A contribution to the knowledge of Coniopterygidae (Neuroptera) in Madagascar: genera Nimboa Navás, 1925 and Semidalis Endelein, 1905

This study aimed to assess the abundance, morphological features, and economic values of selected tree species (Mango, Eucalyptus, and Bottle brush) within Company Garden of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. Through systematic survey and analysis, the results showed that Eucalyptus emerged as the most abundant species, constituting 40% of the tree population. Mango trees, comprising approximately 35% of the population, were out for their economic importance and cultural significance. While their cultivation offers economic benefits, their influence on biodiversity and soil health warrants careful evaluation, particularly in the context of human cultivation practices. Bottle brush trees, though least abundant at 15%, contribute uniquely to the ecosystem by providing ornamental value and potential wildlife habitat. Their ecological contributions emphasize the importance of preserving biodiversity within the ecosystem. On the other hand, analysis of morphological and economic features highlighted the distinct characteristics of each species. Eucalyptus, with its remarkable height and girth, proves valuable for timber production and ecological functions such as erosion control. Mango trees, prized for fruit production and shade provision, play a crucial role in agroforestry contexts. While Bottle brush trees may not be extensively utilized for timber, their ornamental value and ecological contributions are noteworthy. Overall, the study provides valuable insights into the abundance, morphological characteristics, and ecological significance of tree species within the Company Garden.

Potato is the third most important crop in the world after rice and wheat, with a great social and economic importance in Portugal as it is grown throughout the country, including the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores. The tropical root-knot nematode (RKN) Meloidogyne luci is a polyphagous species with many of its host plants having economic importance and the ability to survive in temperate regions, which pose a risk to agricultural production. In 2019, M. luci was detected from soil samples collected from the council of Santo António in Pico Island (Azores). Bioassays were carried out to obtain females, egg masses, and second-stage juveniles to characterize this isolate morphologically, biochemically, and molecularly. The observed morphological features and morphometrics showed high similarity and consistency with previous descriptions. Concerning the biochemical characterization, the esterase (EST) phenotype displayed a pattern with three bands similar to the one previously described for M. luci and distinct from M. ethiopica. Regarding the molecular analysis, an 1800 bp region of the mitochondrial DNA between cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII) and 16S rRNA genes was analyzed and the phylogenetic tree revealed that the isolate grouped with M. luci isolates (99.17%). This is the first report of M. luci parasitizing potato in the Azores islands, contributing additional information on the distribution of this plant-parasitic nematode.

Vegetables are widely planted all over China, but they often suffer from the some diseases. A method of major technical and economical importance is introduced in this paper, which explores the feasibility of implementing fast and reliable automatic identification of vegetable diseases and their infection grades from color and morphological features of leaves. Firstly, leaves are plucked from clustered plant and pictures of the leaves are taken with a CCD digital color camera. Secondly, color and morphological characteristics are obtained by standard image processing techniques, for examples, Otsu thresholding method segments the region of interest, image opening following closing algorithm removes noise, Principal Components Analysis reduces the dimension of the original features. Then, a recently proposed boosting algorithm AdaBoost. M2 is applied to RBF networks for diseases classification based on the above features, where the kernel function of RBF networks is Gaussian form with argument taking Euclidean distance of the input vector from a center. Our experiment performs on the database collected by Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and result shows that Boosting RBF Networks classifies the 230 cucumber leaves into 2 different diseases (downy-mildew and angular-leaf-spot), and identifies the infection grades of each disease according to the infection degrees.

Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) cultivated in China is regarded as an important vegetable crop and is of considerable economic importance. However, it is susceptible to fusarium wilt, which causes heavy economic losses. Forty‐eight isolates were isolated from diseased bitter gourd plants that displayed typical fusarium wilt symptoms. Based on the morphological features, the rDNA internal transcribed space (ITS) sequences, pathogenicity and host biotypes, all of the isolates tested were pathogenic to the susceptible bitter gourd plants species (cv. ‘Guinongke No. 2’) and were identified as Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. momordicae (FOM). Our results classified different isolates as slightly, moderately or highly virulent. Among the isolates tested, 43 isolates slightly infected bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria var. clavata), whereas they did not infect other species from the family Cucurbitaceae. Genetic diversity among 48 isolates was characterized using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. The number of bands amplified by each primer pairs ranged from 41 to 66, with sizes ranging from 200 to 500 bp. A total of 366 bands were observed, out of which 363 were polymorphic (99.14%). The Nei's genetic identity of the six geographical populations varied from 0.7362 to 0.9707. The mean Nei's gene diversity index (H = 0.2644) and the mean Shannon's information index (I = 0.4071) at species level were higher than ones at populations level, indicated that the variation within populations was greater than that among populations. The Nei's GST (0.5103) and gene flow (Nm = 0.4923) revealed that genetic differentiation was mainly among populations and few gene exchanges. The dendrogram obtained from AFLP marker showed that there was a good correlation between isolates from different geographical locations and their pathogenicity. The AFLP marker effectively distinguished the high virulent isolates from the less virulent isolates. The highly virulent isolates were distinctly separated in different clusters, which indicated a significantly high correlation with the geographical origin in the AFLP dendrogram. The pathogenicity and molecular marker analysis confirmed the presence of variation in virulence as well as genetic diversity among the FOM isolates studied.

Ticks are distributed worldwide and have an enormous medical and veterinary importance owing to the direct damage they cause and indirectly as vectors of a large variety of human and animal pathogens. The family Argasidae (soft ticks) comprises five genera and with about 193 species. Among all the argasid ticks, only four Argas and two Ornithodoros species are competent to transmit diseases. This chapter describes the various ticks of the argasidae family, diseases they transmit, and strategies for their control. A description of the two important genera, Ornithodorus and Argas, that belong to the family argasidae are provided. Emphasis is on the mammalian hosts affected, tick species involved, morphological features (with relevant pictorials), geographic distribution, life cycle, and economic importance. A detailed description of the two most important diseases transmitted by argasidae ticks namely African swine fever (ASF) and avian spirochaetosis is given. Emphasis is laid on the historical background, epidemiology, clinical signs, and strategies for their control.

Great Salt Lake (GSL) is the center of a valuable wetland ecosystem in the Great Basin of North America. The lake is an important site for millions of migratory birds that feed on 2 principal invertebrates, brine shrimp and brine flies (Diptera: Ephydridae). Despite their ecological and economic importance, no genetic studies have been published for either resident GSL invertebrate. The family Ephydridae (shore flies and brine flies) is one of the largest in the order Diptera, with nearly 2000 described species. Members of this family are prominent in a variety of aquatic environments and are particularly interesting because of their adaptation to several marginal habitats, including hot springs, oil ponds, highly saline lakes, and inland alkaline pools and marshes. This report provides cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) DNA barcodes for 5 species of GSL shore flies, distributed among 5 genera and 3 subfamilies. The phylogenetic content of these DNA sequences is explored by comparing a molecular phylogeny to those based on morphological features. Over the past decade, urbanization and inflow diversion have reduced the surface area of GSL by nearly 50%, with unknown consequences for the ecosystem. This study establishes a genetic framework to assess changes in GSL invertebrate diversity important in monitoring the effects of anthropogenic and climate pressures on this important natural resource.

The Brassicaceae is a large plant family (338 genera and 3,700 species) of major scientific and economic importance. The taxonomy of this group has been plagued by convergent evolution in nearly every morphological feature used to define tribes and genera. Phylogenetic analysis of 746 nrDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences, representing 24 of the 25 currently recognized tribes, 146 genera, and 461 species of Brassicaceae, produced the most comprehensive, single-locus-based phylogenetic analysis of the family published to date. Novel approaches to nrDNA ITS analysis and extensive taxonomic sampling offered a test of monophyly for a large complement of the currently recognized tribes and genera of Brassicaceae. In the most comprehensive analysis, tribes Alysseae, Anchonieae plus Hesperideae, Boechereae, Cardamineae, Eutremeae, Halimolobeae, Iberideae, Noccaeeae, Physarieae, Schizopetaleae, Smelowskieae, and Thlaspideae were all monophyletic. Several broadly defined genera (e.g., Draba and Smelowskia) were supported as monophyletic, whereas others (e.g., Sisymbrium and Alyssum) were clearly polyphyletic. Analyses of ITS data identified several problematic sequences attributable to errors in sample identification or database submission. Results from parsimony ratchet and Bayesian analyses recovered little support for the backbone of the phylogeny, suggesting that many lineages of Brassicaceae have undergone rapid radiations that may ultimately be difficult to resolve with any single locus. However, the development of a preliminary supermatrix including the combination of 10 loci for 65 species provides an initial estimate of intertribal relations and suggests that broad application of such a method will provide greater understanding of relationships in the family.

Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata, belonging to Lauraceae family, is an indigenous and endangered species of considerable economic importance in Taiwan. It plays a crucial role as the host for the economically valuable saprotrophic fungus, Taiwanofungus camphorates. However, accurate species identification poses a challenge due to the similarity in morphological features and frequent natural hybridization with closely related species. Acquiring high-quality and pure leaf oils becomes imperative for precise species identification and producing superior goods. In this study, our objective was to establish methodologies for analyzing the chemical composition of leaf essential oils and subsequently apply this knowledge to differentiate among three Cinnamomum species. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was employed to scrutinize the chemical makeup of leaf essential oils from three closely related species: C. kanehirae, C. micranthum, and C. camphora. We utilized Steam Distillation (SD) and steam distillation-solvent extraction (SDSE) methods, with the SDSE-Hexane approach chosen for optimization, enhancing extraction efficiency and ensuring essential oil purity. Through the SDSE-Hexane method, we identified seventy-four compounds distributed across three major classes: monoterpenes hydrocarbons (0.0–7.0 %), oxygenated monoterpenes (3.8–90.9 %), sesquiterpenes hydrocarbons (0.0–28.3 %), and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (1.6–88.1 %). Our findings indicated the presence of more than one chemotype in both C. kanehirae and C. camphora, whereas no specific chemotype could be discerned in C. micranthum. Furthermore, clustering based on chemotypes allowed for the differentiation of samples from the three species. Notably, we demonstrated that the chemical compositions of grafted C. kanehirae remained largely unaffected by the rootstock. Conversely, natural hybrids between C. kanehirae and C. camphora exhibited profiles more closely aligned with C. kanehirae. The optimized extraction method and the chemotype-based classification system established in this study present valuable tools for essential oil preparation, species identification, and further exploration into the genetic variation of Cinnamomum.

Cinnamomum is a member of evergreen aromatic trees and shrubs belonging to Lauraceae. It is reported to have approximately 250 valid species, from tropical and subtropical regions of Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia, and Australasia/Oceania. They are economically important trees; leaf extracts are used to treat wounds, fever, intestinal worms, headaches, and menstrual problems and also have higher antimicrobial activity. It was also effective in wound healing treatment. About 49 species have been reported in India, along with 31 endemic species. They are also cultivated as landscape plants due to their enormous economic and medicinal value. Cinnamomum can be characteristically differentiated by its morphological features, including evergreen trees or shrubs, opposite and trinerved or alternate and innerved leaves, paniculate or cymose inflorescences, trimerous flowers, and nine fertile stamens in three whorls. The systematic account of Lauraceae has been notorious due to asynchronous flowering behavior, imperfectly known species, overlapping variation, and parallel evolution of morphological characters. However, limited attempts have been undertaken on the taxonomy and ecology of Cinnamomum in India. This manuscript provides a detailed account of taxonomic description, distributional status, ecology, economic importance, threats, and conservation efforts of nine endemic and threatened species, Cinnamomum chemungianum , C. filipedicellatum , C. gamblei , C. macrocarpum , C. malabatrum, C. perrottetii , C. riparium , C. travancoricum , and C. walaiwarense from the Western Ghats of India.

