Host specificity and variation in oviposition behaviour of milkweed stem weevils and implications for species divergence

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 1121-1133
Author(s):  
Lina M. Arcila Hernández ◽  
Steven R. Davis ◽  
Anurag A. Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Host Specificity ◽  
Oviposition Behaviour ◽  
Species Divergence

The suitability of Octotoma scabripennis Guér. and Uroplata girardi Pic (Col., Chrysomelidae) for the control of Lantana (Verbenaceae) in Australia

1969 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 835-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. S. Harley
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Host Range ◽  
Host Specificity ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Oviposition Behaviour ◽  
Biological Control Agents ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Normal Host ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Simulated Field

The host range and aspects of the biology of Hispine beetles recorded from plants in the genus Lantana is reviewed. The host specificity of Octotoma scabripennis Guér. and Uroplata girardi Pic was studied in Hawaii where these insects had been imported and established for biological control of the important weed L. camara. New techniques were employed in which feeding and oviposition behaviour was studied in field and simulated-field experiments embracing a wide range of plants interplanted amongst an abundance of the Hispines' normal host. Eesults indicated that both species are restricted almost entirely to L. camara, and subsequently these insects have been imported into and established in Australia. Both insects are particularly well suited to use as biological control agents and should be extremely useful in many countries where L. camara is a weed.

Alteration of host specificity in Bacillus subtilis.

1968 ◽  
Vol 32 (4_Pt_1) ◽  
pp. 297-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
D D Gwinn ◽  
W D Lawton
Keyword(s):  
Bacillus Subtilis ◽  
Host Specificity

An ecological study of the branchiobdellid commensals (Annelida-Branchiobdellidae) of some mid-western Ontario crayfish

1968 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 835-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Host Specificity ◽  
Dominant Species ◽  
Ecological Study ◽  
Rabbit Serum ◽  
First Year ◽  
Serological Testing ◽  
Severe Winter ◽  
Orconectes Propinquus ◽  
Winter Conditions ◽  
Laurel Creek

Orconectes propinquus and Cambarus robustus from the Speed River, Sunfish Lake, and Laurel Creek, harbor two branchiobdellids, Cambarincola chirocephala and Pterodrilus distichus. Both adult and cocoon populations of the dominant species (C. chirocephala) are proportional to the size of the host throughout the year, except that first-year crayfish are free of cocoons. The reduction in total number of commensals from autumn to spring can be attributed to severe winter conditions. A subrostral site of preference for adult branchiobdellid attachment, and a dominant abdomen I and II site for cocoon deposition are indicated for O. propinquus. On C. robustus, adults are most commonly found on the antennal bases and among the maxillipeds, and cocoons on the last live abdominal sternites. No host specificity is evident although an unidentified Cambarus sp. from Sunfish Lake is free of commensals. Host incompatibility may explain this, but data from Laurel Creek indicate that silting of the microhabitat is responsible for loss of branchiobdellid population. The crayfish–branchiobdellid relationship is commensal, or at most facultatively parasitic, as adult worms can live without a host for extended periods. Serological testing of rabbit serum containing branchiobdellid antibodies against crayfish serum is negative. The dependence of the egg stage on the host for some undetermined factor or factors is discussed. An Asellus sp. fails to pick up the commensals even when exposed under ideal conditions for colonization.

scholarly journals Bayes Estimation of Species Divergence Times and Ancestral Population Sizes Using DNA Sequences From Multiple Loci

Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 164 (4) ◽  
pp. 1645-1656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Rannala ◽  
Ziheng Yang
Keyword(s):  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Gene Tree ◽  
Species Tree ◽  
Bayes Estimation ◽  
Ancestral Population ◽  
Divergence Times ◽  
Gene Trees ◽  
Species Divergence ◽  
Multiple Loci ◽  
Population Sizes

Abstract The effective population sizes of ancestral as well as modern species are important parameters in models of population genetics and human evolution. The commonly used method for estimating ancestral population sizes, based on counting mismatches between the species tree and the inferred gene trees, is highly biased as it ignores uncertainties in gene tree reconstruction. In this article, we develop a Bayes method for simultaneous estimation of the species divergence times and current and ancestral population sizes. The method uses DNA sequence data from multiple loci and extracts information about conflicts among gene tree topologies and coalescent times to estimate ancestral population sizes. The topology of the species tree is assumed known. A Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is implemented to integrate over uncertain gene trees and branch lengths (or coalescence times) at each locus as well as species divergence times. The method can handle any species tree and allows different numbers of sequences at different loci. We apply the method to published noncoding DNA sequences from the human and the great apes. There are strong correlations between posterior estimates of speciation times and ancestral population sizes. With the use of an informative prior for the human-chimpanzee divergence date, the population size of the common ancestor of the two species is estimated to be ∼20,000, with a 95% credibility interval (8000, 40,000). Our estimates, however, are affected by model assumptions as well as data quality. We suggest that reliable estimates have yet to await more data and more realistic models.

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