Field evaluation of WALS truck-mounted A1 super duty mist sprayer® with VectoBac® WDG against Aedes aegypti (Diptera:Culicidae) populations in Manatee County, Florida

Aedes aegypti, the Dengue and Zika vector, is a domestic mosquito that is difficult to control. The challenge lies in the mosquito’s preference to lay its eggs in cryptic habitats such as fence post openings, buckets and bird baths, cups. Additionally, current methods of control are labor-intensive. We employed the WALS strategy to evaluate the operational efficacy of applying VectoBac WDG using a truck-mounted mister to control local populations of Ae. aegypti in urban settings with difficult-to-reach larval mosquito habitats. Our study was conducted in Cortez (Manatee County), Florida, USA (27° 27’ N, 82° 40’ W). We selected two study sites, one untreated control (21.9 ha) and one treatment site (23.1 ha) where historical data have shown high populations of Ae. aegypti based on weekly ovitrap surveillance. Weekly BGs and ovitraps (10–15 traps/site) were deployed to monitor adult population dynamics. A total of 50 bioassay jars were placed in the field each afternoon of the Bti application (8 application events) at fixed locations to collect droplets and gauge efficacy. We found significant reduction in female adults (P = 0.0002) and landing rate counts (P = 0.0058) as a result of treatment. Larval bioassays during the eight applications confirmed Bti deposit in a variety of coverage types regardless of placement in the yards. WALS applications with a truck-mounted mister can be effective at reducing disease carrying mosquito populations in residential areas and can be implemented in an integrated vector management program.

Using UPLC–MS/MS to Evaluate the Dissemination of Pyriproxyfen by Aedes Mosquitoes to Combat Cryptic Larval Habitats after Source Reduction in Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan

The policy regarding mosquito control strategies in Taiwan is based on integrated vector management (IVM). The major approach is source reduction via collaboration by both residents and governments. However, small and cryptic habitats of dengue vectors are hard to find and eliminate in urban communities. Therefore, this study evaluated a complementary approach that targeted cryptic habitats by utilizing mosquitoes themselves as vehicles to transfer an insect growth regulator, pyriproxyfen (PPF), to their breeding sites; the amount of PPF in breeding water was determined with ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS). A bioassay conducted by introducing ten late-instar larvae into PPF solution was performed to assess emergence inhibition (EI). PPF was found at 0.56 ± 0.04 ng in 25 mL of water by dissemination via ten Aedes aegypti mosquitoes exposed to 0.01% PPF, leading to 100% EI. After the community-level source reduction, a field trial in Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan showed that 30.8–31.5% of cryptic ovitraps reached EI ≥ 50% one month after spraying 0.01% PPF in microhabitats favored by mosquitoes. IVM in parallel with residual spraying of PPF on resting surfaces of mosquitoes could serve as a simple and complementary approach to reduce cryptic larval sources in urban communities in Southern Taiwan.

Sponges from Doumer Island, Antarctic Peninsula, with description of new species of Clathria (Axosuberites) Topsent, 1893 and Hymeniacidon Bowerbank, 1858, and a re-description of H. torquata Topsent, 1916

Antarctic sponges were mainly studied from trawling or dredging (shallow and deep water) during pioneering oceanographic expeditions carried out since the late 19th century. More recently, sponge collections by SCUBA diving have allowed the detection of species in more cryptic habitats such as rocky walls. In this study, we analyzed Antarctic sponges collected by SCUBA (in 2016 to 2018; shallower than 25 m) around Doumer Island (Palmer Archipelago, Western Antarctic Peninsula—WAP), where only five sponge species have been known. We gathered over 215 specimens, most part identified; 18 known species and one new species. Clathria (Axosuberites) retamalesi sp. nov., is set apart from its congeners on account of the combination of its habit, categories and dimensions of spicules. The East Antarctic material named as Hymeniacidon spec. (3397 m depth) from the Gauss scientific collection has been related to the shallow species H. torquata Topsent, 1916. We described H. torquata based in several specimens (n= 51) from Doumer Island (WAP), only ca. 41 km from Petermann Island (the type locality). Spicules of H. torquata are smaller than the ones present in the Hymeniacidon spec. material, which is here named Hymeniacidon hentscheli sp. nov., since it does not fit into any known cold water species of Hymeniacidon from Antarctica or the Southern Hemisphere, due to a combination of habit, oscula shape, and spicule dimensions. Only five sponge species were previously known from Doumer Island, also collected by SCUBA. Our findings suggest that the ongoing study of collections of sponges assembled at Doumer Island will still yield new taxonomic findings.

Bryozoans and brachiopods from the Lower Miocene deposits of the Qom Formation in North-East Isfahan (Central Iran)

A study of bryozoans and brachiopods from the Varton, Zefreh and Kuh-e-Charkheh sections from the Esfahan-Sirjan fore-arc basin of the Qom Formation of Central Iran has yielded 30 bryozoan taxa, including one new species Gigantopora vartonensis, and six brachiopod species. Both assemblages co-occur with large oyster shells with some of the ventral valves of brachiopods directly attached to their shells. The paleoenvironment is interpreted as an oyster bank ('oyster reef') in shallow, tropical-subtropical marine waters, producing cryptic habitats for other groups of organisms.

Submarine cave hermit crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguroidea) from three islands of the Ryukyu Islands, southwestern Japan

Hermit crab species are reported on the basis of specimens collected by recent faunal surveys in submarine caves of three islands (Ie, Okinawa, and Shimoji Islands) of the Ryukyu Islands, southwestern Japan. The material includes three species in three genera of Diogenidae and 11 species in four genera of Paguridae. Catapaguroides longior Komai, Yamada & Shirakawa, 2010 and Pylopaguropsis granulata Asakura, 2000, each previously known only from the holotype, are recorded with intraspecific morphological variation observed in the present specimens. Color and morphological variations of Pagurixus nomurai Komai & Asakura, 1995 are also discussed. The present specimens of Catapaguroides foresti McLaughlin, 2002, C. longior, and Pylopaguropsis granulata suggest that the three species prefer the sandy or silty substrate in the deeper inner sites of submarine caves rather than other cryptic habitats in coral or rocky reefs.

Habitat utilization by an intertidal isopod, Dynoides dentisinus Shen, 1929 (Isopoda, Sphaeromatidae)

Intertidal isopods use a variety of living or non-living objects as habitats, although only a few studies have been made on their ecological function and significance. In the present study, the habitat utilization by the sphaeromatid isopod, Dynoides dentisinus was recorded based on observations on intertidal rocky shores in the warm temperate zone of Japan during the period from 2014 to 2018. The adults of this species have a remarkable sexual dimorphism in the morphology of their armature: adult males possess an elongate pleonal process, like a large horn, on the dorsal side of the pleon and have large uropods. On the other hand, females do not have such a horn, and the uropods are small. Differences in habitat use were seen according to the stage in the life history of the species. Juveniles lived on, or amongst, algae and were sometimes associated with molluscs such as chitons, limpets and whelks. Adults inhabited the cryptic habitats such as gaps in algal holdfasts, oscula of demosponges, dead barnacle shells, cavities of dead corals, and crevices in sand rocks. Generally, a single adult male was present in each cryptic habitat, keeping head in down position, and one or more females cohabited inside with the male. These suggest that D. dentisinus has a biphasic life history; juveniles live and feed on algal cover or use the spaces between the ventral sides of the molluscs and the surfaces of the rocks as a refuge from desiccation. Adults breed in the cryptic habitats, forming a polygynous group.