Ten millennia of hepatitis B virus evolution

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been infecting humans for millennia and remains a global health problem, but its past diversity and dispersal routes are largely unknown. We generated HBV genomic data from 137 Eurasians and Native Americans dated between ~10,500 and ~400 years ago. We date the most recent common ancestor of all HBV lineages to between ~20,000 and 12,000 years ago, with the virus present in European and South American hunter-gatherers during the early Holocene. After the European Neolithic transition, Mesolithic HBV strains were replaced by a lineage likely disseminated by early farmers that prevailed throughout western Eurasia for ~4000 years, declining around the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. The only remnant of this prehistoric HBV diversity is the rare genotype G, which appears to have reemerged during the HIV pandemic

Description of a new species of Stepanovia Kostjukov (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) from Bulgaria

Volume: 120Start Page: 347End Page: 35

A universal microscope manipulator

A modified and improved model of a mechanical manipulator for observation of pinned and mounted insects is described. This device allows movement of the observed object around three perpendicular axes in the field of vision at all magnifications of stereomicroscopes. The main improvement of this new model is positioning of the guiding knobs for rotating around two of the axes next to each other, allowing faster and easier manipulation of the studied object. Thus, one of the main advantages of this device is the possibility to rotate the specimen without the need to refocus. The device enables easily reaching a precession deviation in the intersection point of axes up to 0.5 mm in the process of assembling

A universal microscope manipulator Um manipulador microscópico universal

A modified and improved model of a mechanical manipulator for observation of pinned and mounted insects is described. This device allows movement of the observed object around three perpendicular axes in the field of vision at all magnifications of stereomicroscopes. The main improvement of this new model is positioning of the guiding knobs for rotating around two of the axes next to each other, allowing faster and easier manipulation of the studied object. Thus, one of the main advantages of this device is the possibility to rotate the specimen without the need to refocus. The device enables easily reaching a precession deviation in the intersection point of axes up to 0.5 mm in the process of assembling.<br>Um modelo modificado e melhorado de um manipulador mecânico para observação de insetos fixados e montados é descrito. Este dispositivo permite o movimento do objeto observado em torno de três eixos perpendiculares no campo de visão para todas as ampliações do microscópio. A principal melhoria deste novo modelo é o posicionamento dos botões de rotação em torno dos dois eixos ao lado do outro, permitindo uma rápida e fácil manipulação do objeto estudado. Assim, uma das principais vantagens deste dispositivo é a possibilidade de girar o espécime sem a necessidade de mudar o foco. O dispositivo permite facilmente chegar a um desvio de precisão no ponto de interseção dos eixos de até 0,5 mm no processo de montagem

Entedonomphale postmarginalis Shafee, Rizvi & Khan 1988, comb. n.

Entedonomphale postmarginalis (Shafee, Rizvi & Khan, 1988), comb. n. (Figs 5, 6) Euderomphale postmarginalis Shafee, Rizvi & Khan 1988: 2 (description, key [as E. Postmarginalis]), 3 (illustrations, figs D and E [as E. Postmarginalis]). Type locality: Bullandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, India. Entedonastichus postmarginalis (Shafee, Rizvi & Khan): Hayat et al. 2005: 10 (type information). Type material examined. Holotype female [ZDAMU] dissected on two slides, as follows. Slide 1 (head, one antenna, mesosoma and most of metasoma, and legs (with some segments missing) [under two coverslips]), labeled: 1. “Ref. No. 723 sp. n.”, 2. “ HOLOTYPE Euderomphale postmarginalis Shafee, Rizvi & Khan det. M. Hayat, 2003 ”; Slide 2 (one antenna, one forewing, and the ovipositor [under the same coverslip]), labeled: 1. “ 723 [in pencil] Ref. No 723 sp. n.”, 2. “ HOLOTYPE parts Euderomphale postmarginalis Shafee, Rizvi & Khan det. M. Hayat, 2003 ”. Diagnosis. Body and appendages mostly dark brown. Toruli slightly below lover ocular line. Antenna (Fig. 5) with scape (not counting a small radicle) 4.1 x as long as wide, a little dilated basally and medially. Pedicel longer than funicle; F 1 a little smaller than F 2, 1.1-1.5 x as wide as long, apparently without longitudinal sensilla; F 2 1.6 x as wide as long, at least with 1 longitudinal sensillum; clava entire, 1.6-1.7 x as long as wide. Mesosoma shorter than metasoma. Midlobe of mesoscutum with 1 pair of setae; anterior margin of scutellum slightly angulate. Forewing (Fig. 6) about 3.1 x as long as wide, with disc almost hyaline (with a slight brownish tinge throughout, perhaps a little more pronounced behind marginal and stigmal veins) and setose behind marginal and stigmal veins and beyond venation (more sparsely so behind base of marginal vein, and bare posterior of cubital row of setae); stigmal vein about as long as postmarginal vein; the longest marginal seta about 1 / 2 of maximal forewing width. Petiole longer than wide. Entedonomphale postmarginalis is undoubtedly a good species. In Triapitsyn (2005), E. postmarginalis would key to the couplets together with the species that have a hyaline forewing (i.e., E. boccaccioi S. Triapitsyn from the USA, E. bicolorata (Ishii) from Japan, Germany, and Ukraine, and E. esenini S. Triapitsyn from Madagascar). Entedonomphale postmarginalis differs from all of them by the female antenna, both funicle segments of which are wider than long (Fig. 5). Comments. This species was described (and is still known) from a single female holotype “ex aleyrodid on Citrus sp.” (Shafee et al. 1988). The host record seems doubtful and thus needs verification.Published as part of Triapitsyn, Serguei V., Boyadzhiev, Peter S. & Antonov, Anton K., 2008, Taxonomic notes on Entedonomphale (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), pp. 61-64 in Zootaxa 1816 on pages 62-63, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.27436

