scholarly journals Brazilian Red-Eyed Fly Ormia depleta (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tachinidae)

EDIS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haleigh Ray ◽  
Jennifer Lynn Gillett-Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Biological Control ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
South America ◽  
Pest Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mole Crickets ◽  
Southern Florida ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Ormia Depleta

The Brazilian red-eyed fly, Ormia depleta, is a tachinid fly that is a parasitoid of mole crickets in the genus Neoscapteriscus (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae). Originally from South America, it was brought to the United States for biological control of pest mole crickets. It is now established in almost all counties in central and southern Florida. Includes: Introduction - Distribution - Description - Life Cycle - Pest Management - Selected References. Available on EDIS at https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in1219 First published at http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/BENEFICIAL/FLIES/Ormia_depleta.html

scholarly journals Genotypic Characterization of Rickettsia bellii Reveals Distinct Lineages in the United States and South America

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe S. Krawczak ◽  
Marcelo B. Labruna ◽  
Joy A. Hecht ◽  
Christopher D. Paddock ◽  
Sandor E. Karpathy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South America ◽  
Spotted Fever ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spotted Fever Group ◽  
Protein Coding ◽  
Basal Group ◽  
Intergenic Regions ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Rickettsia Bellii

The bacterium Rickettsia bellii belongs to a basal group of rickettsiae that diverged prior to the pathogenic spotted fever group and typhus group Rickettsia species. Despite a diverse representation of R. bellii across more than 25 species of hard and soft ticks in the American continent, phylogeographical relationships among strains of this basal group-Rickettsia species are unknown; the work described here explores these relationships. DNA was extracted from 30 R. bellii tick isolates: 15 from the United States, 14 from Brazil, and 1 from Argentina. A total of 2,269 aligned nucleotide sites of 3 protein coding genes (gltA, atpA, and coxA) and 2 intergenic regions (rpmE-tRNAfmet and RC1027-xthA2) were concatenated and subjected to phylogenetic analysis by Bayesian methods. Results showed a separation of almost all isolates between North and South Americas, suggesting that they have radiated within their respective continents. Phylogenetic positions of the 30 isolates could be a result of not only their geographical origin but also the tick hosts they have coevolved with. Whether R. bellii originated with ticks in North or South America remains obscure, as our analyses did not show evidence for greater genetic divergence of R. bellii in either continent.

scholarly journals Fire Ants (Solenopsisspp.) and Their Natural Enemies in Southern South America

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Briano ◽  
Luis Calcaterra ◽  
Laura Varone
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Biological Control ◽  
South America ◽  
Natural Enemies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fire Ants ◽  
Fire Ant ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
Southern South America ◽  
Field Release

We review the fire ant research conducted by the ARS-South American Biological Control Laboratory (SABCL) since 1987 to find a complex of natural enemies in southern South America and evaluate their specificity and suitability for field release as self-sustaining biological control agents. We also include those studies conducted by the ARS-Center for Medical, Agriculture, and Veterinary Entomology in the United States with the SABCL collaboration. Ecological and biological information is reported on local fire ants and their microsporidia, nematodes, viruses, phorid flies, eucharitid wasps, strepsiptera, and parasitic ants. Their biology, abundance, distribution, detrimental effect, field persistence, specificity, and phenology are discussed. We conclude that the objectives of the ARS program in South America are being achieved and that the pioneering studies have served to encourage further investigations in the United States and other countries and advanced the implementation of biological control programs to decrease imported fire ant densities and damage. Still, several promising organisms should be further investigated for eventual field release in the near future.

Specters of Belonging

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrián Félix
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mexican Migrants ◽  
Mexican State ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Mexican Migrant ◽  
Transnational Citizenship

In the context of research on the “thickening” of borders, Specters of Belonging raises the related question: How does transnational citizenship thicken across the political life cycle of Mexican migrants? In addressing this question, this book resembles what any good migration corrido (ballad) does—narrate the thickening of transnational citizenship from beginning, middle, to end. Specifically, Specters of Belonging traces Mexican migrant transnationalism across the migrant political life cycle, beginning with the “political baptism” (i.e., naturalization in the United States) and ending with repatriation to México after death. In doing so, the book illustrates how Mexican migrants enunciate, enact, and embody transnational citizenship in constant dialectical contestation with the state and institutions of citizenship on both sides of the U.S.-México border. Drawing on political ethnographies of citizenship classrooms, the first chapter examines how Mexican migrants enunciate transnational citizenship as they navigate the naturalization process in the United States and grapple with the contradictions of U.S. citizenship and its script of singular political loyalty. The middle chapter deploys transnational ethnography to analyze how Mexican migrants enact transnational citizenship within the clientelistic orbit of the Mexican state, focusing on a group of returned migrant politicians and transnational activists. Last, the final chapter turns to how Mexican migrants embody transnational citizenship by tracing the cross-border practice of repatriating the bodies of deceased Mexican migrants from the United States to their communities of origin in rural México.

Assessing the role of generalist predators in the biological control of alfalfa weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

2017 ◽  
Vol 149 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatyana A. Rand
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Biological Control ◽  
Experimental Work ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
The United States ◽  
Generalist Predators ◽  
Alfalfa Weevil ◽  
Exclusion Experiment ◽  
Predator Exclusion

AbstractAlfalfa weevil (Coleoptera:Curculionidae) is a major pest of alfalfa throughout the United States of America. Biological control research has disproportionately focussed on introduced parasitoids. Generalist predators may also be important, but experimental work evaluating their impacts is lacking. I combined a cross-site survey with a predator exclusion experiment to identify key predators, and test for impacts on weevil survival and plant defoliation levels in Montana and North Dakota, United States of America. Spiders (Araneae) dominated the complex, followed by Nabidae (Hemiptera) and Coccinellidae (Coleoptera). None of the dominant predators showed aggregative responses to weevil (Hypera postica (Gyllenhal); Coleoptera: Curculionidae) or pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris); Hemiptera: Aphididae) densities across 10 sites surveyed. However, weevil densities were positively correlated with both coccinellid and nabid densities across transects at the experimental site. Thus, predator groups traditionally associated with aphids can show strong aggregative numerical responses to alfalfa weevil larvae at smaller scales. Predator exclusion revealed no significant predator effects on larval survival or alfalfa damage. However, final densities of pea aphids were significantly higher in exclusion treatments relative to controls. The results suggest that even under conditions where predators exert significant pressure on aphids, they may still have minimal impacts on weevils. Additional experimental work is necessary to determine the broader potential of generalist predators as alfalfa weevil control agents.

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