Comparative descriptions of eggs from three species of Rhodnius (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae)

The authors describe and compare the morphological and ultrastructural characteristics of eggs from the three most recent described species of the genus Rhodnius Stål, 1859, which have not previously been studied. These species are Rhodnius colombiensis (Mejia, Galvão & Jurberg 1999), Rhodnius milesi (Carcavallo, Rocha, Galvão & Jurberg 2001) and Rhodnius stali (Lent, Jurberg & Galvão 1993). The results revealed that there are similarities in the exochorial architecture of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy; these include the predominance of hexagonal cells that are common to all Rhodnius species and variable degrees of lateral flattening, which is common not only to species of this genus, but also to the Rhodniini tribe. Differences in overall colour, the presence of a collar in R. milesi, a longitudinal bevel in R. stali and the precise length of R. colombiensis can be useful distinguishing features. As a result of this study, the key for egg identification proposed by Barata in 1981 can be updated.European Community - Chagas Disease Intervention ActivitiesCNPqCoordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES

Conservative Fragments in Bacterial 16S rRNA Genes and Primer Design for 16S Ribosomal DNA Amplicons in Metagenomic Studies

Bacterial 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) amplicons have been widely used in the classification of uncultured bacteria inhabiting environmental niches. Primers targeting conservative regions of the rDNAs are used to generate amplicons of variant regions that are informative in taxonomic assignment. One problem is that the percentage coverage and application scope of the primers used in previous studies are largely unknown. In this study, conservative fragments of available rDNA sequences were first mined and then used to search for candidate primers within the fragments by measuring the coverage rate defined as the percentage of bacterial sequences containing the target. Thirty predicted primers with a high coverage rate (>90%) were identified, which were basically located in the same conservative regions as known primers in previous reports, whereas 30% of the known primers were associated with a coverage rate of <90%. The application scope of the primers was also examined by calculating the percentages of failed detections in bacterial phyla. Primers A519–539, E969–983, E1063–1081, U515 and E517, are highly recommended because of their high coverage in almost all phyla. As expected, the three predominant phyla, Firmicutes, Gemmatimonadetes and Proteobacteria, are best covered by the predicted primers. The primers recommended in this report shall facilitate a comprehensive and reliable survey of bacterial diversity in metagenomic studies

The importance of Portuguese Continental Shelf Waters to Balearic Shearwaters revealed by aerial census

The Balearic shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus is one of the most threatened seabirds in the world. To evaluate the abundance and distribution of Balearic Shearwaters in Portuguese Continental Shelf Waters, during the post-breeding period when migrating birds are outside the Mediterranean Sea, we conducted 5 aerial surveys between 2010 and 2014 (21 survey days covering 62,716 km2). Following a line transect method, observers recorded a total of 181 Balearic Shearwaters sightings. Using Distance sampling software, we estimated an overall species abundance (2010–2014) of 10,182, ranging between 2338 in 2010 and 23,221 individuals in 2012. During the 2012 post-breeding period, the Portuguese Continental Shelf Waters were used by up to 96.8% of the latest migratory population assessment. Considering Balearic Shearwater estimates per sampling block, there was a preference for the North and Center sectors of the Portuguese coast (respectively, 7058 and 1366 individuals) where several SPAs were already designated. We computed the annual and overall habitat predictive models for Balearic Shearwaters using a maximum entropy algorithm on MaxEnt software. In all models, the Balearic shearwater distribution was best predicted by mean chlorophyll concentration. Balearic Shearwaters are mostly present in shallow shelf and coastal waters particularly in the widest portions of the continental shelf. These areas are strongly influenced by upwelling, which concurs with the chlorophyll concentration being the most important predicting variable. Portuguese Continental Shelf Waters are one of the most important post-breeding grounds to the Balearic ShearwaterPortuguese Wildlife Society and projects SafeSea EEA-Grants, FAME (Proj. 2009-1/089) and European Commission’s Life Programme (MarPro NAT/PT/00038). This study was also partly supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) with Grants SFRH/ BD/30240/2006 to M. Ferreira and SFRH/BD/32841/2006 to P. C. Rodrigues. C. Eira is supported by FCT through CESAM UID/AMB/50017/2013 co-funded by FCT/MEC and FEDER, within PT2020 and Compete 2020 and S. Monteiro is financed by a Grant (BPD/0043/AMB/50017) from UID/AMB/50017/2013. This work was also partially supported by the strategic programme UID/BIA/04050/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007569) funded by FCT and by ERDF (COMPETE2020). The authors thank observers and airplane pilots who contributed to this workinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Transgenerational Effects of Parental Larval Diet on Offspring Development Time, Adult Body Size and Pathogen Resistance in Drosophila melanogaster

Environmental conditions experienced by parents are increasingly recognized to affect offspring performance. We set out to investigate the effect of parental larval diet on offspring development time, adult body size and adult resistance to the bacterium Serratia marcescens in Drosophila melanogaster. Flies for the parental generation were raised on either poor or standard diet and then mated in the four possible sex-by-parental diet crosses. Females that were raised on poor food produced larger offspring than females that were raised on standard food. Furthermore, male progeny sired by fathers that were raised on poor food were larger than male progeny sired by males raised on standard food. Development times were shortest for offspring whose one parent (mother or the father) was raised on standard and the other parent on poor food and longest for offspring whose parents both were raised on poor food. No evidence for transgenerational effects of parental diet on offspring disease resistance was found. Although paternal effects have been previously demonstrated in D. melanogaster, no earlier studies have investigated male-mediated transgenerational effects of diet in this species. The results highlight the importance of not only considering the relative contribution each parental sex has on progeny performance but also the combined effects that the two sexes may have on offspring performance