Evidence of intracolony transmission of Thelohania solenopsae (Microsporidia: Thelohaniidae) in red imported fire ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and the first report of spores from pupae.

Host Specificity Testing of the Solenopsis Fire Ant (hymenoptera: Formicidae) Pathogen, Kneallhazia (=thelohania) Solenopsae (microsporidia: Thelohaniidae), in Florida

Impact of Thelohania solenopsae (Microsporidia: Thelohaniidae) on polygyne colonies of red imported fire ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Three studies were conducted to assess the effects of the entomopathogen Thelohania solenopsae on polygynous, red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, colonies. A total of 57 of 122 queens (46.7%) from nine, field-collected, polygyne, S. invicta colonies, was infected with T. solenopsae. Infection rate of queens for each colony ranged from 25 to 75%. Laboratory colonies of polygyne S. i...

Detection of Thelohania solenopsae (Microsporidia: Thelohaniidae) in Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) by multiplex PCR.

Oligonucleotide primer pairs were designed to unique areas of the small subunit (16S) rRNA gene of Thelohania solenopsae and a region of the Gp-9 gene of Solenopsis invicta. Multiplex PCR resulted in sensitive and specific detection of T. solenopsae infection of S. invicta. The T. solenopsae-specific primer pair only amplified DNA from T. solenopsae and T. solenopsae-infected S. invicta. This p...

Long-Term Studies of the Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta, Infected with the Microsporidia Vairimorpha invictae and Thelohania solenopsae in Argentina

A study was conducted on populations of the red imported Þre ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), infected with the microsporidia Vairimorpha invictae Jouvenaz and Ellis (Microsporidia: Burenellidae) and Thelohania solenopsae Knell, Allen, and Hazard (Microsporidia: Thelohaniidae). Fire ant populations and microsporidia prevalence were monitored three to Þve times per year f...

BIOLOGICAL CONTROLÐMICROBIALS Prevalence of Thelohania solenopsae (Microsporidia: Thelohaniidae) Infection in Monogyne and Polygyne Red Imported Fire Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

We determined the prevalence of natural Þeld infections of the Þre ant pathogen Thelohania solenopsaeKnell, Allen, and Hazard in the monogyne and polygyne social forms of the red imported Þre ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, in three pastures in Florida. Social form was determined by examining the genotype of ants at the Gp-9 locus. The monogyne form contains a single fertilized queen per colony,...