a1_In the last few decades, Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) (= Stegomyia albopicta), the so-called "Asian tiger mosquito", has spread from its native range in southeast Asia to Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, and Pacific islands. The spread of this species poses a risk to human health as it is considered to be one of the main vectors of dengue and other arboviruses. Aedes albopictus was reported in Croatia in 2004, thereafter it was discovered at several coastal localities in 2005 and to date it has spread to most coastal areas and islands in Croatia. Here we investigate the genetic variability of A. albopictus based on 39 individuals collected during the summer of 2009 along the East-Adriatic coast and islands of Croatia and Montenegro and using two mitochondrial molecular markers: cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and NADH dehydrogenase 5 (ND5). We identified a single ND5 haplotype, corresponding to the previously reported and worldwide-distributed haplotype H3. The COI marker was more variable and we identified four COI haplotypes. In order to identify the geographic origin of the populations that colonized Croatia, we performed phylogenetic analyses of ND5 and COI haplotypes in Croatian populations and other A. albopictus populations retrieved from the GenBank. The phylogenetic tree based on ND5 haplotypes revealed two well supported clades where the unique Croatian ND5 haplotype clustered with the majority of haplotypes originating from South-Asia, America, Europe, and Africa. Another smaller cluster consisted of only Brazilian haplotypes. The phylogenetic tree and haplotype network that resulted from the COI analysis also indicates that the three Croatian COI haplotypes cluster with European and American haplotypes. However the fourth Croatian COI haplotype was the only European haplotype that occurred in a separate clade (group) with Indian, South-Asian, and Brazilian haplotypes., a2_This data suggests there have been several independent introduction events in Croatia., and Toni Žitko, Ana Kovačić, Yves Desdevises, Jasna Puizina.
The Ojców National Park is situated in southern Poland in an area of Jurassic limestone, which determines the hydrochemistry of the water in the River Prądnik. The geochemical index of the sediment in the River Prądnik indicated it is moderately polluted with Pb and Zn, and heavily polluted with Cd compared to unpolluted sediment. The effect of natural and anthropogenic sources on the sediment in the River Prądnik and in appearing of structural and functional alterations in the salivary gland chromosomes of two species of Chironomidae, Micropsectra pallidula and Polypedilum convictum, was investigated. Two types of chromosomal rearrangements (inherited and somatic) were identified in the species studied. Inherited heterozygous inversions occurred at a higher frequency (between 5.55%–57.81%) and may have local adaptive value. In M. pallidula a karyotype divergence consisting of fixed chromosome inversions on arms B and E was recorded. As somatic chromosome rearrangements can be caused by stress agents, we suggest that the somatic aberrations in both of the species studied indicate the existence of pollution, i.e. induced stress. On the basis of these somatic rearrangements the somatic index of both species was defined: M. pallidula – 0.346, P. convictum – 0.555. In addition to these rearrangements functional alterations in key structures, Balbiani rings (BRs) and the nucleolar organizer region (NOR) located on chromosome EF, which significantly decreased their transcriptional activity, were recorded in M. pallidula. Changes in the appearance of the telomere region on chromosome G in P. convictum was considered to be a response to the environmental conditions in the River Prądnik. It was shown that polytene chromosomes are very sensitive to environmental changes and can be used to detect pollutants in aquatic ecosystems., Paraskeva Michailova ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Recently, there has been rapidly growing interest in the effects of the microbiota on host physiology and behaviour. Due to the nutritional value of bacteria, gut microflora may be particularly important in species that present nuptial gifts during courtship. Here, we explore whether the presence or absence of gut microbiota in males and females of the nuptial gift-giving species Drosophila subobscura (Collin, 1936) alters mating behaviour in terms of female preference, male investment, and female fecundity. We found that females that had been fed antibiotics, compared to females with intact gut bacteria, were more willing to mate with a male that had been fed normally. However female fecundity was higher when both males and females lacked gut bacteria compared to both individuals having a full complement of gut bacteria. This implies that the presence of the microbiota acts to reduce female fecundity in this species, and that male gut bacterial content influences female fecundity. Our results provide further evidence to the growing consensus that the microbiota of an individual may have important effects on both reproductive behaviour and physiology, and suggest that it may also contribute to the nutritional value of the nuptial gift in this system., Benjamin S. Walsh, Chloe Heys, Zenobia Lewis., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The sex determination cascades in insects are diversified at the top of the cascade, where different primary molecular signals are employed, while at the bottom of the