The Marsh fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) has declined across Europe, including the Czech Republic. Current conservation strategies rely on prevention of habitat loss and degradation, and increase in habitat quality and connectivity via promoting traditional grassland management. The population structure and adult demography parameters of a single population was investigated for eight years (single system), and of all the known Czech populations (multiple populations) for a single year, using mark-recapture. There was substantial variation in the patterns of adult demography, both among years in the single system and among the multiple populations in a single year. In the single system, the date of the first flight of an adult varied by 18 days over the 8 years and total annual numbers varied with a coefficient of variation of 0.40 (females fluctuating more than males). The average density was ca 80 adults/ha. The population size displayed density-dependence, i.e. decreased following years with high adult numbers, with an equilibrium density of 90 individuals/ha. The average density of the multiple populations was ca 120 individuals/ha. The estimated total population for the Czech Republic was 25,000 individuals (17,000 males / 8,000 females) in 2007, which does not indicate an imminent threat of extinction. The regional persistence of E. aurinia is likely to depend on re-colonisation of temporarily vacant sites by dispersing individuals, facilitated by local shifts in adult flight phenology to that better adapted to local conditions. and Kamil Zimmermann, Pavla Blazkova, Oldrich Cizek, Zdenek Fric, Vladimir Hula, Pavel Kepka, David Novotny, Irena Slamova, Martin Konvicka.
Cocoon weight and shell weight are the key economic traits ultimately determining silk yield. In order to detect the main quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with the cocoon traits of the mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori, the parents of larvae that produced cocoons that differed greatly in weight and shell weight were screened using 240 primer pairs of single nucleotide polymorphic markers (SNPs) representing all the 28 linkage groups in silkworm. Out of the 240 primer pairs, 48 (20%) revealed distinct polymorphism between the parents, which was confirmed by the co-dominant expression of both polymorphic PCR products in the F1 generation. The bulked segregant analysis (BSA) was used to compare the SNP profiles of the parents, F1 and F2 bulks using the 48 informative SNP primers. This revealed that out of 48 primer pairs, only one pair, i.e., No. 04124 of the linkage group 4 showed clear differences in the amplified products between the bulks corresponding to that of the parents with different cocoon traits suggesting that the DNA regions amplified by this primer pair are closely linked to the QTL controlling the cocoon traits. The results were also confirmed by screening the backcross (BC) progeny. This is the first report of the identification of a QTL using SNPs with BSA. The results of the present study indicate that it might be possible to use SNPs for marker assisted selection (MAS) in silkworm breeding programs aimed at improving cocoon traits. and Sivaramakurup Sreekumar, Southekal K. Ashwath, Monika Slathia, Sundaramurthy N. Kumar, Syed M.H. Qadri.
Determining the season of death by means of the composition of the families of insects infesting carrion is rarely attempted in forensic studies and has never been statistically modelled. For this reason, a baseline-category logit model is proposed for predicting the season of death as a function of whether the area where the carcass was exposed is sunlit or shaded and of the relative abundance of particular families of carrion insects (Calliphoridae, Fanniidae, Sarcophagidae, and Formicidae). The field study was conducted using rodent carcasses (20-252 g) in an urban forest in southeastern Brazil. Four carcasses (2 in a sunlit and 2 in a shaded area) were placed simultaneously at the study site, twice during each season from August 2003 through June 2004. The feasibility of the model, measured in terms of overall accuracy, is 64 ± 14%. It is likely the proposed model will assist forensic teams in predicting the season of death in tropical ecosystems, without the need of identifying the species of specimens or the remains of carrion insects. and Thiago de Carvalho Moretti, Vinícius Bonato, Wesley Augusto Conde Godoy.
The blood-sucking bug Rhodnius prolixus is the main vector of Chagas Disease in Colombia, Venezuela and several countries in Central America. Nitric oxide (NO) is a ubiquitous gaseous molecule present in most types of cell and participates in the olfactory pathway of insects. In this work, nitroso-acetyl-cysteine (SNAC), a nitric oxide donor, was topically applied to the antennae of fifth instar nymphs of R. prolixus. After SNAC treatment, these insects showed a dose-dependent reluctance to feed when provided with a living pigeon as the food source (ED50 = 5.2 µg/insect). However, there was no reluctance to feed when db-cGMP was applied to the antennae of nymphs. In another experiment, insects that had their antennae treated with SNAC were less attracted than the control group to a CO2 source. A possible role of NO in the olfactory pathway of R. prolixus is discussed. and Valeria Sfara, Eduardo N. Zerba, Raúl A. Alzogaray.
