Virtually all aphids (Aphididae) harbor Buchnera aphidicola as an obligate endosymbiont to compensate nutritional deficiencies arising from their phloem diet. Many species within the Lachninae subfamily seem to be consistently associated also with Serratia symbiotica We have previously shown that both Cinara (Cinara) cedri and Cinara (Cupressobium) tujafilina (Lachninae: Eulachnini tribe) have ...

This paper presents the first comprehensive description of the winged males of Cinara tujafilina and Cinara cupressi (Hemiptera, Lachninae) and establishes the morphological characters enabling differentiation between them. We show that some populations of C. tujafilina, a species considered to be anholocyclic, may not have lost the genetic ability to produce males and under favourable conditio...

Many aphids harbor a variety of endosymbiotic bacteria. The functions of these symbionts can range from an obligate nutritional role to a facultative role in protecting their hosts against environmental stresses. One such symbiont is "Candidatus Serratia symbiotica," which is involved in defense against heat and potentially also in aphid nutrition. Lachnid aphids have been the focus of several ...

Buchnera aphidicola is the primary endosymbiont of aphids with which it maintains an obligate mutualistic symbiotic relationship. Insects also maintain facultative symbiotic relationships with secondary symbionts, and Serratia symbiotica is the most common in aphids. The presence of both symbionts in aphids of the subfamily Lachninae has been widely studied by our group. We examined two closely...

Intracellular symbiosis is very common in the insect world. For the aphid Cinara cedri, we have identified by electron microscopy three symbiotic bacteria that can be characterized by their different sizes, morphologies, and electrodensities. PCR amplification and sequencing of the 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) genes showed that, in addition to harboring Buchnera aphidicola, the primary endosymbiont...

Intracellular bacteria are characterized by genome reduction. The 422,434-base pair genome of Buchnera aphidicola BCc, primary endosymbiont of the aphid Cinara cedri, is approximately 200 kilobases smaller than the previously sequenced B. aphidicola genomes. B. aphidicola BCc has lost most metabolic functions, including the ability to synthesize the essential amino acid tryptophan and riboflavi...

Three myrmecophilous genera of Aleocharinae (Staphylinidae) associated with Leptogenys distinguenda (Emery, 1887) and Leptogenys mutabilis (Smith, 1861) are reviewed with descriptions of new taxa: Maschwitzia Kistner, 1989, Togpelenys Kistner, 1989 and Witteia Maruyama & von Beeren, gen. n. (type species: Witteia dentilabrumMaruyama & von Beeren, sp. n.). The following new combinations are prop...

The mountains of southwest China are one of the hot spots of biodiversity in the world. However, the high-altitude fauna that inhabit these mountains remain a mystery. In this study, the species diversity of the aphids of the genus Cinara from the high-altitude coniferous forests was first assessed, and then the processes and the mechanisms of speciation were discussed. Three hundreds and four ...