The structural parts of brain are similar in all vertebrates, but they differ in their complexity and organization. The avian brain for instance, is organised differently compared to mammals, with variations existing in the relative size and location of their structures. The cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) is a cosmopolitan avian species native to Africa. Despite their economic importance as excellent sentinels in assessing environmental pollutants, there is a dearth of information on their neuroanatomy. Hence, we here investigated their gross morphological features and morphometric parameters, and the cerebellar histology. Twelve transcardi-ally perfused juvenile cattle egrets were studied, with the body and brain weights and brain linear measurements considered. The brain weight constituted 0.46 % of the total body mass, with a strong positive correlation recorded between the body and brain weights (r = 0.9204). Morphologically, the brain was lissencephalic, with the corpus callosum absent and the olfactory bulbs rudimentary with no discernible division into the olfactory bulb, olfactory tract and olfactory lobe. We observed prominent sagittal eminence and vallecula telencephali, as well as an obvious fovea limbica on the dorsal and lateral surfaces of the cerebral hemispheres, respectively. The diencephalic structures were completely covered by telencephalon, with the pineal gland occupying the polygonal space between cerebrum, optic lobe and cerebellum. The mesencephalic tectum appeared as a large oval bilaterally bulging structure with prominent optic tracts and constituted the bulk of the midbrain. There was a dorsal extension of the fourth ventricle into the cerebellum known as the ventriculus cerebelli and the cerebellar histology presented a persistent external granular layering suggestive of a potential for adult neurogenesis. Our data has added relevant literature on the cattle egret brain and could prove useful in comparative, developmental and evolutionary avian neuroanatomy.

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Lobster (infraorder Astacidea) is perhaps the most intensively studied shellfish around the world due to its economic importance (Phillips 2006). Fishery management tools almost universally include catch reporting, but fishery-dependent data such as this often fails to adequately inform managers about the true state of the population (Erisman et al. 2011). Increasingly, fishery-independent surveys are being relied upon to provide the robust information fishery managers require, such as the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigation (CalCOFI). The CalCOFI program attempts to understand and predict variations in the Pacific Sardine (Sardinops sagax) fishery, among others, in California through quarterly sampling of fish larvae and other biological and hydrographic data. This focus on larval stages stems from Hjort’s seminal work in 1914, which hypothesized the recruitment and transition of larval forms into postlarval and juvenile life stages is a critical period in population dynamics (Houde 2008). In modern times, fishery management agencies expend significant effort towards cataloging and understanding recruitment levels and patterns which provide the foundation for most fishery management tools (e.g. stock assessments). Recruitment monitoring is at the core of many of global lobster fishery management programs (Cruz et al. 1995; Acosta et al. 1997; Cruz and Adriano 2001; Phillips et al. 2005; Phillips and Melville-Smith 2005; Phillips et al. 2006; Arteaga-Rios et al. 2007; Phillips et al. 2010). Recruitment monitoring of numerous lobster taxa globally have been well correlated with future catch-rate predictions, typically with a 4 to 5 year time lag (e.g. Gardner et al. 2002; Caputi and Brown 2011; Linnane et al. 2014). Long-term recruitment monitoring programs, such as that in Australia (Linnane et al. 2010), are vital in assessing future stock levels and setting the total allowable commercial catches. Like many lobster species, the California Spiny Lobster (Panulirus interruptus) is an economically important fishery species, supporting one of California’s most valuable fisheries with annual ex-vessel values exceeding $9 million (Porzio et al. 2012). However, unlike many of the world’s lobster fisheries, no California Spiny Lobster recruitment monitoring program exists. Recent attempts to address this data gap have been made using plankton collection (Koslow et al. 2012) and power plant entrapment records (Miller 2014). Plankton collections were unable to reliably predict recent landings while entrapment records were more successful, but both articles noted the likely effect of unknown recreational harvest levels impacting the analyses and final conclusions. While informative, neither existing program fulfills the need for targeted information on California Spiny Lobster recruitment in southern California. Furthermore, as southern California power plants shift away from once-throughcooling, lobster entrapment data may soon be unavailable, in which case no regular abundance estimates of California Spiny Lobster postlarvae will be available. Noting the clear need for lobster recruitment monitoring in California, a pilot program was initiated in Orange County, California with the hopes of establishing a model that Bull. Southern California Acad. Sci. 113(3), 2014, pp. 180–186 E Southern California Academy of Sciences, 2014

