Simuliidae (Diptera: Culicomorpha) no Brasil: V - Sobre o Simulium (Chirostilbia) friedlanderi sp.n. e a revisão do Simulium (C.) laneportoi Vargas, 1941

Uma espécie nova, Simulium friedlanderi, do subgênero Simulium (Chirostilbia) Enderlein é descrita, sendo a mesma procedente do norte da Província Hidrogeológica do Centro-Oeste, subprovíncia Alto Paraguai. Simulium (Chirostilbia) laneportoi Vargas, 1941 é revisada, sendo o Simulium (C.) dekeyseri Shelley e Py-Daniel, 1981 colocada em sua sinonimia, e apresentando uma distribuição geográfica tanto no norte da Província Hidrogeológica do Centro-Oeste, subprovíncia Alto Paraguai, como no sudeste da Província Hidrogeológica do Escudo Central. São apresentadas chaves diferenciativas para larvas e pupas do grupo pertinax.

The life cycle of Dendritobilharzia anatinarum cheatum, 1941 (Trematoda, Schistosomatidae)

The life cycle of Dendritobilharzia anatinarum was completed experimentally in the laboratory. Cairina moschata domestica (domestic duck) and Biomphalaria straminea served respectively as definitive and intermediate hosts. Eggs passed in duck faeces hatch miracidia in 10 minutes when placed in water. Eight days after the snail infection, the mother sporocyst contains daughter sporocysts ready to migrate. Cercariae are present within the daughter sporocysts 23 days after infection and emerge from the snail on the 25th day. They actively penetrate the skin of the duck and after a prepatent of 39 days, sexually mature trematodes are present in the blood vessels of the bird. The adult parasite is predominantly in the renal-portal system and to a lesser degree in the lungs and mesentery. A detailed morphological description of the egg. miracidium, sporocyst and cercaria is presented.

Descrição da fêmea, genitália do macho e larva de Ocyptamos sativus (Curran, 1941) (Diptera: Syrphidae)

The female, male genital apparatus and larva of Ocyptamus sativus are described. A short report of the predatory habits of this species is made.

Worm burdens in outbred and inbred laboratory rats with morphometric data on Syphacia muris (Yamaguti, 1935) Yamaguti, 1941 (Nematoda, Oxyuroidea)

Syphacia muris worm burdens were evaluated in the rat Rattus norvegicus of the strains Wistar (outbred), Low/M and AM/2/Torr (inbred), maintained conventionally in institutional animal houses in Brazil. Morphometrics and illustration data for S. muris recovered from Brazilian laboratory rats are provided for the first time since its proposition in 1935.

Taxonomic revision of phlebotomine sand fly species in the series davisi and panamensis of the subgenus Psychodopygus Mangabeira, 1941 (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae)

Several species of the subgenus Psychodopygus Mangabeira, 1941 are known to be leishmaniosis vectors in Brazil. Some of them are morphologically similar, which makes their identification quite difficult concerning epidemiological studies. The aim of the current work is to study the morphology of adult specimens of the subgenus Psychodopygus, in accordance with the morphological similarity and still taking into account the epidemiological importance of some species. Thus 11 species have been studied, including four subspecies of adult specimens deposited in the phlebotomine collection of Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou-Fiocruz. Morphological characters found in the literature and new features observed in this study were recorded in a taxonomic discussion format. These characters make it easy to separate such species. Four taxa, previously considered as subspecies, were raised to the category of species.

Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection induces thymocyte apoptosis and thymocyte depletion in CBA mice

Immune responses to malaria infections are characterized by strong T and B cell activation, which, in addition of potentially causing immunopathology, are of poor efficacy against the infection. It is possible that the thymus is involved in the origin of immunopathological reactions and a target during malaria infections. This work was developed in an attempt to further clarify these points. We studied the sequential changes in the thymus of CBA mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA, a model in which 60-90% of the infected animals develop cerebral malaria. During the acute phase of infection, different degrees of thymocyte apoptosis were recorded: (1) starry-sky pattern of diffuse apoptosis with maintenance of cortical-medullary structure; (2) intense apoptosis with cortical atrophy, with absence of large cells; (3) severe cortical thymocyte depletion, resulting in cortical-medullary inversion. In the latter, only residual clusters of small thymocytes were observed within the framework of epithelial cells. The intensity of thymus alterations could not be associated with the degree of parasitemia, the expression of clinical signs of cerebral malaria or intensity of brain lesions. The implications of these events for malaria immunity and pathology are discussed.