短脉纹石蛾属(毛翅目:纹石蛾科)广西3个新种记述

记述了广西短脉纹石蛾属3个新种,即刺尾短脉纹石蛾(Cheumatopsyche acanthus,n.sp.)、微凹短脉纹石蛾(C.concav-iuscula,n.sp.)和平尾短脉纹石蛾(C.orthocercata,n.sp.)。刺尾短脉纹石蛾与产于越南的金短脉纹石蛾(C.kimOláh&Jo-hanson)较为接近,但其第10节侧面观上下缘近平行,中叶呈尖刺状,侧叶明显宽于中叶;内茎鞘突长卵圆形;下附肢第2节细而直;可与后者区别。微凹短脉纹石蛾与产于福建的挂墩短脉纹石蛾(C.guadunicaLi)相似,但其第10节侧面观较长,约为其高的2倍;阳具腹面观由基部向端部逐渐变细,并在其最端部略加粗;阳具内茎鞘突侧面观近三角形;下附肢第2节侧面观基部2/3粗大,端部1/3细窄,并略向上弯曲,上缘具一细微凹切;可与后者区别。平尾短脉纹石蛾与产于越南的伊氏短脉纹石蛾(C.ecsediiOláh&Johanson)相似,但第10节侧面观略呈四边形;阳具侧面观内茎鞘突略呈四边形,且其下缘略向上切入;下附肢第2节明显窄于第1节端部;可与后者区别。模式标本保存于南京农业大学昆虫标本馆。     

Wild fallow deer (Dama dama) as definitive hosts of Fasciola hepatica (liver fluke) in alpine New South Wales

To determine the extent to which wild deer are contributing in the transmission of Fasciola hepatica (liver fluke) livers from deer shot by hunters, farmers undertaking population control on their farms and vertebrate pest controllers were collected and frozen. The livers were later thawed, sliced and examined for the presence of adult flukes or evidence of past infection. Livers from 19 deer were examined (18 fallow [Dama dama] and one sambar [Rusa unicolor]). Seventeen of the fallow deer were animals collected on farms near Jindabyne, New South Wales. The remaining fallow deer was collected in the Australian Capital Territory and one sambar deer was collected in north-eastern Victoria. Nine of the 17 deer (53%) from the Jindabyne area were either infected with Fasciola hepatica (liver fluke) or had thickened bile ducts indicating past infection. Infection levels in the infected animals varied widely from 3 liver fluke to over 50 per liver. No sign of infection was present in the deer from the Australian Capital Territory or Victoria. Fallow deer are wide-spread in the Jindabyne area and their population is increasing. It is likely their contribution to the maintenance and distribution of F. hepatica to livestock in the Jindabyne area, and in other livestock rearing areas of south-eastern Australia, is important and increasing.     

Allelic exclusion in transgenic mice that express the membrane form of immunoglobulin mu

Antibody-producing cells display a special form of regulation whereby each cell produces immunoglobulin from only one of its two sets of antibody genes. This phenomenon, called allelic exclusion, is thought to be mediated by the product of one heavy chain allele restricting the expression of the other. Heavy chains are synthesized in two molecular forms, secreted and membrane bound. In order to determine whether it is specifically the membrane-bound form of the immunoglobulin M (IgM) heavy chain (mu) that mediates this regulation, transgenic mice were created that carry a human mu chain gene altered so that it can only direct the synthesis of the membrane-bound protein. The membrane-bound form of the human mu chain was made by most of the B cells in these animals as measured by assays of messenger RNA and surface immunoglobulins. Further, the many B cells that express the human gene do not express endogenous mouse IgM, and the few B cells that express endogenous mouse mu do not express the transgene. Thus, the membrane-bound form of the mu chain is sufficient to mediate allelic exclusion. In addition, the molecular structures recognized for this purpose are conserved between human and mouse systems.     

Applying Public Participation Geographic Information Systems to Wildlife Management

Wildlife management increasingly incorporates public participation to be more inclusive and reduce tensions between management and the general public in the decision-making process. There is also a need, however, to include spatial data since most wildlife biological and biophysical data are stored spatially in geographic information systems (GIS). This article presents a method for integrating this information using public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS). We asked stakeholders to identify specific places on a map that they would like to see maintained for the conservation of particular threatened species. This information is useful for identifying public wildlife management preferences and for allowing comparisons between public and expert opinions. We found high levels of public accuracy in identifying suitable habitat for threatened species conservation. We also identified places of potential conflict due to incompatible stakeholder preferences, but found little conflict between public conservation and development preferences.     

Dynamics of the free-living stages of sheep intestinal parasites on pasture in the North Island of New Zealand. 2. Weather variables associated with development

Abstract

AIM: To identify weather variables associated with the development of eggs of Teladorsagia (=Ostertagia) circumcincta, Trichostrongylus colubriformis and Haemonchus contortus to third-stage infective larvae (L3) under a range of climatic conditions on pasture in the North Island of New Zealand.

METHODS: Sheep faeces containing known numbers of eggs of all three nematode species were deposited on, or buried in, pasture plots at three sites, viz coastal Manawatu, Upper Hutt Valley, and East Cape hill country. Development was measured by recovering L3 from faeces, herbage and soil 28–31 days after deposition, on 13–18 occasions between January 2005 until July 2006. Weather data were recorded at each site, and the association between weather variables and number of L3 recovered was analysed using subsets regression to select best-fitting models from several candidate variables, after adjustment for efficiency of recovery of L3. A multiple linear regression model was then developed for each species, to select weather variables that had both significant and substantive effects on the number of L3 recovered.

RESULTS: For all species, mean daily temperature was the bestpredictor of the number of L3 recovered (p=0.001). For T.circumcincta the final model included mean daily temperature and soil temperature (R²=51%), and for T. colubriformis the model only included mean daily temperature (R²=55%). For development of H. contortus, mean daily temperature was the most significant variable, but moisture in the form of rainfall entropy, i.e. the temporal distribution of rainfall, overthe first 14 days was also significant in the final model (R²=34%).

CONCLUSIONS: Temperature was the most important determinant of developmental success of free-living nematodes on pasture at the study sites, and probably also for other parts ofNew Zealand with similar climates. Moisture was not significant in the development of T. circumcincta or T.colubriformis, implying that under the generally moist temperate climate in New Zealand, moisture is seldom limiting for development of these species. Haemonchus contortusappeared to be sensitive to moisture availability and precipitation in the first 14 days after deposition of faeces. The results of this study will be further developed as part of species-specific climate-driven models of parasite development in New Zealand.