On the immature stages of the crazy ant Paratrechina longicornis (Latreille 1802) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The ant Paratrechina longicornis is a cosmopolitan ant species that has been accidentally spread by commerce around the world, and now is a pest of houses and hospitals. The morphology of its larval stages has been previously described without knowledge of the number of instars. The present study revisits the original description of P. longicornis larvae by adding differences observed among the three larval instars. Compared to other Paratrechina species studied so far, P. longicornis presents smaller larvae, less evident variation in mandible morphology, and clear variation in the morphology of head hairs between the analysed specimens of the second and third instar larvae. Ultrastructural images of the eggs, larval spiracle ornamentation, and pupae are also presented for the first time. Copyright © 2007 - Magnolia Press.

Immature development in the tramp species ant Paratrechina longicornis (Hymenoptera, formicidae)

The genus Paratrechina (Motschulsky) is composed of about 147 cosmopolitan ant species and subspecies, of which some were accidentally spread by commerce around the world, infesting houses and hospitals. In Brazil, two species are of remarkable economic importance: Paratrechina fulva (Mayr) and Paratrechina longicornis (Latreille). The present paper aims to report the following aspects on the biology of P. longicornis: number of larval instars, growth rates, duration and viability of the developmental stages and some observations on brood-care behaviour. Artificial colonies were kept under controlled temperature (25±2°C) and relative humidity (60±10%) conditions. To access the number of larval instars, we analyzed 1531 larvae fixed in Dietrich by measuring their maximum head capsule widths. We analysed ten artificial colonies daily to measure the developmental time and viability of immatures. We found P. longicornis presented three larval instars and a mean growth ratio of 1.2988. Egg stage was found to last 16.1 ±0.1 days, with a viability of 24.6%; larval stages were found to last 18.3±0.1 days, with a viability of 33.3% and the pupal stage was found to last 12.3±0.1 days, with a viability of 65.3%.

Metacryphaeus rotundatus, um novo elemento da fauna de trilobites calmoniidae (phacopida), da formação Ponta Grossa (Devoniano), bacia do Paraná, Brasil

Calmoniids (Delo, 1935) are the most common and abundant group of trilobites of the fossil record of the Devonian Ponta Grossa Formation in the Apucarana sub-basin. Although known since the past century, the study of calmoniids has been taxonomically and stratigraphically biased. This is because some authors centered their studies on some particular genera from a few stratigraphic horizons within the basal portion of the Ponta Grossa Formation. The analyses of 398 specimens of calmoniid trilobites of the rocks of Jaguariaiva Member of the Ponta Grossa Formation, mainly from Tibagi county in the state of Paraná, Brazil, indicate the presence of specimens that are referable to Metacryphaeus rotundatus (Kozlowski, 1923). This is the first record of M. rotundatus in Brazilian Devonian rocks. Metacryphaeus rotundatus is a conspicuous species of the Emsian rocks of the Icla Formation, Bolivia. Although the affinities of the trilobite fauna of the Devonian Paraná Basin, in the context of the Malvinokaffric realm, are with the Brazilian and South Africa provinces, this finding is in accordance with new evidence (e.g., conulariids, homalonotids trilobites), indicating the presence of cosmopolitan species with Andean affinities. Metacryphaeus rotundatus lived in a broad paleoclimatic range, from a temperate, cold temperate to a subpolar climate. Finally, in the Devonian of the Paraná Basin, M. rotundatus lived and were preserved in muddy, organic rich bottoms, deposited in offshore waters, below the storm wave base, associated to marine flooding surfaces.

Characterization of the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in São Paulo city, Brazil

Background: Tuberculosis is a major health problem in São Paulo, Brazil, which is the most populous and one of the most cosmopolitan cities in South America. To characterize the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the population of this city, the genotyping techniques of spoligotyping and MIRU were applied to 93 isolates collected in two consecutive years from 93 different tuberculosis patients residing in São Paulo city and attending the Clemente Ferreira Institute (the reference clinic for the treatment of tuberculosis). Findings. Spoligotyping generated 53 different spoligotype patterns. Fifty-one isolates (54.8%) were grouped into 13 spoligotyping clusters. Seventy- two strains (77.4%) showed spoligotypes described in the international databases (SpolDB4, SITVIT), and 21 (22.6%) showed unidentified patterns. The most frequent spoligotype families were Latin American Mediterranean (LAM) (26 isolates), followed by the T family (24 isolates) and Haarlem (H) (11 isolates), which together accounted for 65.4% of all the isolates. These three families represent the major genotypes found in Africa, Central America, South America and Europe. Six Spoligo-International- types (designated SITs by the database) comprised 51.8% (37/72) of all the identified spoligotypes (SIT53, SIT50, SIT42, SIT60, SIT17 and SIT1). Other SITs found in this study indicated the great genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis, reflecting the remarkable ethnic diversity of São Paulo city inhabitants. The MIRU technique was more discriminatory and did not identify any genetic clusters with 100% similarity among the 93 isolates. The allelic analysis showed that MIRU loci 26, 40, 23 and 10 were the most discriminatory. When MIRU and spoligotyping techniques were combined, all isolates grouped in the 13 spoligotyping clusters were separated. Conclusions: Our data indicated the genomic stability of over 50% of spoligotypes identified in São Paulo and the great genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis isolates in the remaining SITs, reflecting the large ethnic mix of the São Paulo city inhabitants. The results also indicated that in this city, M. tuberculosis isolates acquired drug resistance independently of genotype and that resistance was more dependent on the selective pressure of treatment failure and the environmental circumstances of patients. © 2011 Leite et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Utilização de teste sorológico ELISA para a detecção de bovinos naturalmente infectados por Taenia saginata

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Análise filogenética de Scotaenini (Hymenoptera, Vespoidea, Tiphiidae, Thynninae)

Pós-graduação em Biologia Animal - IBILCE

Aspectos morfológicos, ultra-estruturais e distribuição dos túbulos de Malpighi do diplópodo Urostreptus atrobrunneus Pierozzi & Fontanetti, 2006

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Análises moleculares das formigas lava-pés (Solenopsis spp.) (Hymenoptera : Formicidae) e da presença da endobactéria Wolbachia

Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Biologia Celular e Molecular) - IBRC

Leguminosas arbustivas e arbóreas de fragmentos florestais remanescentes no noroeste paulista, Brasil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Ocorrência de anticorpos anti-Neospora caninum em rebanhos bovinos leiteiros e de corte da região de Presidente Prudente-SP

Pós-graduação em Medicina Veterinária - FMVZ

Dryinidae (Hymenoptera, Chrysidoidea) de áreas de preservação da Mata Atlântica do estado de São Paulo, com especial referência a Dryinus Latreille

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Entomologia Agrícola) - FCAV

Taxonomia de ácaros Rhodacaridae (Acari: Mesostigmata) e controle biológico de moscas Sciaridae (Diptera : Sciaridae) com ácaros predadores Mesostigmata em cultivo de cogumelos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Perspectivas femininas em Helena Morley e Lygia Fagundes Telles: Minha vida de menina e As meninas

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A piedade epicureia e a formação do campo politikós do Jardim

Pós-graduação em História - FCLAS

Detecção de anticorpos para Toxoplasma gondii em soros de suínos de criações de fundo de quintal na microrregião de Registro-SP, pelo método de aglutinação direta

Pós-graduação em Medicina Veterinária - FMVZ