Entedonomphale carbonaria Erdos 1954

Entedonomphale carbonaria (Erdös, 1954) (Figs 1–4) Thripoctenoides carbonarius Erdös 1954: 345 + fig. 12 c (p. 346). Type locality: Tompa, Hungary. Entedonomphale carbonaria (Erdös): Triapitsyn 2005: 285 –286 (taxonomic history, synonymy, references, diagnosis, illustrations, distribution); Boyadzhiev & Triapitsyn 2007: 736 (key to the European species of Entedonomphale), 740–741 (record of the fully winged female from Oregon, USA). Thripoctenoides kaulbarsi Yoshimoto 1981: 723 –725. Type locality: Riceville, Ontario, Canada. Syn. n. Entedonomphale kaulbarsi (Yoshimoto): Triapitsyn 2005: 277 –278 (taxonomic history, references, diagnosis, illustrations, description of the male, distribution). Thripoctenoides albicoxis Szelényi 1982: 387 –388. Type locality: Nagyiván, Hungary. Synonymized under E. carbonaria by Triapitsyn 2005: 285. New material examined. BULGARIA. Montana Region, Reservoir Ogosta (near Montana), 43 ° 23 ’09’’N 23 ° 12 ’ 53 ’’E, 175 m, 9.iv. 2005, A.K. Antonov (sweeping grasslands) [1 brachypterous female and 1 fully winged female, PUPB]. Distribution. Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and USA (Triapitsyn 2005, Boyadzhiev & Triapitsyn 2007). Comments. As previously suspected by Triapitsyn (2005) and Boyadzhiev & Triapitsyn (2007), the female of E. kaulbarsi indeed turned out to be just a brachypterous form of E. carbonaria. The antennae and other morphological features are identical among E. kaulbarsi from Canada and the specimens of E. carbonaria from Bulgaria and Hungary, hence the synonymy. Coloration of the legs seems to be quite variable in this species: the legs of the brachypterous female from near Montana, Bulgaria, are pale brown while the legs of the fully winged female from the same location are mostly brown to dark brown. To assist with recognition of E. carbonaria, which has never been properly illustrated, we provide photographs of the antenna (Fig. 1) and the reduced fore- (Fig. 2) and hind (Fig. 3) wings of the brachypterous female, as well as the forewing and the hind wing (Fig. 4) of the macropterous female.Published as part of Triapitsyn, Serguei V., Boyadzhiev, Peter S. & Antonov, Anton K., 2008, Taxonomic notes on Entedonomphale (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), pp. 61-64 in Zootaxa 1816 on page 61, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.27436

Peri-Gondwanan Ordovician crustal fragments in the high-grade basement of the Eastern Rhodope Massif, Bulgaria: evidence from U-Pb LA-ICP-MS zircon geochronology and geochemistry

Field, geochemical, and geochronologic data of high-grade basement metamafic and evolved rocks are used to identify the nature and timing of pre-Alpine crustal growth of the Rhodope Massif. These rocks occur intrusive into clastic-carbonate metasedimentary succession. Petrography and mineral chemistry show compositions consistent with Alpine amphibolite-facies metamorphism that obliterated the original igneous textures of the protoliths. Bulk-rock geochemistry identifies low-Ti tholeiitic to calc-alkaline gabbroic-basaltic and plagiogranite precursors, with MORB-IAT supra-subduction zone signature and trace elements comparable to modern back-arc basalts. The U-Pb zircon dating revealed a mean age of 455 Ma for the magmatic crystallization of the protoliths that contain inherited Cambrian (528–534 Ma) zircons. Carboniferous, Jurassic, and Eocene metamorphic events overprinted the Ordovician protoliths. The radiometric results of the metamorphic rocks demonstrate that Ordovician oceanic crust was involved in the build-up of the Rhodope high-grade basement. Dating of Eocene-Oligocene volcanic rocks overlying or cross-cutting the metamorphic rocks supplied Neoproterozoic, Ordovician and Permo-Carboniferous xenocrystic zircons that were sampled en route to the surface from the basement. The volcanic rocks thus confirm sub-regionally present Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic igneous and metamorphic basement. We interpret the origin of the Middle-Late Ordovician oceanic magmatism in a back-arc rift-spreading center propagating along peri-Gondwanan Cadomian basement terrane related to the Rheic Ocean widening. The results highlight the presence of elements of Cadomian northern Gondwana margin in the high-grade basement and record of Rheic Ocean evolution. The eastern Rhodope Massif high-grade basement compared to adjacent terranes with Neoproterozoic and Cambro-Ordovician evolution shares analogous tectono-magmatic record providing a linkage among basement terranes incorporated in the Alpine belt of the north Aegean region