Aphidicidal potential of Azadirachta indica, Adhatoda vasica, Vitex negundo, Parthenium hysterophorus and Lantana camara against mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi Kaltenbach (Hemiptera:Aphididae)

Use of eco-friendly naturally occurring plant products in the management of the mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi Kaltenbach (Hemiptera:Aphididae) under laboratory conditions was carried out. The results revealed that the nymphs and adults mortality of mustard aphid varied significantly with three different concentrations (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0%) of five plant products. The mortality was high with seed kernel extracts of neem, Azadirachta indica killed nymphs and adults of L. erysimi (70.82 %) followed by leaves extracts of lagundi, Vitex negundo Linn. (69.40 %), leaves extract of Parthenium hysterophorus Linn. (65.38 %), leaves extract of arusa, Adhatoda vasica Nees. (55.81%), aerial parts of aripple, Lantana camara Linn. (51.70%) and untreated control (1.5 %), respectively. The seed kernel extracts of A. indica differed significantly from the remaining ones except V. negundo from which it does not differ significantly to one another. The effects of carrot grass, P. hysterophorus was recorded moderate aphidicidal action while L. camara caused the lowest mortality of nymphs and adults of L. erysimi among all treated natural products. Of the five plant products tested A. indica performed better under all the experimental conditions where as untreated control gave only 01.5% aphid mortality. The concentrations 2.0% are superior to concentration 1.0% and 0.5% concentrations. Similarly maximum aphid mortality was observed after 24 hours of exposure and minimum after 6hours. The exposure periods of 24 hours was significantly superior to 12 hours and 6 hours in both control and plant products

Ancient hairs: need for morphological analysis of prehistoric and extant Mammals

Hair keratin can stand vagaries of nature and may be well preserved in fossilized hairs found in ice, amber, mummies, scats (or coprolites) of carnivores, bird pellets etc. Ancient hairs are also found in archeological investigations in form of artifacts made by animal hairs like paint brushes, apparel, cordages etc. Analysis of ancient hairs can be useful for study of cuticle patterns, medulla, pigments, isotope ratios etc. Mitochondrial DNA or hair keratin protein or amino acids can be extracted for studying phylogenetic relationship between extinct and extant members. This mini-review presents some examples of fossil hairs found and analyzed so far and points towards the importance of study of ancient hairs. Study of hair morphology and or molecular analysis can help in identification of mammals that lived at the time when the artifacts from hairs were made and used by the prehistoric man. Comparisons of fossil hairs with the present populations may help us understand the biodiversity that prevailed in the regions in the past. Further, such comparisons may possibly throw some light on molecular and or morphological modifications due to the environmental or geographical change that lead to adaptations or alterations in demography or extinction of the species. To the best of our knowledge, morphological analysis has not been done in many samples of fossil hairs and hairs from paint brushes, apparel etc. that were used by ancient civilizations