsalis and Niditinea tugurialis mainly in damp exposed nests in forest and (3) N. piercella mainly in dry exposed nests in urban areas. This classification was compared with findings of other studies. As a result, these moths probably have different niches with respect to nest type (damp or dry), keratin/chitin as a source of food (raptor pellets or feathers), and habitat (forest or urban area). Furthermore, we suggest that the evolution of larviparity in M. congestella might be related to its preference for feathers as a source of food for the development of its larvae.
The use of light traps for controlling insect pests is restricted since they kill both pests and beneficial insects. It may be a possible to reduce the numbers of beneficial insects trapped by adjusting nightly trapping time based on differences recorded in the timing of the nocturnal flight peaks of target pests and beneficials. To test this, insects were collected hourly over night using black light traps at three locations in China from 2003 to 2005. Groups of lepidopteran and coleopteran pests were selected as the target pests that we would control by trapping and groups of beneficial predatory insects the catches of which needed to be reduced. The highest numbers of Coleoptera were caught between 20:00 and 22:00 h and of most Lepidoptera between 02:00 and 04:00 h. The hourly numbers of predatory insects caught by light traps were evenly distributed throughout the night. A model was developed to describe the relationships between the cumulative proportions of insects caught and time of night. The model accurately describes the flight activity of insects that were mainly caught before midnight, after midnight and evenly throughout a night by using different parameters for the three different insect groups. A beneficial-friendly trapping strategy was developed to reduce the numbers of beneficial insects trapped, which was based on differences in the nocturnal flight activity of pests and beneficial insects and validated by a field study in Shandong province. Results show that this trapping strategy reduced the number of beneficial insects caught by 46% and the electricity consumption by 50% compared to the traditional strategy. Thus this strategy is more beneficial-friendly than the traditional trapping strategy for controlling pests., Gang Ma, Chun-Sen Ma., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Telenomus busseolae Gahan (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) is an egg parasitoid, which is under evaluation for possible introduction into Italy as a biological control agent of the Corn Stalk Borer, Sesamia nonagrioides (Lefebvre) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Two strains are being considered, one from Africa and the other from Turkey. In a series of laboratory experiments we compared their reproductive capacities, walking behaviour, and host selection behaviour mediated by the sex pheromone and body scales of the host. As reciprocal crosses between the two strains yielded female offspring, they are not reproductively isolated. The two strains were similar in both their reproductive capacity and female longevity. Females of both produced 75-90 eggs and lived on average for 6-7 days. There were differences between the two strains in walking behaviour, searching pattern and in the host location behaviour. The African strain walked faster then the Turkish strain, and showed a slower angular speed and lower turning rate. The African strain showed a significant increase in its speed of movement in response to the host's sex pheromone and a more intense local search after encountering host body scales. These results on intraspecific variability could help choosing an appropriate strain of T. busseolae for corn borer management in Italy.
Plant chemical composition is an important determinant of host plant-insect interactions. For many insects sugars are the main factors determining the acceptability of a plant. This study investigated changes in plant chemical composition and differences in sugar composition of different host plants induced by the feeding of Coccus hesperidum L. (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea). Present in plant extracts and honeydew there were three monosaccharide sugars: glucose, fructose and arabinose, and one disaccharide - sucrose. Arabinose was only found in extracts of Ficus benjamina plants. The sugar content of the honeydew was greater than in the extracts of control plants and lower than that in the extracts of infested plants. The honeydew collected from C. hesperidum feeding on the three plant species differed significantly in sugar content. Extracts of coccid infested plants of the three species used in this study contained more sugar than the un-infested control plants. The results show that honeydew composition of scale insects differ and the differences reflect the chemical composition of the host plants. and Katarzyna Golan, Agnieszka Najda.
Little is known about the viability of myxozoan actinospore stages after harvest from laboratory cultures of infected oligochaete worms. The viability and reactivity of actinospores of three myxozoan species was evaluated after short-term storage at 4°C and 12°C. Two methods of determining actinospore viability were compared: differential fluorescent staining and direct microscopic observation of morphological indicators of spore integrity. Spore reactivity was quantified by measuring polar filament discharge rates in a micro-assay with fish mucus substrate and mechanical stimulation by vibration. The age-dependent viability of the three species showed clear differences. Myxobolus cerebralis actinospores had the shortest effective life span whereas Henneguya nuesslini actinospores survived significantly longer. Storage at lower temperatures yielded higher viability in all species. Myxobolus pseudodispar actinospores were significantly robust up to 12°C when assessed by staining, but showed similar viability characteristics as H. nuesslini when analyzed morphologically. Evaluation of spore viability by fluorescent staining correlated with morphological assessment, although fewer viable actinospores were usually detected microscopically. Polar filament discharge activity of morphologically intact actinospores did not significantly decrease until the third day of storage compared to freshly harvested samples. The results indicate that durability and reactivity trends during storage of actinospores differ among myxozoan species.
In this paper, we limit our analysis to the difference of the weighted composition operators acting from the Hardy space to weighted-type space in the unit ball of $\mathbb {C}^N$, and give some necessary and sufficient conditions for their boundedness or compactness. The results generalize the corresponding results on the single weighted composition operators and on the differences of composition operators, for example, M. Lindström and E. Wolf: Essential norm of the difference of weighted composition operators. Monatsh. Math. 153 (2008), 133-143.
Most people worldwide suffer from dental caries. Only a small part of the population is caries-resistant and the reason for this resistance in unknown. Only a few studies compared the saliva pro-tein composition of persons with carious teeth and persons ith no caries. Our study is the first to relate proteomic analysis of the caries aetiology with gender. In this study, we compared the differences in the abundances of proteins in the saliva between caries-resistant and caries-susceptible females and males by nano-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spec-trometry (Label-Free Quantitative Proteomics). Our results demonstrate that the observed differences in the protein levels might have an influence on anti-caries resistance. A total of 19 potential markers of tooth caries were found, for example proteins S100A8 and annexin A1 with higher expression in the caries-susceptible group in comparison with the caries-free group and mucin-5B, lactoferrin, lysozyme C with higher expression in the caries-free group in
comparison with the caries-susceptible group. The presented study is the first complex proteomic and gender project where the saliva protein content of caries-free and caries-susceptible persons were compared by label-free MS. The newly detected potential protein markers of dental caries can be a good basis for further research and for possible future therapeutic use. and Corresponding author: Lucie Kulhavá
The aim of this study was to investigate the reaction of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system to various stressors (fasting, crowding, cold and heat) by measuring blood ACTH and corticosterone (CORT) concentration as well as the cholesterol (CHOL) content in the adrenals. To examine the effects of stress termination, the rats were returned and kept under control conditions for the same period as that of stress duration (supposed recovery period). According to our results HPA system was activated by all the stressors applied. Heat seems to be the strongest stressor since the exposure of animals to a high ambient temperature resulted in the greatest rise of plasma ACTH concentration as well as CORT synthesis and secretion. These values remained elevated after the stress termination i.e. after the rats had been returned to room temperature. Fasting seems to be the weakest stressor given because it causes the smallest increase in blood ACTH and CORT concentrations. Moreover, in refed rats the HPA function was fully recovered. In conclusion, the various stressors applied seem to induce a different response of the HPA system as judged by quantitative changes in ACTH and CORT release., J. Djordjević, G. Cvijić, V. Davidović., and Obsahuje bibliografii