The flying activity of biting midges (Ceratopogonidae: Culicoides) in Verkiai Regional Park, southeastern Lithuania

Author(s):  
Rasa Bernotienė ◽  
Galina Bartkevičienė ◽  
Dovilė Bukauskaitė
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
A. Bykov ◽  
D. Palatov ◽  
I. Studenov ◽  
D. Chupov

The article provides information about the features of spring feeding of sterlet in the spawning grounds of the middle course of the Northern Dvina river in may 2019. The main and secondary groups of forage objects in the diet of this species of sturgeon are characterized. The article considers the variability of the sterlet food composition with an increase in the size of fish from 30 to 60 cm. In the process of fish growth in the diet of the Severodvinsk sterlet, the main components in terms of occurrence and mass in all size groups are the larvae of Brooks and chironomids. A minor occurrence was the larvae of midges, biting midges, stoneflies, mayflies and small clams. To random and seasonal food are the larvae of water bugs, butterflies, flies, beetles and eggs of other fish. The feeding intensity of the smaller sterlet (30–40 cm) was significantly higher than that of the fish in the size groups 40–50 and 50–60 cm. Fundamental changes in the diet of the Severodvinsk sterlet for the main food objects for more than sixty years of observations have not been established. During periods of high water content of the Northern Dvina due to seasonal changes in the structure of benthic communities, the value of Brooks in the diet of sterlet increases and the proportion of chironomids decreases.


Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 366
Author(s):  
Raisa Rodrigues Santos Rios ◽  
Maria Clara Alves Santarém ◽  
Karlos Antônio Lisboa Ribeiro Júnior ◽  
Breno Araujo de Melo ◽  
Sybelle Georgia Mesquita da Silva ◽  
...  

The species of the Culicoides genus are hematophagous, and some of them are vectors of important human and animal diseases. This group of insects is distributed worldwide, varying according to local species. Knowledge of the geographic distribution of specific species is crucial for the development and implementation of control strategies. The aim of this work was to investigate the occurrence of Culicoides in the state of Alagoas in northeast Brazil. Midges were captured with CDC light traps, and their identification and morphological analyses were performed by the Ceratopogonidae Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ/CCER) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Morphological analyses were performed using the key to Culicoides from the guttatus group and comparison with other deposited specimens. DNA sequencing, genetic analysis and comparison with sequences in the Genbank database, confirmed the identification of the flies as Culicoides insignis. This was the first formal report of C. insignis being found in Alagoas.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Lencioni ◽  
Ana Rodriguez‐Prieto ◽  
Giuliana Allegrucci
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Velmurugan Balaraman ◽  
Barbara S Drolet ◽  
Natasha N Gaudreault ◽  
William C Wilson ◽  
Jeana Owens ◽  
...  