cascades, particularly the doublesex genes, are highly conserved. Here, we identified the doublesex ortholog (Btau-dsx) of Bactrocera tau, a pumpkin fruit fly, and found that Btau-dsx is composed of six exons and five introns with an additional short "m" exon located in the second intron. Btau-dsx is different from its orthologs in most dipteran insects: Its pre-mRNA is sex-specifically spliced to yield three (two male and one female) instead of two transcript variants. The two deduced proteins produced by the male-specific transcripts are a functional (Btau-DSXM1) and a truncated (Btau-DSXM2) protein, while the female-specific transcript produces the functional Btau-DSXF protein. These three proteins contain all conserved domains except Btau-DSXM2 which has no OD2 domain. The female-specific transcript is detected in both fertilized and unfertilized eggs and in both somatic and germ cells of the adult females, while the male-specific transcript is detected only in fertilized eggs and in the abdominal tissues and testes of adult males. The presence of the Btau-dsxM1 transcript in fertilized eggs at the early syncytium stage suggests that in XY embryos, the Y-linked M factor gene may function quite soon after fertilization to alter the splicing pattern of Btau-dsx pre-mRNA from the female-specific to the male-specific mode. Injection of Btau-dsxF dsRNA into recently emerging females can reduce the expression of vitellogenin (Btau-Vg) and causes some defects in the ovaries, indicating that Btau-dsxF works upstream of Btau-Vg., Thanaset Thongsaiklaing, Hataichanok Passara, Mingkwan Nipitwathanaphon, Lertluk Ngersiri., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Chyliza vittata is known to utilize leaves, stems and underground parts of several leafy and leafless orchids. Compared to the well-recorded feeding habits of C. vittata in Europe, its feeding habits in Japan are poorly studied. Thus, further records of its host plants and the habits of its larvae in Japan are likely to reveal the similarities and differences in its feeding habits in Europe and Japan. The current study reports C. vittata feeding on the stems of the mycoheterotrophic orchid Yoania japonica in central Japan. This study also showed that in spite of the small size of Yoania its reproductive success is not severely reduced when infested with C. vittata, whereas the robust stems of Gastrodia elata, which is its main host plant in Japan, are thought to be a defence against infestation by C. vittata., Kenji SUETSUGU., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Spalangia cameroni Perkins (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is sold commercially as a biocontrol agent of filth flies, including the house fly, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae). For this reason, S. cameroni is mass-reared for inundative releases to control harmful flies. However, the mass-rearing protocols include very little information on the influence of natal host on subsequent host selection by parasitoids with more than one potential host as in the genus Spalangia. Here, we report on the use of S. cameroni against M. domestica. The S. cameroni were reared using Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae) (natal host) pupae for several generations. Freeze-killed fly pupae were used in assays to determine the fecundity, number of adult progeny and sex-ratio of this parasitoid. Realized fecundity and number of adult progeny were greater when provided with house fly pupae than Mediterranean fruit fly pupae. Thus S. cameroni parasitized more house fly pupae than C. capitata pupae, even though the parasitoid was reared on Mediterranean fruit fly for many generations. These results indicate that S. cameroni reared on C. capitata can be successfully used in inundative releases against both fruit flies (agriculture) and house flies (livestock farming)., Francisco Beitia, Erik Valencia, Bernat Peris, Luis De Pedro, Josep D. Asís, José Tormos., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Urban gardens can harbour a high diversity of insects, which are critically important components of urban ecosystems. In this work, we investigate the richness and diversity of a major taxon of economic and ecological importance, the aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae), and their main insect predators, the hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) and ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), in urban gardens. We examined how variation in environmental factors associated with urbanisation (garden host plant abundance, garden plant richness, garden size, proportion of impervious surfaces in the surrounding area) directly and indirectly (via prey and predator abundance) influence the local diversity and abundance of aphids, ladybirds, and hoverflies. Sixty-seven domestic gardens located in southern England were surveyed during the peak period of aphid abundance, and the numbers and identity of aphids and their predators were recorded. We observed 45 aphid species (179917 individuals in total), 15 hoverfly species (494 individuals) and 8 ladybird species (173 individuals). We found that aphid species richness and abundance were positively associated with utilised host plant abundance and garden plant species richness. Hoverfly abundance was positively correlated with garden plant richness. The abundance of ladybirds was positively correlated with aphid abundance and garden plant species richness, and negatively associated to the proportion of impervious surfaces in the surrounding