Predation on birds, an unusual behavior for the common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis), has been observed and documented in an insular garter snake population. Feeding preference tests were performed on naive neonatal snakes and experienced adults from both the island test population and a nearby mainland control population. No significant preference for birds as a prey item was found for ei...

Biting flies are economically important blood-feeding pests of medical and veterinary significance. Chemosensory-based biting fly behaviours, such as host/nutrient source localization and ovipositional site selection, are intriguing targets for the development of supplemental control strategies. In an effort to expand our understanding of biting fly chemosensory pathways, transcripts encoding t...

Mosquitoes use plant sugars and vertebrate blood as nutritional resources. When searching for blood hosts, some mosquitoes express preferential behavior for selected species. To control the outbreak of mosquito borne diseases it is necessary to observe their multiple host preference behavior which enables us to know their main host. The study was conducted in selected rural areas of Virudhunaga...

We present a complete hardware and software system for collecting and quantifying continuous measures of feeding behaviors in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The FLIC (Fly Liquid-Food Interaction Counter) detects analog electronic signals as brief as 50 µs that occur when a fly makes physical contact with liquid food. Signal characteristics effectively distinguish between different type...

The trophic behavior and host preference of two sibling species, Anopheles minimus s.s. (= An. minimus species A) and species C, were observed during a two-year period at Pu Teuy Village, Sai Yok District, Kanchanaburi Province, western Thailand. Anopheles minimus s.s. and species C were more prevalent during the hot and wet periods of the year. Both species demonstrated exophagic and zoophilic...

A learning capacity for feeding is described in many insect species including vectors of diseases, but has never been reported in tsetse flies (Diptera, Glossinidae), the cyclic vectors of human (sleeping sickness) and animal trypanosomoses in Africa. Repeated feeding on the same host species by a disease vector is likely to increase the within-species disease-transmission risk, but to decrease...

Field surveys conducted in Argentina proved Plectonycha correntina Lacordaire (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) to be a promising biocontrol agent against the Neotropical perennial climber, Anredera cordifolia (Tenore) Steenis (Basellaceae), a serious environmental weed in Africa and Australasia. Larvae and adults feed on the leaves. The host range was evaluated by no-choice larval survival tests and...

Breast-feeding is the focus of rapidly growing interest. Research on the determinants of breast-feeding is only beginning. The research in this paper is based on World Fertility Survey data for Sri Lanka. We develop what we believe to be an appropriate probit model and find that there are significant socioeconomic factors that influence breast-feeding, in addition to the demographic factors foc...

ABSTRACT A simple bioassay system was developed to study locomotory and ovipositional responses of screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel), flies to bovine blood inoculated with eight species of coliform bacteria that were isolated from screwworm-infested animal wounds. When exposed to odors from bacteria-inoculated blood which was incubated for 72 h at 37 degrees C, approximately 50% of ...