Control of Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly) in backyards

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Medfly) is thought to originate from tropical Africa. It is a pest in many areas of the world including Western Australia. It was first detected at Claremont in 1895 and is now found as far south as Esperance and as far north as Derby. The main area of infestation extends from Carnarvon to Bunbury.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1069/thumbnail.jp

South-west Medlfy study highlights improved control strategies

Mediterranean fruit fly has become an extremely important pest of commercial orchards in recent years, with there being numerous reports of control problems from fruit growing districts in the South-west of Western Australia. To assist in finding a solution to the problem of effective Medfly control, a study commenced in July 1995 to develop further understanding of Medfly ecology and to evaluate control strategies under varying climatic and management conditions in the South-west region. Sonya Broughton and Francis De Lima report on the outcomes of the three-year study

The fight against fruit flies in Western Australia

Western Australia’s horticulture industry is one of the State’s growing success stories, from mangoes at Kununurra to cherries at Mt Barker. The prospects are bright, especially in export markets where ‘clean and green’ produce from Western Australia is truly valued. One blight on this ‘clean and green’ image has been Mediterranean fruit fly or Medfly, the ‘world’s worst fruit pest’. First introduced over 100 years ago, the battle against this devastating pest has involved Government, growers and the general public. This book is designed to provide an accurate but readable account of the fight against fruit fly, incorporating all the weapons used in this battle from early chemical and biological control to the futuristic sterile insect technique.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1110/thumbnail.jp

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

Parasitism and predation of the lantana leafmining beetles Octotoma scabripennis Guérin-Méneville and Uroplata girardi Pic (coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Hispinae) in Australia

Surveys of lantana were conducted during 1994-1996 at Gatton, Samsonvale, Beenleigh and Sherwood in south-east Queensland. These showed that the lantana leafmining beetles Uroplata girardi Pic and Octotoma scabripennis Guérin-Méneville are attacked by generalist predators, mostly spiders, and one parasitoid, Sympiesis sp. n. near aburiana (Waterston) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Sympiesis near aburiana is a larval ectoparasitoid, attacking all hispine instars including the pupae, although more parasitoids were collected from second and third instar larvae. Parasitism levels differed with the sampling method used, with higher estimates obtained from destructive samples. Estimates of parasitism levels ranged from 0 to 44% for U. girardi and 0-100% for O. scabripennis. Although parasitism alone is unlikely to reduce hispine populations, parasitism coupled with larval death due to unknown causes could impact on overwintering larvae

Lady beetles (Stethorus spp. Weise, 1885)

Educação Superior::Ciências Agrárias::AgronomiaApresenta imagem da larva de joaninha comendo ovos do ácaro rajad

Transverse lady beetle (Coccinella transversalis Fabricius)

Educação Superior::Ciências Biológicas::ZoologiaApresenta imagem de joaninha-de-sete-pontosem em uma folh

Minute two-spotted lady beetle (Diomus notescens (Blackburn))

Apresenta imagem de joaninha diomusEducação Superior::Ciências Biológicas::Zoologi

Black scale (Saissetia oleae (Olivier))

Educação Superior::Ciências Agrárias::AgronomiaApresenta imagem de cochonilha negra parasitando uma oliveir