The reduction of astrophysical spectra is discussed in general. This article is intended as an introduction to following papers where we describe the reduction of data exposed by particular devices (coudé slit spectrograph and Cassegrain fiber-fed echelle spectrograph HEROS).
The microscopic optical X-ray system of the paraboloid-paraboloid type is based on a galvanoplastic replics. The study describes the production procedure and the first tests in optical and X-ray light. Briefly discussed are the results obtained as well as the possibility of using mirrors of this type for mappng X-ray plasma during nuclear fusion.
The aphid Uroleucon ambrosiae (Thomas) is one of the principal pests found on greenhouse lettuce crops, and there is no efficient biological control agent of this pest in Brazil. This work evaluates the aphid U. ambrosiae as a host for the parasitoid Praon volucre (Haliday), aimed at using P. volucre as a potential biological control agent of U. ambrosiae on lettuce. As Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) is a common host of P. volucre in the field, the development of the parasitoid was compared on these two aphid species. Twenty nymphs of the 2nd instar were kept with P. volucre for one hour at 22 ± 1°C, 70 ± 10% RH and a 12 h photophase. The size of the aphid's tibiae at the moment of oviposition indicated that there was no significant size difference between U. ambrosiae (0.6 ± 0.02 mm) and M. euphorbiae (0.7 ± 0.03 mm). When mummies were formed, M. euphorbiae had significantly longer tibia (1.5 ± 0.03 mm) than U. ambrosiae (1.4 ± 0.02 mm). No significant differences were detected in the percentage emergence (74.9 ± 7.92 and 87.5% ± 3.31 for U. ambrosiae and M. euphorbiae, respectively), or proportion of female offspring (56.2 ± 7.62 and 44.2 ± 7.14%). The development time from oviposition to adult and longevity of females and males of P. volucre reared on the two host species were not different. High parasitism levels were recorded for both host aphid species, but the percentage parasitism of M. euphorbiae (54.4 ± 4.40) was higher than of U. ambrosiae (35.6 ± 5.30). Female parasitoids reared on M. euphorbiae had longer tibiae (0.78 ± 0.01 mm) than those reared on U. ambrosiae (0.72 ± 0.01 mm). Our results demonstrate that the alternative host species U. ambrosiae, compared to the natural host species M. euphorbiae, affects the female's size, but did not affect parasitoid development time, longevity, emergence or sex ratio. The parasitoid P. volucre seems to be a good candidate for using as a biological control agent of U. ambrosiae on lettuce in Brazil.
a1_This study describes the parasitoid species complex associated with seven closely related species of sexual (Siederia rupicollella, S. listerella, Dahlica lazuri, D. charlottae and D. lichenella) and parthenogenetic (Dahlica fennicella and D. triquetrella) Naryciinae (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) in Central Finland. A thorough ecological analysis of all the species of parasitoids recorded was combined with analyses of molecular data. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA data were obtained from all the species in order to (1) detect cryptic species associated with host specialization, (2) assign undescribed males to females, and (3) verify the morphological identification of closely related species. A DNA barcoding technique was employed to identify host species from parasitized larval remains. By sampling more than 10,000 host larvae, of which 25.7% were parasitized, nine parasitoid species were identified morphologically, including both koinobionts (Ichneumonidae: Diadegma incompletum, Macrus parvulus, Trachyarus borealis, T. solyanikovi, T. fuscipes, T. brevipennis and Braconidae: Meteorus affinis) and idiobionts (Ichneumonidae: Orthizema flavicorne, Gelis fuscicornis). Ecological characteristics such as time and mode of host attack, time of emergence and level of specialization differed widely. The results show that differences in parasitoid biology need to be taken into account when studying differences in percentage parasitism of sexual and parthenogenetic Naryciinae. The molecular data revealed that one parasitoid species M. parvulus may consist of two cryptic forms associated with the sexual and parthenogenetic hosts, respectively. The data further establishes that T. brevipennis and some T. fuscipes are in fact morphotypes of one species. The large variation in mitochondrial DNA within species and its inconsistency with nuclear DNA demonstrate that current species and genus delimitation is inadequate in the, a2_Trachyarus species group. Our study shows that it is essential to use DNA barcoding methods when investigating host-parasitoid complexes., and Jelmer A. Elzinga, Kees Zwakhals, Johanna Mappes, Alessandro Grapputo.