Thrips on eggplant, chilli and bell pepper in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Thrips have always been one of the major pests for eggplant (Solanum melongena L.), chili and bell peppers (Capsicum annuum L.). Thrips damage these vegetable crops either by direct feeding on the leaves, flowers or fruits or they act as vectors for viruses. However, not all thrips feed on the above-mentioned crops, thus identification of the thrips that feed on these vegetable crops is important in order to provide an effective solution. Therefore, the objective of this study is to identify the species of thrips that attack these plants and cause major damages. Cameron Highlands was microscopic glass slides using Euparal as mounting medium. The thrips specimens were identified based on the morphology. The thrips that were found abundant on these vegetable crops were Thrips palmi Karny and Thrips parvispinus Karny. These thrips were usually found feeding in the flowers of susceptible vegetable crops. There were on average 5 thrips per flower. The damage of thrips can only be observed during fruit formation as scars on the external surface of the fruits. The damage became intensified as the fruits grew to cause them to develop irregular shapes and dry-looking. These unpleasant looking fruits, although edible, are not preferred by consumers, thus causing them to be non-marketable.selected as the study area because it is one of the major vegetable production areas in Malaysia. Thrips were collected from several farms in Cameron Highlands. The thrips samples were stored in 70% ethanol, macerated by soaking in weak sodium hydroxide (5% NaOH), dehydrated using alcohol and clove oil and finally mounted o

Intra- and Inter-specific variation of four Acetess species (Crustacea: Decapoda: Sergestidae) sampled along the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

The intra- and inter-specific variation of Acetes shrimps were evaluated based on samples collected from in-shore catches and off-shore trawling around the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Species captured were identified as Acetes indicus, A. serrulatus, A. japonicus and A. sibogae. A region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene comprising 552 base pairs (bp) was amplified from 159 Acetes specimens. The sequence alignment analysis generated phylogenetic trees which depicted the four major clades that were consistent with the species identified morphologically. These four species varied considerably for haplotype and nucleotide diversity, with A. indicus and A. serrulatus showing different demographic histories. Furthermore, the observation of two clades in the A. indicus and A. sibogae lineages, with relatively high levels of intraspecific divergence, suggests that cryptic diversity is possibly present in these two taxa. This study has contributed to the knowledge of the distribution patterns and molecular phylogenetics of four Acetes spp. in the Straits of Malacca

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements