scholarly journals Selective Host Attachment by Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae): Tick–Lizard Associations in the Southeastern United States

Author(s):  
Howard S Ginsberg ◽  
Graham J Hickling ◽  
Genevieve Pang ◽  
Jean I Tsao ◽  
Meghan Fitzgerald ◽  
...  

Abstract Questing behavior and host associations of immature blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis Say, from the southeastern United States are known to differ from those in the north. To elucidate these relationships we describe host associations of larval and nymphal I. scapularis from 8 lizard species sampled from 5 sites in the southeastern U.S. Larvae and nymphs attached in greater numbers to larger lizards than to smaller lizards, with differential levels of attachment to different lizard species. Blacklegged ticks are generally attached to skinks of the genus Plestiodon in greater numbers per unit lizard weight than to anoles (Anolis) or fence lizards (Sceloporus). The broad-headed skink, Plestiodon laticeps (Schneider), was a particularly important host for immature I. scapularis in our study and in several previous studies of tick–host associations in the southeast. Blacklegged ticks show selective attachment to Plestiodon lizard hosts in the southeast, but whether this results from behavioral host preferences or from ecological factors such as timing or microhabitat distributions of tick questing and host activity remains to be determined.

Zootaxa ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 1798 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. STROTHER ◽  
C. L. STAINES

The North and Central American genus Fidia Baly 1863 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is revised. The genus is redescribed and a diagnosis separating Fidia from similar genera is provided. Twenty-four species are recognized: F. lateralis Jacoby 1882 is transferred to Xanthonia; Colaspis flavescens Sturm 1826 is a nomen nudum; F. sallei Lefèvre 1877 and F. unistriata Jacoby 1882 are synonymized with F. albovittata Lefèvre 1877; F. atra Jacoby 1882 is synonymized with F. spuria Lefèvre 1877. Twelve species are described as new- F. chapini from Mexico; F. comalensis from Mexico; F. convexicollis from Texas and Oklahoma; F. costaricensis from Costa Rica; F. delilahae from Alabama and Mississippi; F. dicelloposthe from Mexico; F. dichroma from Mexico; F. marraverpa from Mexico; F. papillata from Mexico; F. pedinops from Alabama, Florida, and Georgia; F. rileyorum from the southeastern United States; and F. xanthonioides from Mexico. Lectotypes are designated for F. albovittata Lefèvre 1877, F. cana Horn 1892, F. guatemalensis Jacoby 1879, F. lurida Lefèvre 1885, F. plagiata Lefèvre 1877, F. sallei Lefèvre 1877, F. spuria Lefèvre 1877, and F. unistriata Jacoby 1882. A key to the recognized species is presented and important taxonomic characters are illustrated. Distribution maps are provided for each species.


1953 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Howard

Recently renewed interest has been focused upon the occurrence in the Plains area of the archaeological complex often termed the “Southern cult.” This complex is found over a wide geographic area and in association with varied cultures. It occurs throughout the southeastern United States, and extends north and west along the Mississippi and Missouri River valleys. It has been found in eastern South Dakota, eastern North Dakota, and in the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada. The complex is characterized by specific art motifs and ceremonial objects, including masklike whelk shell gorgets, and the cross, forkedeye, and hand-and-eye motifs. The complex was apparently fundamentally dependent upon a horticultural base, and is associated in nearly every case with platform mounds. Sites often thought of in connection with the Southern cult are Etowah (Georgia), Moundville (Alabama), and Spiro (Oklahoma). The author has recently examined materials in the collections of the North Dakota State Historical Museum for artifacts related to the complex.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-129
Author(s):  
Alan S. Weakley ◽  
R. Kevan Schoonover McClelland ◽  
Richard J. LeBlond ◽  
Keith A. Bradley ◽  
James F. Matthews ◽  
...  

As part of ongoing efforts to understand and document the flora of the southeastern United States, we propose a number of taxonomic changes. In Trichostema, we name a new species, narrowly endemic to maritime grasslands in the Carolinas and warranting formal conservation status and action. In Dichanthelium (Poaceae), we continue the reassessment of taxa formerly recognized in Panicum and provide new combinations along with a new key to taxa in the Dichanthelium scabriusculum complex. In Paspalum (Poaceae), we address the controversial taxonomy of P. arundinaceum and P. pleostachyum and treat the two as conspecific, with P. arundinaceum the correct name. In Portulaca (Portulacaceae), we report the discovery of the Bahamian P. minuta as a native component of the North American flora, occurring in southern Florida.


