We describe a rapid and cost-effective technique for the in vitro removal of introns and other unwanted regions from genomic DNA to generate a single sequence of continuous coding capacity, where tissues required for RNA extraction and complementary DNA synthesis are unavailable. Based on an overlapping fusion-PCR strategy, we name this procedure SPLICE (for swift PCR for ligating in vitro cons...

Seventeen new species of Scolytodes Ferrari are described from Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina: Scolytodes cenchros, S. concavifrons, S. conpunctus, S. fraterniatratus, S. frontocarinatus, S. solarius and S. trigonus from Cecropia leafstalks; S. pascopomus from a fruit husk; S. obovatus, S. clusiaphilus, S. clusiapraelatus and S. uniseriatus from Clusia litter sifting; S. grosse...

1. Wind power plants represent a risk of bird mortality, but the effects are still poorly quantified. We measured bird mortality, analysed the factors that led birds to fly close to turbines, and proposed mitigation measures at two wind farms installed in the Straits of Gibraltar, one of the most important migration bottlenecks between Europe and Africa. 2. Bird corpses were surveyed along turb...

Fourteen polymorphic microsatellite loci were isolated in this transcriptome-based data analysis for Cotesia plutellae, which is an important larval parasitoid of the worldwide pest Plutella xylostella. A subsequent test was performed for a wild C. plutellae population (N = 32) from Fuzhou, Fujian, southeastern China, to verify the effectiveness of the 14 microsatellite loci in future studies o...

The bones (humerus and/or femur) of 229 birds of prey from 11 species were analyzed for Pb and As to evaluate their exposure to Pb shot. The species with the highest mean Pb levels were red kite (Milvus milvus) and Eurasian griffon (Gyps fulvus), and the species with the lowest levels were Eurasian buzzard (Buteo buteo) and booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus). Red kite also had the highest mean ...