We quantified within-population variation in the seasonal abundance of free-living adult trombiculid mites and infestation of collared lizards by parasitic mite larvae at the Arcadia Lake Dam in Edmond, OK, U.S.A. Lizards on one of two habitat patches (front) harbored many more larval mites, and were more rapidly re-infested after mites were removed experimentally. Although female and male liza...

The response of the Asian gypsy moth Lymantria dispar (L.) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) to a fusion gene consisting of the spider, Atrax robustus Simon (Araneae: Hexanthelidae) ω-ACTX-Ar1 sequence coding for an ω-atracotoxin and a sequence coding for the Bt-toxin C-peptide, expressed in transgenic poplar Populus simonii x P. nigra L. (Malphigiales: Salicaceae) was investigated. Individual perfor...

The larvae of several species of water mites are ectoparasites on adult mosquitoes, the majority of the mites recorded belonging to the genera Thyas (Thyasidae) and Arrenurus (Arrenuridae). Mullen (1975) presented 238 world-wide records of acarine parasites of mosquitoes but more than half of the observations concerned unidentified or doubtfully identified mites. In Europe parasitism of mosquit...

Studying antagonistic coevolution between host plants and herbivores is particularly relevant for polyphagous species that can experience a great diversity of host plants with a large range of defenses. Here, we performed experimental evolution with the polyphagous spider mite Tetranychus urticae to detect how mites can exploit host plants. We thus compared on a same host the performance of rep...

Ciona intestinalis is an invasive marine biofouling organism first detected in coastal waters of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2012. As a sessile animal, it is essential that larvae locate a suitable substrate for attachment in an adequate environment, but the timing of this critical event may not be as important as once believed. We demonstrate that while swimming larvae may have limited time t...

Non-diapausing spider mites (Tetranychus urticae) live on the undersurface of host leaves during summer, but diapausing mites overwinter in dark hibernacula. The light environments of these habitats differ: visible radiation (VIS) but not ultraviolet radiation (UV) reaches the undersurface of leaves, but neither enters dark hibernacula. Thus, mites of either seasonal form could locate their pre...

two spotted spider mite (tssm), tetranychus urticae koch, is an important pests on bean in markazi province (center of iran). to evaluate the bioacaricidal activity of extracts of three essential oils of thyme (thymus vulgaris), lavender (lavandula officinalis)  and eucalyptus (eucalyptus camaldulensis) against t. urticae on cherry bean (vigna unguiculta subsp. sinensis), five different concent...

Little is known about venom in young developmental stages of animals. The appearance of toxins and stinging cells during early embryonic stages in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis suggests that venom is already expressed in eggs and larvae of this species. Here, we harness transcriptomic, biochemical and transgenic tools to study venom production dynamics in Nematostella. We find that ven...