2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (21) ◽  
pp. 8440-8452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin T. Maxwell ◽  
Jason T. Ortegren ◽  
Paul A. Knapp ◽  
Peter T. Soulé

Abstract Precipitation from land-falling tropical cyclones (TCs) has a significant hydroclimatic influence in the southeastern United States, particularly during drought years. The frequency with which TCs ended drought conditions was examined for southeastern coastal states from Texas to North Carolina during 1895–2011. The region was divided into the Gulf Coast states (GCS) and the southeastern Atlantic coast states (ACS). The spatiotemporal patterns of tropical cyclone drought busters (TCDBs) were analyzed. Larger-scale ocean–atmosphere influences on TCDBs were examined using chi-squared analysis. The ACS experienced TCDBs more frequently and farther inland compared to the GCS. The number of TCDBs has significantly increased with time in the ACS. TCDBs numbers in the GCS did not exhibit significant increases, but the area alleviated of drought conditions increased significantly in the last 117 years. The dominant larger-scale ocean–atmosphere forcing of TCDBs was a combination of a warm Atlantic Ocean [positive Atlantic multidecadal oscillation index (AMO+)] and weak westerlies [negative North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAO−)]. AMO+ leads to an increase in the number of TCs throughout the North Atlantic basin, and NAO− increases the likelihood of TC landfall by controlling the steering of TCs toward the southeastern United States.


2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Westby ◽  
Robert X. Black

Abstract During winter, anomalous temperature regimes (ATRs), which include cold-air outbreaks (CAOs) and warm waves (WWs), have important impacts in the southeastern United States. This study provides a synoptic–dynamic characterization of ATRs in the southeastern United States from 1949 to 2011 through composite time-evolution analyses. Events are categorized by the sign and amplitude of relevant low-frequency modes. During CAO (WW) onset, negative (positive) geopotential height anomalies are observed in the upper troposphere over the Southeast with oppositely signed anomalies in the lower troposphere over the central United States. In most cases, there is a surface east–west geopotential height anomaly dipole, with anomalous northerly (CAO) or southerly (WW) flow into the Southeast leading to cold or warm surface air temperature anomalies, respectively. Companion potential vorticity anomaly analyses reveal prominent features in the mid- to upper troposphere consistent with the coincident geopotential height anomaly patterns. Ultimately, synoptic-scale disturbances are found to serve as dynamic triggers for ATR events, while low-frequency modes provide a favorable environment for ATR onset. The results provide a qualitative indication of the role of low-frequency modes in ATR onset. In WW (CAO) events influenced by low-frequency modes, the North American geopotential height anomaly pattern arises in part as a downstream (regional) manifestation of the negative Pacific–North American pattern (North Atlantic Oscillation). Interestingly, the North Atlantic Oscillation contributes to both CAO onset and demise. Thus, these results indicate that low-frequency modes also affect event duration (CAOs). One general distinction found for ATRs is that CAOs involve substantial airmass transport while WW formation is more regional in nature.


Plant Disease ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 90 (7) ◽  
pp. 974-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Koenning ◽  
T. C. Creswell ◽  
E. J. Dunphy ◽  
E. J. Sikora ◽  
J. D. Mueller

Target spot of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) caused by Corynespora cassiicola (Berk. & Curt.), although found in most soybean-growing countries, is considered to be a disease of limited importance (1) and has never been reported to cause soybean yield loss in the southeastern United States (2,3). Soybean plants submitted to the North Carolina Plant Disease and Insect Clinic (NCPDIC) in August 2004 from Beaufort, Robeson, Wilson, and Johnston counties, NC had symptoms consistent with target spot. Symptoms consisted of roughly circular, necrotic leaf lesions from minute to 11 mm in diameter, though typically approximately 4 to 5 mm in diameter, and with a yellow margin. Large lesions occasionally exhibited a zonate pattern often associated with this disease. Microscopic examination of the lesions revealed the presence of spores (conidia) typical of C. cassiicola (1). Conidia were mostly three to five septate with a central hilum at the base and ranged in size from 7 to 22 wide × 39 to 520 μm long. Three commercial soybean fields near Blackville, SC (Barnwell County) were severely affected by this disease and it caused premature defoliation. Nineteen of twenty-seven maturity group VII and VIII genotypes in the 2004 Clemson University soybean variety trial near Blackville, SC had visible symptoms of target spot. Heavy rainfall associated with hurricanes during September 2004 probably enhanced the incidence of this disease, and yield suppression due to target spot was estimated at 20 to 40% in some fields. In 2005, 20 of 161 soybean samples submitted to the NCPDIC or collected in surveys from 16 counties were positive for target spot on the basis of microscopic examination. Target spot also was diagnosed in six counties (Baldwin, DeKalb, Elmore, Fayette, Macon, and Pickens) in Alabama and in four additional counties (Bamberg, Hampton, Orange-burg, and Calhoun) in South Carolina in 2005. Records from the NCPDIC indicate that target spot had not been diagnosed on soybean in North Carolina since 1981. The large increase in incidence of target spot in the southeast may be related to changes in weather patterns, changes in pathogen virulence, and/or the introduction of more susceptible host genotypes. References: (1) J. B. Sinclair. Target spot. Page 27 in: Compendium of Soybean Diseases. G. L. Hartman et al. eds. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 1999. (2) J. A. Wrather et al. Plant Dis. 79:1076. 1995. (3) J. A. Wrather et al. On-line publication. doi:10.1094/PHP-2003-0325-01-RV. Plant Health Progress, 2003.


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