Taxonomic study and population variation of scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccidae and Diaspididae) and associated parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) in an olive grove at Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

This study evaluated the population variation of Hemiberlesia lataniae (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) and associated parasitoids in Olea europaea L. (Oleaceae) groves located in the municipality of Barra do Ribeiro (30°30′54.95″S; 51°30′20.84″W), Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Eight samples were collected during the four seasons from November 2015 until October 2017; four branches with approximately 20 leaves were taken from12 olive trees (four each from Arbequina, Arbosana and Koroneiki varieties). The collected material was placed inplastic bags and taken to the laboratory for further study. Scale insects were slide-mounted and were identifiedaccording to morphological characteristics of the adult female. Parts of two branches and 40 leaves of each variety infested with scale insects were sectioned and placed inside glass tubes, labeled, capped with cotton, kept in the laboratory at room temperature and examined daily to verify the emergence of parasitoids. Parasitoid specimens studied were critical point dried from ethanol and point-mounted. Some specimens were slide mounted in Canada balsam for more detailed study. In all samples, the presence of H. lataniae, as well as six associated parasitoid species, were identified. Metaphycus flavus (Howard) is recorded for the first time as a parasitoid of H. lataniae. Two other scale insects were also identified: Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targioni Tozzetti) (Diaspididae) and Saissetia coffeae (Walker) (Coccidae), but the population data of these did not permit statistical analysis. A key to identify the scale insect species recorded on olive trees in Brazil, based on adult females, is provided.Fil: Wolff, Vera. Secretaria Estadual de Agricultura, Pecuária e Irrigação; BrasilFil: Efron, Caio. Secretaria Estadual de Agricultura, Pecuária e Irrigação; BrasilFil: Aquino, Daniel Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Tonietto, Adilson. Secretaria Estadual de Agricultura, Pecuária e Irrigação; Brasi

Natural Incidence of Egg Parasitoids of Edessa meditabunda (F.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) on Crotalaria spectabilis in Campo Novo do Parecis, MT, Brazil

Egg parasitoids of the stink bug Edessa meditabunda (F) were studied on rattlepod Crotalaria spectabilis used in soybean crop rotation in Campo Novo do Parecis, Mato Grosso state, central western Brazil. Seven species of parasitoids were found: two Encyrtidae, one Eurytomidae, and four Platygastridae. The occurrence of Trissolcus euchisti (Ashmead) and Trissolcus elimatus Johnson (Platygastridae) on eggs of E. meditabunda is recorded for the first time. Moreover, this is the first record of T. elimatus and T. euchisti from Brazil.Fil: Golin, Vanessa. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Loiacono, Marta Susana. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Margaría, Cecilia B.. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Aquino, Daniel Alejandro. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentin

New World Stephanocampta (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae)—descriptions of a new species from Argentina and of the male of S. masoni

The genus Stephanocampta Mathot (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) includes only two previously described species, S. yaosekoensis Mathot from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Mathot 1966) and S. masoni (Yoshimoto) from Costa Rica and Panama (Yoshimoto 1990). Here we describe and illustrate a new species from Argentina based on a female, illustrate both sexes and newly describe the male of S. masoni, and provide a key to differentiate females of the three species.Fil: Aquino, Daniel Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; ArgentinaFil: Triapitsyn, Serguei V.. University of California; Estados Unido

Dynamics of Natural Killer cell receptor revealed by quantitative analysis of photoswitchable protein

Natural Killer (NK) cell activation is dynamically regulated by numerous activating and inhibitory surface receptors that accumulate at the immune synapse. Quantitative analysis of receptor dynamics has been limited by methodologies which rely on indirect measurements such as fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. Here, we report a novel approach to study how proteins traffic to and from the immune synapse using NK cell receptors tagged with the photoswitchable fluorescent protein tdEosFP, which can be irreversibly photoswitched from a green to red fluorescent state by ultraviolet light. Thus, following a localized switching event, the movement of the photoswitched molecules can be temporally and spatially resolved by monitoring fluorescence in two regions of interest. By comparing images with mathematical models, we evaluated the diffusion coefficient of the receptor KIR2DL1 (0.23 +- 0.06 micron^2/s) and assessed how synapse formation affects receptor dynamics. Our data conclude that the inhibitory NK cell receptor KIR2DL1 is continually trafficked into the synapse and remains surprisingly stable there. Unexpectedly however, in NK cells forming synapses with multiple target cells simultaneously, KIR2DL1 at one synapse can relocate to another synapse. Thus, our results reveal a previously undetected inter-synaptic exchange of protein.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure

Influencia de microburbujas de oxígeno en el proceso de cianuración en columnas para mejorar la recuperación de oro y plata en minera La Zanja – Compañía de Minas Buenaventura

Demuestra la influencia de aumentar la concentración de oxígeno en forma de microburbujas en la solución de cianuro para la optimización en el proceso de lixiviación para minerales de oro y plata en Minera La Zanja de la Compañía de Minas Buenaventura.Tesi

Primer registro de hospedador para el parasitoide oófilo, Polynema haitianum (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), con descripción del macho y redescripción de la hembra

El presente trabajo científico provee la primera asociación hospedador - parasitoide y amplía la distribución geográfica para el parasitoide Polynema haitianum Dozier (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) a varios paises de Sudamérica, previamente conocido para Haití. Además se describió el macho y se redescribio la hembra. En este trabajo se obtuvo una especie de parasitoides de huevos, Polynema haitianum, la cual se desarrolla en huevos de Xerophloea viridis (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). Con el registro de P. haitianum se eleva a tres el número de las especies de parasitoides que atacan a la chicharrita X. viridis, en Argentina.Fil: Luft Albarracin, Erica Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucuman. Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiologicos; ArgentinaFil: Aquino, Daniel A.. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentin

Critical and non critical non-Hermitian topological phase transitions in one dimensional chains

In this work we investigate non-Hermitian topological phase transitions using real-space edge states as a paradigmatic tool. We focus on the simplest non-Hermitian variant of the Su-Schrieffer-Hegger model, including a parameter that denotes the degree of non-hermiticity of the system. We study the behavior of the zero energy edge states at the non-trivial topological phases with integer and semi-integer topological winding number, according to the distance to the critical point. We obtain that depending on the parameters of the model the edge states may penetrate into the bulk, as expected in Hermitian topological phase transitions. We also show that using the topological characterization of the exceptional points, we can describe the intricate chiral behavior of the edge states across the whole phase diagram. Moreover, we characterize the criticality of the model by determining the correlation length critical exponent, directly from numerical calculations of the penetration length of the zero modes edge states.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in PR