Because nutrients accrued during larval stages represent the major limiting factor for egg production, the use of adult feeding to enhance the reproductive output in moths is considered to be largely weight-dependent. It is hypothesized, however, that feeding by adults could be adaptive and an effective means of increasing their reproductive success. In order to test this, the calling behaviour of Spodoptera littoralis females that differed in body weight and whether they had fed or not were recorded. Two experiments were carried out. In the first, the calling behaviour of food-deprived females of different body weights was recorded. A strong positive correlation was found between body weight at emergence and the total duration of calling of females on the second to the fifth night after emergence. In the second experiment, groups of female moths that varied in body weight were given access to water or sucrose. Feeding on sucrose significantly reduced the pre-calling period and increased the total time spent calling on the six nights after emergence. The increase in time spent calling associated with ingesting sucrose were proportionately similar for both small and large females, implying that feeding by adults can result in an increase in the time spent calling by moths irrespective of larval nutritional status. Female longevity was also correlated with moth weight at emergence and/or sucrose availability. It is concluded that it is advantageous for female S. littoralis to be large and/or have access to sucrose-rich food in the adult stage as they can spend more time attracting a mate, which increases their chances of mating in early adult life, and their longer adult life may indirectly result in an increase in fecundity., Medhat M. Sadek., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Climatic conditions can modify the life history traits, population dynamics and biotic interactions of species. Therefore, adaptations to environmental factors such as temperature are crucial for species survival at different altitudes. These adaptive responses, genetically fixed or plastic (phenotypic plasticity), can be determined by physiological thresholds and might vary between sexes. The objective of this study was to determine whether the life history traits of the European Map butterfly (Araschnia levana) differ at different altitudes. A field experiment was carried out along an altitudinal gradient from 350 to 1010 m a.s.l. in a low mountainous region (Bavaria, Germany). 540 butterfly larvae were placed at different altitudes in 18 planted plots of their larval host plant, the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). After three weeks the larvae were collected and reared under laboratory conditions. Developmental traits of the butterflies, mortality and percentage parasitism were measured. Larval development was generally slower at higher altitudes and lower temperatures and larval weight decreased with increasing altitude and decreasing temperature. However, there were no significant differences in pupation, adult lifespan and percentage mortality at the different altitudes and temperatures. Female larvae were heavier than those of males, and the pupal and adult lifespans were longer in females than in males. However, male and female butterflies reacted similarly to altitude and temperature (no significant interactions). None of the 188 larvae collected were parasitized. In conclusion, the phenotypic plasticity of European Map butterfly has enabled it to adapt to different temperatures, but the strategies of the sexes did not differ. and Kathrin D. Wagner, Jochen Krauss, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter.
Chromosomes of the males of five species of Odontura, belonging to the subgenera Odontura and Odonturella, were analyzed. Intensive evolution of the karyotype was recorded, both in terms of changes in the numbers of chromosomes (from 2n = 31 to 27) and the sex chromosome system (from X0 to neo-XY and X0 to neo-X1X2Y). Karyotype evolution was accompanied by tandem autosome fusions and interspecific autosomal and sex chromosome differentiation involving changes in the locations of nucleolar organizer regions, NORs, which were revealed by silver impregnation and confirmed by FISH using an 18S rDNA probe. O. (Odonturella) aspericauda is a polytypic species with X0 and neo-X1X2Y sex determination. The latter system is not common in tettigoniids. It possibly originated by a translocation of a distal segment of the original X chromosome onto a medium sized autosome, resulting in a shortened neo-X1 and a metacentric neo-Y. The remaining autosome homologue became the neo-X2 chromosome. This shift from X0 to neo-X1X2Y is supported by the length of the X chromosome and location of the NOR/rDNA. and Elżbieta Warchałowska-Śliwa, Anna Maryańska-Nadachowska, Beata Grzywacz, Tatjana Karamysheva, Arne W. Lehmann, Gerlind U.C. Lehmann, Klaus-Gerhard Heller.
