Felis nigripes Burchell, 1824, commonly called the black-footed cat, is the smallest felid in Africa. F. nigripes is a pale tawny cat with dark markings and prominent horizontal stripes on the limbs. It is distributed in the central part of South Africa and mainly occurs in open country often near brush cover. F. nigripes is listed on Appendix I of the Convention for the International Trade of ...

The egg of Ochlerotatus japonicus japonicus (Theobald) is described with the aid of variable pressure scanning electron micrographs. The egg is black, cigar shaped, and tapers ventrally. The length is approximately 591 microm and the width is approximately 172 microm. The outer chorionic cells are irregular in shape, either hexagonal or pentagonal, and decrease in size toward the anterior and p...

Although New Zealand has a species-poor mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) fauna with only 12 endemic and four exotic species (Derraik 2004), little information is available on their bionomics, particularly for indigenous species. One poorly known species is the endemic Culex (Culex) asteliae Belkin. Adults of this species have recently been collected in nature for the first time, and all specimens ...

Aquatic organisms often detect predators via water-borne chemical cues, and respond by showing reduced activity. Prey responses may be correlated with the concentration of predation cues, which would result in graded antipredator behavioral responses that adjust potentially costly behavioral changes to levels that are commensurate with the risk of predation. Larvae of the predatory mosquito Tox...

Aedes albopictus was found in M. Muzquiz, Coahuila, Mexico, in the summer of 1993. Aedes albopictus larvae were collected in tires and bottles at low density. Aedes aegypti, Toxorhynchites theobaldi, Culex quinquefasciatus, and Culiseta incidens were collected in the same containers.

A new genus and species of Microsporidia, Takaokaspora nipponicus n. gen., n. sp. is described from Ochlerotatus japonicus japonicus (Theobald) and Ochlerotatus hatorii (Yamada) based on light microscope and ultrastructural morphology, developmental features, transmission cycles and comparative sequence analyses of the small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA). The microsporidium is both verticall...

Transmission of West Nile virus (WNV) by Ochlerotatus trivittatus, Culex pipiens, and Aedes albopictus were compared 14 days after taking blood meals from viremic chickens with titers ranging from 10(2.5) to 10(9.5) cell infective dose (50)s (CID50s)/mL serum. Transmission occurred in one of four (25%) Oc. trivittatus and one of 25 (4%) Cx. pipiens that fed on chickens with titers of 10(5.5) CI...

Engorged females of Aedes albopictus, Ochlerotatus scapularis, Culex nigripalpus and Culex quinquefasciatus were collected by aspiration and sweep net during two years in Tremembé county, State of Säo Paulo, Brazil. Of the 1,092 specimens analyzed with the precipitin test, 87.6% reacted to one or more of the eight antisera tested. Of the four species for which the host determination was made, t...

Ochlerotatus triseriatus, the eastern treehole mosquito, reaches its northernmost range limit in the extreme southeast of Canada. As a known vector of West Nile and La Crosse encephalitis viruses and a potential vector of eastern equine encephalitis, its population biology is of interest. In southern Ontario, high larval densities occur in urban woodlots within sugar maple and American beech tr...

West Nile virus (WNV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus with significant impact on human and animal health, has recently demonstrated an expanded zone of activity globally. The aim of this study is to investigate the frequency and distribution of WNV infections in potential vectors and several mammal and avian species in Turkey, where previous data indicate viral circulation. The study was conducted...