Clerids are small predacious beetles (Coleoptera) that belong to the family Cleridae. In the National Forest Insect Collection (NFIC) Cleridae is represented by 31 authentically identified specimens including types of 27 species. The type material of Cleridae, deposited in the NFIC, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun (India), is listed and illustrated with digital automontage photographs. A li...

Oecetistripunctata is a widely distributed leptocerid in Europe, ranging from the Iberian and Apennine peninsulas and the Central and Western European highlands to the plains of Eastern Europe. The long, single-bladed mandibles are indicative for a predacious lifestyle. This paper describes the previously unknown larva of Oecetistripunctata. Information on the morphology of the 5th larval insta...

The Neotropical genus Urbanus (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) contains around 34 described species, and is widely distributed from the extreme southern United States to Argentina. Here, we describe the larval morphology and behavior of Urbanus esmeraldus (Hübner)(Hesperiidae) in Urera baccifera (Urticaceae), a plant producing food rewards and fleshy fruits that attract ants (including preda...

New findings challenge the traditional view of the plant cell wall as passive structural barrier to invasion by fungal microorganisms. A surveillance system for cell wall integrity appears to sense perturbation of the cell wall structure upon fungal attack and is interconnected with known plant defence signalling pathways. Biotrophic fungi might manipulate this surveillance system for the estab...

Comparisons of phylogenetic patterns between coevolving symbionts can reveal rich details about the evolutionary history of symbioses. The ancient symbiosis between fungus-growing ants, their fungal cultivars, antibiotic-producing bacteria and cultivar-infecting parasites is dominated by a pattern of parallel coevolution, where the symbionts of each functional group are members of monophyletic ...

The mutualism between fungus-growing termites (Macrotermitinae) and their mutualistic fungi (Termitomyces) began in Africa. The fungus-growing termites have secondarily colonized Madagascar and only a subset of the genera found in Africa is found on this isolated island. Successful long-distance colonization may have been severely constrained by the obligate interaction of the termites with fun...

Mangrove ecosystem is well known for the productivity. Fungi play an important role in the nutritive cycle and support the mangrove ecosystem. In the present investigation the authors tries to elucidate marine fungi in selected mangrove ecosystem of North Malabar region of Kerala. 30 marine fungi including 19 Ascomycetes, 1 Basidiomycete and 10 Mitosporic fungi were encountered. Backwater suppo...