Experiments in Destroying Black-Flies

Destroying Civilization, Destroying Nature

The Black Flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) of Iran.

Although Iran has a large geographic area encompassing 13 ecoregions, its simuliid fauna remains largely unexplored. To begin redressing this faunal gap, we reviewed literature records and coupled morphological and chromosomal identifications of material newly collected from 16 sites in Iran. Twenty-three nominal species are now recognized, including new country records for Simulium crassicaulu...

Parasites of larval black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) in Thailand

Parasites of larval black flies are reported for the first time from Thailand, including mermithid nematodes (Mermithidae), microsporidian fungi (Zygomycota), and the fungus Coelomycidium simulii Debaisieux (Blastocladiomycetes). The following nine species of black flies were infected with one or more parasites: Simulium asakoae, S. chamlongi, S. chiangmaiense, S. fenestratum, S. feuerborni, S....

Gedanken experiments involving black holes.

Analysis of several gedanken experiments indicates that black hole complementarity cannot be ruled out on the basis of known physical principles. Experiments designed by outside observers to disprove the existence of a quantum-mechanical stretched horizon require knowledge of Planck-scale effects for their analysis. Observers who fall through the event horizon after sampling the Hawking radiati...

Gender-specific bacterial composition of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae).

Although hematophagous black flies are well-known socioeconomic pests and vectors of disease agents, their associated bacteria are poorly known. A systematic analysis of the bacterial community associated with freshly emerged adult black flies of four North American species, using cultivation-independent molecular techniques, revealed 75 nonsingleton bacterial phylotypes. Although 17 cosmopolit...