Purposive sampling surveys were conducted in homestead gardens and ornamental nurseries at different localities of Thrissur Ernakulam districts during 2017-19 to study the diversity spider mites associated with plants. Mite samples collected from rose, adenium, gerbera, marigold, chrysanthemum, balsam, cock’s comb, orchid, cassia, cairo morning glory, zinnia, bauhinia, crape jasmine pinto peanu...

NEW RECORDS OF PONTARACHNID MITES (ACARI Hydrachnidia) from the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico are presented. Litarachna lopezae sp. n., from substrata collected from Bajo de Sico, a mesophotic coral reef ecosystem in Mona Passage off Puerto Rico, is described as new to science. The new species was collected from nearly 70 m depth, the greatest depth from which pontarachnid mites have been fou...

AB3217-A, a novel anti-mite substance, was isolated from the fermentation broth of a streptomycete strain. The strain was isolated from a soil collected at Kita-azumi, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, and identified as Streptomyces platensis AB3217. AB3217-A was purified by Amberlite IR120B, Diaion HP-20 and CM-Sephadex C-25 column chromatographies. The molecular formula was determined as C17H23NO7 by...

A fluctuating environment may be perceived as a composition of different environments, or as an environment per se, in which it is the fluctuation itself that poses a selection pressure. If so, then organisms may adapt to this alternation. We tested this using experimental populations of spider mites that have been evolving for 45 generations in a homogeneous environment (pepper or tomato plant...

Achaemenothrombium cyrusi gen. et sp. nov. (Acari, Prostigmata: Trombidioidea) is described and illustrated from larvae ectoparasitic on Catocala sp. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from Tehran, Iran and Achaemenothrombium talebii (Karimi Irvanlou & Kamali, 2001) comb. nov. is redescribed. A new family, Achaemenothrombiidae is proposed for accommodating this genus. A key to families of larval Trombidi...

Spiders can cause trophic cascades affecting litter decomposition rates. However, it remains unclear how spiders with different foraging strategies influence faunal communities, or present cascading effects on decomposition. Furthermore, increased dry periods predicted in future climates will likely have important consequences for trophic interactions in detritus-based food webs. We investigate...

Here we present results of a three-year study to determine the fate of imidacloprid residues in hive matrices and to assess chronic sublethal effects on whole honey bee colonies fed supplemental pollen diet containing imidacloprid at 5, 20 and 100 μg/kg over multiple brood cycles. Various endpoints of colony performance and foraging behavior were measured during and after exposure, including wi...

Two new species of quill mites (Acariformes: Syringophilidae) associated with doves of the subfamily Treroninae (Columbiformes: Columbidae) from the Oceanian realm are described: Gunabopicobia masalaje sp. nov. from six avian host species, Ptilinopus iozonus Gray (type host) Ducula pistrinaria (Bonaparte), D. rosacea (Temminck), D. rufigaster (Quoy and Gaimard), D. spilorrhoa (Gray), D. luctuos...

BACKGROUND Prenatal or embryonic learning, behavioral change following experience made prior to birth, may have significant consequences for postnatal foraging behavior in a wide variety of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and molluscs. However, prenatal learning has not been previously shown in arthropods such as insects, spiders and mites. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS ...

Varroa mites and viruses are the currently the high-profile suspects in collapsing bee colonies. Therefore, seasonal variation in varroa load and viruses (Acute-Kashmir-Israeli complex (AKI) and Deformed Wing Virus (DWV)) were monitored in a year-long study. We investigated the viral titres in honey bees and varroa mites from 23 colonies (15 apiaries) under three treatment conditions: Organic a...