Polymorphic microsatellite loci were characterised for two louse species, the anopluran Polyplax serrata Burmeister, 1839, parasitising Eurasian field mice of the genus Apodemus Kaup, and the amblyceran Myrsidea nesomimi Palma et Price, 2010, found on mocking birds endemic to the Galápagos Islands. Evolutionary histories of the two parasites show complex patterns influenced both by their geographic distribution and through coevolution with their respective hosts, which renders them prospective evolutionary models. In P. serrata, 16 polymorphic loci were characterised and screened across 72 individuals from four European populations that belong to two sympatric mitochondrial lineages differing in their breadth of host-specificity. In M. nesomimi, 66 individuals from three island populations and two host species were genotyped for 15 polymorphic loci. The observed heterozygosity varied from 0.05 to 0.9 in P. serrata and from 0.0 to 0.96 in M. nesomimi. Deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were frequently observed in the populations of both parasites. Fst distances between tested populations correspond with previous phylogenetic data, suggesting the microsatellite loci are an informative resource for ecological and evolutionary studies of the two parasites., Jana Martinů, Veronika Roubová, Milena Nováková, Vincent S. Smith, Václav Hypša, Jan Štefka., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Six types of sphaeractinomyxon are reported from the coelomic cavity of oligochaetes collected from the Minho River estuary in northern Portugal. Four new types are morphologically and molecularly described from freshwater species belonging to the genera Psammoryctides Hrabě and Potamothrix Vejdovský et Mrázek in the upper estuary, thus significantly increasing the number of known freshwater sphaeractinomyxon. In the lower estuary, sphaeractinomyxon types 8 and 10 of Rangel et al. (2016) are recorded infecting the marine oligochaete Tubificoides pseudogaster (Dahl). A single specimen of T. pseudogaster further displayed infection by one of the four new types found in the upper estuary, suggesting the involvement of sphaeractinomyxon in the life cycles of myxosporean species that infect migratory fish hosts. The acquisition of these second hosts is proposed to have allowed the myxosporean counterparts of sphaeractinomyxon to cross environmental barriers and conquer new habitats. Phylogenetic analyses of the SSU rRNA gene reveal the four new types clustering within the monophyletic clade of mugiliform-infecting myxobolids, strengthening the previously proposed involvement of the sphaeractinomyxon collective group in the life cycles of this specific group of myxosporeans. Endocapsa types also cluster within the latter clade, having actinospores that differ from those of sphaeractinomyxon only in the presence of valvular swellings that do not change when in contact with water. In this study, however, one type was found displaying actinospores with and without valvular swellings in the same oligochaete specimen. This overlap in actinospore morphology is given as grounds for the demise of the endocapsa collective group., Sónia Rocha, Ängela Alves, Carlos Antunes, Pedro Fernandes, Carlos Azevedo and Graça Casal., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is a key economic insect pest reducing fruit yield and generating constraints in the international market. The application of the sterile insect technique (SIT) continues to reveal areas where new technologies can improve the effectiveness of fruit fly control. One such advancement concerns insect strains. In the present study, a mass-reared strain of the fly with a translocation-based genetic sexing character (Salaya1) based on a brown-white pupal colour dimorphism was genetically characterized using 11 microsatellite DNA markers. Subsequently, these markers were used to evaluate the maintenance of genetic variability in the strain under mass-rearing conditions. Mating competitiveness of this strain was also tested in field cages. Two of the newly characterized Y-pseudo-linked microsatellite markers were used for strain identification in field monitoring traps. The strain was also validated in a pilot integrated pest management (IPM) programme using male-only SIT in a fruit orchard. The programme resulted in the suppression of the fruit fly population., Siriwan Isasawin, Nidchaya Aketarawong, Sujinda Thanaphum., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The Niobe Fritillary, Argynnis niobe, is a habitat specialist and as a consequence is highly endangered in contemporary Europe. To investigate its genetic diversity and population structure, 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed and characterized, using a recently developed pyrosequencing method. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 21, and the observed and expected heterozygosities varied from 0.17 to 0.53 and from 0.24 to 0.92, respectively. These loci were also successfully used to study the genetic diversity of a closely related species, the High Brown Fritillary, Argynnis adippe, and will be used in future population structure studies of both these species., Jan Zima JR, Dan Leština, Martin Konvička., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Fourteen predatory species of ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) were collected from May to October 2008 from mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) infested with the scale insect Chionaspis salicis at 31 localities in the Ore Mountains, northern Bohemia, Czech Republic. Chilocorus renipustulatus, usually a rare species, made up 85% of the individuals collected (1690). Other abundant species were Coccinella septempunctata, Calvia quatuordecimguttata, Adalia bipunctata and Adalia decempunctata. The invasive alien Harmonia axyridis was present but made up less than one per cent of the individuals collected. Niche overlap between pairs of ladybird species measured in terms of the coefficient of community, Morisita's index and cluster analysis showed that microhabitat preferences were similar and hence the possibility of competition was high in two pairs of congeneric species (Chilocorus and Calvia). Larvae of Ch. renipustulatus were abundant from mid-June through August and were still present in October. and Emanuel Kula, Oldřich Nedvěd.