Uniquely, the asynchronous flight muscle myofibrils of many insects contain arthrin, a stable 1:1 conjugate between actin and ubiquitin. The function of arthrin is still unknown. Here we survey for the presence of arthrin in 63 species of insect across nine orders using Western blotting. Analysis of the evolutionary distribution shows that arthrin has evolved a limited number of times but at le...

Flow cytometric 1-parameter DNA analysis and 2-parameter DNA/protein analysis have been performed with cell material of the diptera species Chironomus thummi, Drosophila melanogaster, Calliphora vicina and Musca domestica using an impulse cytophotometer with a new quartz objective, that was especially manufactured for cytofluorometric investigations. The occurrence of heterogenous cell populati...

Blowflies (Diptera : Calliphoridae), flesh flies (Diptera : Sarcophagidae) and house flies (Diptera : Muscidae) have medical, veterinary and medico legal importance. They usually are the first to colonize a carcass, often within minutes of exposure (Catts and Goff, 1992; Greenberg, 1991; Greenberg and Kunich, 2002), if allowed access to a body, the adults feed on body secretions, including bloo...

The attraction of three Stomoxys species to 26 fruits and 26 flowers of different plant species was investigated in two different sites in Mali during 2008. Stomoxys niger bilineatus Grunberg (Diptera: Muscidae) was attracted to a wider spectrum of species, significantly attracted by four fruits and eight flowers compared with control traps, whereas S. sitiens Rondani (Diptera: Muscidae) was at...

Studies of blackfly vectors of Onchocerca dewittei japonica Uni, Bain & Takaoka (Spirurida: Onchocercidae), a parasite of wild boar implicated in the aetiology of zoonotic onchocerciasis in Japan, and six other zoonotic Onchocerca species of this country are reviewed. Molecular identification of infective larvae found in wild-caught female blackflies showed that Simulium bidentatum (Shiraki) (D...

BACKGROUND Bait-trapping appears to be a generally useful method of studying fly populations. The aim of this study was to construct a new adult flytrap by some modifications in former versions and to evaluate its applicability in a subtropical zone in southern Iran. METHODS The traps were constructed with modification by adding some equipment to a polyethylene container (18× 20× 33 cm) with ...

When virus and microfilariae are ingested concurrently by a mosquito, microfilariae (mf) may penetrate the mosquito midgut and introduce virus directly into the mosquito hemocoel, allowing mosquitoes to become infectious much sooner than normal and enhancing transmission of viruses by mosquitoes. Mansonella ozzardi (Manson) is a benign filarial nematode parasite of humans in Latin America and i...

Flies (Diptera) represent one of the largest and most important groups pollinators on planet; however, little is known about interactions between flies flowers compared to well-known pollinators, such as bees. Understanding pollinator assemblages key conserving biodiversity ecosystem services, but monitoring Diptera time cost intensive. Using photographs blooming taken by photographers worldwid...

A checklist of the Agromyzidae (Diptera) recorded from Finland is presented. 279 (or 280) species are currently known from the country. Phytomyzalinguae Lundqvist, 1947 is recorded as new to Finland.