environment. The difference in responses between the two major taxa of aphid predators may reflect differences in their behaviour and natural history. Our results indicate that overall increases in urban land cover are not favourable for ladybirds as a group, and that fine scale habitat variables that are determined by garden owners have the potential to greatly affect the diversity of aphids and their primary predators., Elise A. Rocha, Estevão N.F. Souza, Lewis A.D. Bleakley, Christopher Burley, Jade L. Mott, Gloria Rue-Glutting, Mark D.E. Fellowes., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The decomposition of small carcasses in the open is frequently neglected although it may provide information of forensic importance. This paper describes an experimental study of arthropod species associated with carcasses of mouse, Mus musculus (Linnaeus, 1758) and rat, Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout, 1769) (Rodentia: Muridae). Four carcasses were left inside iron cages in sunlit and shady areas in a secondary forest in Southeastern Brazil twice a season for four seasons (n = 16 carcasses of each rodent). The carcasses were removed when arthropods ceased to visit them. The visiting and colonizing invertebrates were collected daily and identified. Immatures were also collected and reared in a laboratory for identification. We collected 6,514 arthropods (820 adults and 5,694 juvenile forms) belonging to 53 species from the families Sarcophagidae, Calliphoridae, Muscidae, Fanniidae, Syrphidae, Richardiidae, Sepsidae, Micropezidae, Otitidae, Drosophilidae, Phoridae, Dolichopodidae, Anthomyiidae, Asilidae and Lauxaniidae (Diptera), Formicidae, Ichneumonidae, Encyrtidae and Apidae (Hymenoptera), Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) and Gonyleptidae (Opiliones). Lucilia eximia (Wiedemann, 1819) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and Peckia (Pattonella) intermutans (Walker, 1861) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) deserve special attention because both adult and immature forms were collected in all seasons and in both areas. Our results indicate that the frequency of occurrence of these arthropods was positively associated with carcass size (mouse or rat); no marked insect succession on the carcasses occurred; and the diversity of Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae was high, irrespective of season.
The predation on insects on leaves was measured by direct observation using live larvae of Calliphora vicina (Diptera: Calliphoridae) as bait placed on 15 common species of woody plants in a floodplain forest in the temperate region. The predation rate was measured in terms of the proportion of the larvae that were missing or had been attacked after 30 min of exposure on leaves. Despite the fact that the important predators differed during the course of a season, the most frequently recorded predators were birds and ants and less frequently recorded wasps and spiders. Analysis of the pattern in the distribution of the attacks confirmed that it is best described by a negative binomial distribution, which corresponds to a clumped dispersal of predation. Based on the results of the best-fitted generalized additive model, we could not reject an equal probability of attacks on the different species of woody plants. Further, predation at the forest edge was notably higher than in the forest interior. The model also predicted marked variations in the incidence of attacks during the course of a day and a season, with the attacks occurring mainly in three periods during the year and two during the day. In general, the sampling method used could become the standard measure of the risk of insects living on trees being attacked by predators in future studies., Michaela Drozdová, Jan Šipoš, Pavel Drozd., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Seasonal cycles constitute a major challenge for organisms since they may influence the genetic composition of a population, the species structure of a community and the interactions between organisms. Diapause is frequently used by insects to synchronize their life cycle with seasonal changes and is regarded as a key factor in the coexistence of competing species. Here the occurrence, abundance and emergence patterns of three poorly-known species of carnid flies (Carnus hemapterus Nitzsch, 1818, Hemeromyia anthracina Collin, 1949 and Hemeromyia longirostris Carles-Tolrá, 1992), which overwintered in the nests of several bird species at two localities, are reported and evidence of possible interspecific competition sought. Larvae of all three species were found in association with carrion and detritus. Both Hemeromyia species co-occurred in around 50% of the nests and Carnus with each of the Hemeromyia species at a lower rate (30-40% of the nests). Coexistence of all three carnid species was rare. We did not find any evidence of interspecific competition in the larval stage. Coexistence did not reduce the number of flies that emerged of any of the three species and the abundance of some species was even positively related. Species-specific emergence patterns and different habitat selection criteria (Carnus hemapterus seemed to avoid nests lined with vegetable material), which diminished the overlap between species were found. Such spatial and temporal segregation could facilitate the coexistence of these closely related species, which have similar ecological requirements, and might influence the seasonal dynamics of this poorly-known assemblage of insects inhabiting the nests of birds.