Laboratory, greenhouse and field studies were conducted on Oomyzus sokolowskii Kurdjumov, a parasite of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), to judge its suitability for introduction in the field to control the plutellid. Oomyzus sokolowskii preferred the third and fourth instar diamondback moth larvae over fresh pupae for parasitization. It is thus a larval parasite. Within the range of...

The life-like fidelity of organisms captured in amber is unique among all kinds of fossilization and represents an invaluable source for different fields of palaeontological and biological research. One of the most challenging aspects in amber research is the study of traits related to behaviour. Here, indirect evidence for pheromone-mediated mating behaviour is recorded from a biting midge (Ce...

Accidental corrosive ingestion is not a rare occurrence in children because of easy access to strong household cleansers. Gastric injury as a predominant finding following acid ingestion in pediatric age group is less widely known with a few cases being reported in Indian literature. We report two such cases of gastric outlet obstruction following accidental ingestion of dilute acid. Both child...

Use of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern.) as a trap crop for management of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), and leafwebber, Crocidolomia binotalis Zeller, was tried on an experimental farm and farmers’ fields. Preliminary studies indicated that planting of 15 cabbage rows followed by paired mustard rows to manage both pests was useful. The first mustard row is sown 15 days ...

Many genes of large double-stranded DNA viruses have a cellular origin, suggesting that host-to-virus horizontal transfer (HT) of DNA is recurrent. Yet, the frequency of these transfers has never been assessed in viral populations. Here we used ultra-deep DNA sequencing of 21 baculovirus populations extracted from two moth species to show that a large diversity of moth DNA sequences (n = 86) ca...

Results After 80% ammonium sulphate precipitation, most of the proteins were recovered in 80% precitable fraction, 58.4% in moth and 71.2% in rice weevil. However, the recovery in supernatant was low 6.1% in rice weevil and 14.4 in moth extract. In ELISA inhibition of both the insect WBEs, most of the allergenic activity was recovered in 80% ammonium sulphate precipitate fraction (80% ppt). No ...

Gypsy moth defoliation of oak trees has been shown to lead to increased tannin levels, which, in turn, lead to reduced gypsy moth growth and fecundity. In laboratory experiments, increased tannin levels can interfere with the transmission of a virus that is consumed by larvae on oak foliage, and high mortality rates of larvae in the field are sometimes associated with low levels of defoliation....

In many areas of the world, only 30 to 50% of dogs are vaccinated against rabies. On some US Indian Reservations, vaccination rates may be as low as 5 to 20%. In 2003 and 2004, we evaluated the effectiveness of commercially available baits to deliver oral rabies vaccine to feral and free-ranging dogs on the Navajo and Hopi Nations. Dogs were offered one of the following baits containing a plast...