Two new species of Hybristodryinus Engel, 2005, are described from mid-Cretaceous amber northern Myanmar: H. castaneus sp. nov. (based on one male) and zaifui female). Keys to the females males modified include two taxa. A syninclusion, a nymph Cixitettiginae (Perforissidae), present in same piece containing , is studied. This together with presence Antennal Dorsal Organs (ADOs) suggests that P...

Approximately 3000 birds, mainly passerines, caught in mist nets in the northern provinces of South Africa, were examined for ticks. A total of 178 ticks, belonging to 14 species, were recovered from 83 birds of 43 different species. Hyalomma rufipes was the most numerous tick, with 26 larvae and 109 nymphs collected, followed by Amblyomma marmoreum, with 13 larvae and two nymphs. Despite the s...

Thermal tolerance has been hypothesized to result from a mismatch between oxygen supply and demand. However, the generality of this hypothesis has been challenged by studies on various animal groups, including air-breathing adult insects. Recently, comparisons across taxa have suggested that differences in gas exchange mechanisms could reconcile the discrepancies found in previous studies. Here...

The F - log I curve for threshold response to visual flicker has been determined for the crayfish Cambarus bartoni. As predicted on the basis of the higher curvature of the optic surface, the flicker response contour is more asymmetrical than for bee and dragonfly nymph under comparable conditions of temperature and light time fraction of flash cycle. The mechanical origin of this asymmetry is ...

A series of experiments was set up to examine the effects of nitrogen on rice (Oryza sativa L.) resistance against Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) and Sogatella furcifera (Horváth). Egg laying by N. lugens was reduced on the indica variety IR60. Nymph biomass (N. lugens and S. furcifera) was also lower on IR60: this was associated with low honeydew production and a high proportion of xylem-derived ho...

Two new mayfly genera and species from the Triassic deposits of the Pałęgi area (southeast Poland) are described. This is the first description of aquatic insects from the Pałęgi locality. Triassolitophlebia palegica gen. et sp. nov. (Litophlebiidae) is established on the basis of an isolated forewing. This is the first finding of this family in the Northern Hemisphere, known previously only fr...

Mature colonies of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, like most other termite species, produce a reproductive caste in the form of nymphs that subsequently give rise to alates. Temporal production of nymphs in C. formosanus was monitored in monthly collections from four Þeld traps in New Orleans, LA. Nymphs were present throughout the year with peak numbers obser...

Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common arthropod-borne disease of humans in the Northern hemisphere. In Europe, the causative agent, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, is principally vectored by Ixodes ricinus ticks. The aim of this study was to identify environmental factors influencing questing I. ricinus nymph abundance and B. burgdorferi s.l. infection in questing nymphs using a lar...

BACKGROUND Odorant binding proteins (OBPs) play important roles in insect olfaction. The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens Stål (Delphacidae, Auchenorrhyncha, Hemiptera) is one of the most important rice pests. Its monophagy (only feeding on rice), wing form (long and short wing) variation, and annual long distance migration (seeking for rice plants of high nutrition) imply that the o...

Ecological interactions underlying the epidemic of Lyme disease involve a spirochete, a tick (with larval, nymph and adult stages), and two (or more) vertebrate hosts. Juvenile ticks ordinarily feed on mice; adult ticks feed on deer. Mice acquire the spirochete from infected nymphs and then pass the infection to larvae of the next tick generation. Lyme disease may result when a human is inadver...