Abstract SARS-CoV-2 is a recently emerged, highly contagious virus and the cause of the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is a zoonotic virus, although its animal origin is not clear yet. Person-to-person transmission occurs by inhalation of infected droplets and aerosols, or by direct contact with contaminated fomites. Arthropods transmit numerous viral, parasitic, and bacterial diseases; however, the potential role of arthropods in SARS-CoV-2 transmission is not fully understood. Thus far, a few studies have demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 replication is not supported in cells from certain insect species nor in certain species of mosquitoes after intrathoracic inoculation. In this study, we expanded the work of SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility to biting insects after ingesting a SARS-CoV-2-infected bloodmeal. Species tested included Culicoides sonorensis (Wirth & Jones) (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) biting midges, as well as Culex tarsalis (Coquillett) and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae), all known biological vectors for numerous RNA viruses. Arthropods were allowed to feed on SARS-CoV-2-spiked blood and at a time point postinfection analyzed for the presence of viral RNA and infectious virus. Additionally, cell lines derived from C. sonorensis (W8a), Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) (Diptera: Culicidae) (C6/36), Cx. quinquefasciatus (HSU), and Cx. tarsalis (CxTrR2) were tested for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility. Our results indicate that none of the biting insects, nor the insect cell lines evaluated support SARS-CoV-2 replication, suggesting that these species are unable to be biological vectors of SARS-CoV-2.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikas Ilgūnas ◽  
Carolina Romeiro Fernandes Chagas ◽  
Dovilė Bukauskaitė ◽  
Rasa Bernotienė ◽  
Tatjana Iezhova ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Haemoproteus parasites (Haemosporida, Haemoproteidae) are cosmopolitan in birds and recent molecular studies indicate enormous genetic diversity of these pathogens, which cause diseases in non-adapted avian hosts. However, life-cycles remain unknown for the majority of Haemoproteus species. Information on their exoerythrocytic development is particularly fragmental and controversial. This study aimed to gain new knowledge on life-cycle of the widespread blood parasite Haemoproteus majoris. Methods Turdus pilaris and Parus major naturally infected with lineages hPHYBOR04 and hPARUS1 of H. majoris, respectively, were wild-caught and the parasites were identified using microscopic examination of gametocytes and PCR-based testing. Bayesian phylogeny was used to determine relationships between H. majoris lineages. Exoerythrocytic stages (megalomeronts) were reported using histological examination and laser microdissection was applied to isolate single megalomeronts for genetic analysis. Culicoides impunctatus biting midges were experimentally exposed in order to follow sporogonic development of the lineage hPHYBOR04. Results Gametocytes of the lineage hPHYBOR04 are indistinguishable from those of the widespread lineage hPARUS1 of H. majoris, indicating that both of these lineages belong to the H. majoris group. Phylogenetic analysis supported this conclusion. Sporogony of the lineage hPHYBOR04 was completed in C. impunctatus biting midges. Morphologically similar megalomeronts were reported in internal organs of both avian hosts. These were big roundish bodies (up to 360 μm in diameter) surrounded by a thick capsule-like wall and containing irregularly shaped cytomeres, in which numerous merozoites developed. DNA sequences obtained from single isolated megalomeronts confirmed the identification of H. majoris. Conclusions Phylogenetic analysis identified a group of closely related H. majoris lineages, two of which are characterized not only by morphologically identical blood stages, but also complete sporogonic development in C. impunctatus and development of morphologically similar megalomeronts. It is probable that other lineages belonging to the same group would bear the same characters and phylogenies based on partial cytb gene could be used to predict life-cycle features in avian haemoproteids including vector identity and patterns of exoerythrocytic merogony. This study reports morphologically unique megalomeronts in naturally infected birds and calls for research on exoerythrocytic development of haemoproteids to better understand pathologies caused in avian hosts.


Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3582 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
HAIYING CHEN ◽  
YANGQING LIU ◽  
YIXIN YU

Two new species of biting midges in the subfamily of Forcipomyiinae Lenz are described and illustrated based on male adults: Lasiohelea habros Liu, Chen & Yu, sp. nov.; Atrichopogon brenthus Liu & Yu, sp. nov..


1990 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
DH Cybinski ◽  
MJ Muller

Blood samples were collected regularly from two sentinel herds of cattle in northern and southern Queensland between 1979 and 1985. From 2660 samples, virus isolation attempts using baby hamster kidney (BHK21) and Aedes albopictus (AA) tissue cultures and suckling mice produced 308 viruses of which 243 (79%) were in the Palyam subgroup of orbiviruses. Mosquitoes and biting midges were collected at the southern sentinel herd site in January-February 1984 and processed for virus isolation in BHK2l and AA tissue cultures and by intrathoracic inoculation of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes. Totals of 14 338 midges of four species in 156 pools, and 9030 mosquitoes of 27 species in 232 pools, were processed and yielded 59 isolations. Of the 35 viruses isolated from Culicoides brevitarsis, 17 were members of the Palyam subgroup. Bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) virus was isolated once from Anopheles bancroftii, once from C. brevitarsis and 17 times from cattle. Akabane virus was isolated for the first time from C. wadai, as well as a further 10 times from C. brevitarsis and 20 times from cattle. Other viruses isolated from cattle included bluetongue serotype 1, and serotypes 5, 6 and 7 of epizootic hemorrhagic disease of deer (EHD). A new BEF group virus, tentatively called Oak Vale, was isolated nine times from Culex edwardsi mosquitoes. Of the orbiviruses, those in the Palyam subgroup were isolated almost exclusively in BHK2l tissue cultures but those in the bluetongue and EHD subgroups were isolated almost exclusively in AA cell cultures or after passage through Ae. aegypti. Of 22 rhabdovirus isolations from blood and insects (BEF, Kimberley and Tibrogargan), 16 were made only in AA cell cultures or after passage through Ae. aegypti.


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