In the present work, we investigated the phylogenetic position and phenotypic characteristics of eight yeast isolates collected from migratory birds on the island of Ustica, Italy. A phylogenetic analysis based on the D1/D2 region of the large-subunit rRNA gene showed that all isolates clustered as a single separate lineage within the Wickerhamomyces clade. They exhibited distinct morphological...

Four species of Devario are recorded from Bangladesh: D. aequipinnatus, D. anomalus, D. coxi, new species, and D. devario. Devario aequipinnatus has a wide distribution in northern India and Bangladesh. Devario coxi, from southeastern Bangladesh near Cox's Bazar, differs from D. aequipinnatus in mtDNA (COI, p-distance 1.8%), colouration, proportional measurements, and meristics. The minor morph...

Aflatoxins are extremely potent natural carcinogens and a major food safety concern because of potential contamination of food commodities. Threshold levels set by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration for aflatoxins in foods for domestic consumption are less than 20 parts/ billion (ppb). However, the European Union (EU) and Japan have set threshold levels at less than 4 ppb. These low toleran...

In the summer of 1997, larvae of the oriental beetle, Blitopertha orientalis, with milky disease were collected from a turf field in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Characteristic footprint-shaped sporangia containing a spore and a parasporal body were isolated from the larval hemolymph. Examination of the bacteriological characteristics of this strain revealed that it was unable to grow in 2% NaCl, w...

The larvae of scarab beetles, known as "white grubs" and belonging to the genera Phyllophaga and Anomala (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), are regarded as soil-dwelling pests in Mexico. During a survey conducted to find pathogenic bacteria with the potential to control scarab larvae, a native Serratia sp. (strain Mor4.1) was isolated from a dead third-instar Phyllophaga blanchardi larva collected fro...

The three-ring eudesmanolide, C(15)H(16)O(3), is a natural product isolated from Dicoma anomala Sond. (Asteraceae). The compound contains an endo-exo cross conjugated methyl-enecyclo-hexenone ring with an envelope conformation trans-fused with cyclo-hexane and trans-annelated with an α-methyl-ene γ-lactone. The absolute structure was assigned by optical rotation measurements compared to those f...