Microsatellites are the most common markers used in population and conservation genetic studies. However, their isolation is laborious and expensive. In some taxa, such as Lepidoptera, it is particularly difficult to isolate microsatellite markers due to the high similarity of the flanking regions of different loci and the presence of null alleles. Here we isolated microsatellites of the endangered butterfly Boloria aquilonaris using 454 GS-FLX Titanium pyro-sequences of biotin enriched DNA libraries and tested the success of cross-amplification on the sister-species B. eunomia. Fifteen polymorphic microsatellite loci were isolated in B. aquilonaris using initially 101 stringently designed primer pairs. Unlike in many other studies of microsatellite isolation in Lepidoptera, few null alleles were detected and only at very low frequencies. Additionally, the raw data set can still be used for the isolation of other microsatellite loci. None of the selected polymorphic loci for B. aquilonaris gave clear banding patterns for B. eunomia, although about 15 other loci gave promising banding patterns for the latter species. Low intra- and inter-specific transferability of developed markers in this study also lends support to the hypothesis that the evolution of the genome of Lepidoptera is dissimilar from that of other organisms., Sofie Vandewoestijne, Camille Turlure, Michel Baguette., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Body size is one of the most investigated traits in studies of sexual selection in fruit flies of the genus Drosophila. In D. melanogaster, size has often been correlated with male mating success, i.e. larger males were more successful in achieving copulations both in laboratory and field conditions. In the present paper, we investigated if male body size is a sexually selected trait in competitive conditions, when full-sibs that developed at two different temperatures (18 and 25°C) competed for females. Males developed at a lower temperature were significantly larger than those reared at a higher temperature, but they were not more successful in mating. We conclude that when body size is significantly induced by temperature variability, it is not correlated with male mating success., Sofija Pavkovic-Lučic, Vladimir Kekic., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The Asian ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) is regarded as an invasive species in many parts of the world. In a previous study we hypothesised that H. axyridis enters diapause at the end of October and then shifts to a quiescent state in December in northwestern Europe. In the present study we test this idea of a short, early period of diapause by sampling beetles from their hibernation sites immediately after their migratory flights in October, subsequently keeping them in outdoor cages, and then, after certain time-intervals, measuring the pre-oviposition time under optimal egg-laying laboratory conditions at 25°C. We did this at both short (12L) and long (16L) photoperiods, since a photoperiodic response is an indicator of true diapause, rather than quiescence. A significant, albeit small, difference in pre-oviposition period between the two photoperiods, which disappears in December, corroborates our earlier hypothesis that the ladybirds are in a state of diapause until mid-December. Compared with that of native ladybirds the diapause of H. axyridis generally is relatively short and weak; moreover, it appears to have become shorter over the last decade. This flexibility in diapausing behaviour may be an important factor that contributes to the invasive success of H. axyridis., C. Lidwien Raak-Van Den Berg ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seynam literatury
The size and fecundity of Hemiberlesia lataniae (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) on partially resistant and susceptible kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.) varieties was measured. The size ratio of mature H. lataniae grown on a partially resistant genotype, compared with those on a susceptible genotype, was 0.67-0.51 for 2nd instar exuviae area, 0.32 for adult body area and 0.18 for estimated body volume. The fertility ratio was 0.1, but the pre-oviposition period and the size of the crawlers were the same. Diaspidid scale insects' unusual ability to continue growing after the final moult appears to be a key feature allowing these insects to show extreme size plasticity while retaining the ability to reproduce even when very small. These observations challenge current theories of insect development that postulate the need to achieve a critical weight threshold before the final moult. We suggest that this strategy may have assisted the evolution of polyphagy within the Diaspididae. and M. Garry HILL, Rosa C. HENDERSON, Nicola A. MAUCHLINE.
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