Introduction: The NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Mars Tumbleweed rover is a concept for a lightweight, spherical, deployable structure, with a configuration that maximizes drag to capture the Martian wind for mobility and extended mission duration. The wind-blown mobility of a Tumbleweed rover makes it an ideal platform for conducting distributed geophysical and meteorological surveys of b...

Kneallhazia solenopsae is a pathogenic microsporidium that infects the fire ants Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri in South America and the USA. In this study, we analyzed the prevalence and molecular diversity of K. solenopsae in fire ants from North and South America. We report the first empirical evidence of K. solenopsae infections in the tropical fire ant, Solenopsis geminata, and...

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...

A group of 13 species of the genus Solenopsis is markedly difficult to assess taxonomically, although they are of considerable economical and medical importance in some countries where some of them were introduced. These ants are aggressive and their venomous stings can be very allergenic. The venom apparatus has been described in fine detail for only two of these species, and differences in th...