Description of the immatures of workers of the Ant Camponotus vittatus (Hymenoptera: formicidae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Ultrastructure of the intramandibular gland of workers and queens of the stingless bee, Melipona quadrifasciata

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

Planting of fungus onto hibernating workers of the fungus-growing ant Mycetosoritis clorindae (Attini, Formicidae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

The movement of involucral bracts of Syngonanthus elegans (Eriocaulaceae-Poales): Anatomical and ecological aspects

Syngonanthus elegans flowers are distributed in capitula whose involucral bracts open and close in a diurnal rhythm. The anatomy of these bracts was studied to understand how such movements occur and how it influences reproductive ecology of the species. The involucral bracts have a single layered epidermis composed of thick-walled cells on the abaxial surface, which are responsible for the movement. Since they are hygroscopic, these cells swell when they absorb water from the surrounding environment, causing the bracts to bend and the capitula to close. In natural conditions, the capitula open by day, when temperature increases and the relative air humidity decreases, and close at night, when temperature decreases and the relative air humidity increases. The involucral bracts may thus protect the flowers from abiotic factors, exposing them only at the time of the day when temperature is higher and insects are more active, favoring pollination by small insects. The closed capitula do not only protect the flowers, but they also function as a shelter for floral visitors as Brachiacantha australe (Coccinellidae) and Eumolpini sp. (Chrysomelidae). These small Coleoptera pollinate the flowers of S. elegans during the day and remain within the closed capitula during the night, in a possible mutualistic relationship. (C) 2008 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Frugivory, Post-feeding Flights of Frugivorous Birds and the Movement of Seeds in a Brazilian Fragmented Landscape

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Effect of the juvenile hormone on the development of the mandibular gland in workers' pupae of Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

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

CIRCADIAN OSCILLATORY PATTERNS OF OXYGEN-UPTAKE IN INDIVIDUAL WORKERS OF THE ANT CAMPONOTUS-RUFIPES

Respiratory rates of individual workers of Camponotus rufipes Fabricius (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) were measured at 25-degrees-C and LD 12:12 h (lights on 06.00 hours), DL 12:12 h (lights on 18.00 hours), LL (850 lux) and DD (red light, 20-30 lux), using the micro-Warburg technique. Worker ants were collected from natural nest during the winter of 1987 in a woodland park in the region of Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil. The respiration of ants showed a circadian rhythm with acrophase ranging from 20 h 41 min to 01 h 18 min and from 10 h 32 min to 12 h 22 min at LD and DD, respectively. In constant darkness the rhythmometric variables were similar to those presented by ants kept at LD 12:12 h. Under constant light no circadian rhythm in the respiration rates was found. A reduction in the amplitude was observed, indicating an inhibitory effect of this light regime on the respiration process.

GENETIC MECHANISMS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF REPRODUCTIVE-ORGANS OF APIS-MELLIFERA WORKERS AND DIPLOID DRONES - A COMPLEMENTARY HYPOTHESIS

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

ALTERATIONS IN THE OMMATIDIA OF THE COMPOUND EYES OF APIS-MELLIFERA EYE-COLOR MUTANT WORKERS .3.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

FRACTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT OF WATER IN SOILS

Observed deviations from traditional concepts of soil-water movement are considered in terms of fractals. A connection is made between this movement and a Brownian motion, a random and self-affine type of fractal, to account for the soil-water diffusivity function having auxiliary time dependence for unsaturated soils. The position of a given water content is directly proportional to t(n), where t is time, and exponent n for distinctly unsaturated soil is less than the traditional 0.50. As water saturation is approached, n approaches 0.50. Macroscopic fractional Brownian motion is associated with n < 0.50, but shifts to regular Brownian motion for n = 0.50.

Influence of Orthodontic Dental Movement on the Healing Process of Teeth With Periapical Lesions

The purpose of this study was to histomorphologically evaluate (in dog's teeth) the influence of tooth movement in the healing of chronic periapical lesions. Thirty roots of incisors and premolars of two dogs (1-year-old) were used in this research. After pulpectomy, the root canals remained exposed to the oral environment for 6 months for achievement of periapical lesions. Twenty root canals were biomechanically prepared and received a calcium hydroxide dressing for 14 days before being filled with gutta-percha points and Sealapex sealer. After root canal treatment, some incisors were submitted to orthodontic movement, whereas the other roots remained without orthodontic movement. The orthodontic appliance was removed at 5 months and 15 days after treatment, the dogs were killed 15 days later and the specimens were prepared for histomorphological analysis. The results showed that the orthodontic movement delayed, but did not hinder, the periapical healing process. (J Endod 2006;32:115-119)

ULTRASTRUCTURE OF THE MANDIBULAR GLANDS OF PACHYCONDYLA-STRIATA ANTS (HYMENOPTERA, PONERINAE) .1. WORKERS

The mandibular glands of Pachycondyla striata workers consists of a proximal reservoir and secretory portion. The secretion is transported from the cytoplasm of the secretory cells to reservoir through individual canaliculi which is subdivided into two portions : an intracytoplasmatic and extracellular one. The reservoir consists of an epithelium made up of thin cells has a thick cuticle. The secretory cells showed a large amount of structures forming the citoskeleton always associated with myelin figures.

HERITABILITY OF THE NUMBER OF OVARIOLES IN HONEY-BEE WORKERS (APIS-MELLIFERA L) (HYM, APIDAE)

Narrow and broad sense heritabilities (h(2)) of the number of ovarioles in Apis mellifera L. workers were estimated using two distinct data sets, based on groups of half (queens inseminated by several drones) and super-sisters (single drone insemination). The values found are in the usual range for economically important characters (0.25-0.38).

Analysis of the workers head transcriptome of the Asian subterranean termite, Coptotermes gestroi

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