Rosa roxburghii Tratt (Rosaceae) of various organ surfaces are widely existing trichomes. Certain varieties have fruits that are thickly covered with macroscopic trichomes. R . roxburghii Tratt (RR) and R . roxburghii Tratt. f. esetosa Ku (RRE) are important commercial horticultural crops in China because of their nutritional and medicinal values. RRE is generally considered a smooth-fruit variant that arose from RR. Despite their economic importance, the morphological and anatomic features of organ trichomes have not been explored in detail for these two rose germplasms. In this research, we investigated the distribution, morphology, and structure of trichomes distributed on the stem, pedicel, fruit, sepal, and marginal lobule sepals (MLS) of RR as well as RRE. This was accomplished using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). There are various shapes of trichomes distributed on the surfaces of stems, pedicels, fruits, and sepals of the two germplasms. Binate prickles arose on the stem nodes in both germplasms, but acicular trichomes, papillary trichomes, and ribbon trichomes were present only on the surfaces of pedicels in RR. Likewise, flagelliform trichomes were present only on the surfaces of pedicels in RRE. Furthermore, a transection of stems shows that thorns in the two germplasms are composed of epidermis, meristematic layer, and parenchyma cells. The trichome epidermis and meristematic layer in stems of RR are composed of round cells, whereas RRE exhibits square cells in the same layers. Trichomes on the fruit of RR were macroscopic and of single flagelliform and acicular shape. RRE exhibited polymorphic trichomes of flagelliform, triangular, capitate glandular, and elliptic glandular shapes on the pericarp. On the surfaces of RR sepals, there are thick macroscopic acicular trichomes. In contrast, RRE sepals presented flagelliform trichomes and capitate glandular trichomes. It is interesting that no trichomes were found on the surfaces of the MLS in the two germplasms; however, stomata were densely packed on the MLS of RRE when compared with RR. For RR, the trichomes on both sepal and fruit are composed of an epidermis layer and parenchyma cells; however, the epidermis cells of sepal trichomes are polygon-shaped, in contrast to the round epidermis cells in fruit. These results suggest that the two rose germplasms are good candidates for understanding the trichome ontogeny in the genus and for further breeding of the smooth organ trait in this rose species.

This paper describes the ecology of a new species of walnut (Juglans) from Primorsky Krai. Critical features of morphology, biology and distribution are given, its contrast with J. mandshurica is substantiated, it is indicated that J. pseudoailanthifolia Urussov, Lobanova, sp. nov. is promising for introduction into landscape plantings on the shores of Primorye, the Tatar Strait (Khabarovsk Territory, Sakhalin Region) and the North-West of Russia. The range of the genus Juglans in Primorye and the Far East (FER) as a whole, as well as in the RFE, has been specified. A comparative characteristic of the morphological and biological features of the newly discovered species with other types of nuts of the Far East was carried out. The hereditary stability of critical traits is substantiated in the systematic and ecological-phytocenotic terms. Biology and economic importance are analyzed and it is proposed to use the species as a genetic and introduction material. The general range of nuts of the Far East was determined as a result of adaptation to the macroclimates of the Paleogene and Neogene.

Fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are amongst the world's worst pests of fruits that cause enormous losses in orchards. Due to their economic importance, fruit flies are severe pests of Mango Mangifera indica L. fruit, and their monitoring and infestation estimation are essential in order to formulate integrated pest management program. For practical field implementation, two variables such as flies per trap per weak were monitored by installation of Steiner traps hung on tree baited with Methyl eugenol attractant and percent fruit infestation through fruit host samplings. Surveillance for flies per trap was done each week by counting trap catches, recording and removing any flies that have been collected in traps and identifying the species. The percentage of fly infestation for mango fruit was examined by randomly analyzing a total of 100 fruits and observing number of fruits showing fruit fly oviposition or injury marks. The results showed that tephritid fruit fly Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) was the predominant species (more frequent and constant) at experimental site. Surveillance of fruit fly populations in mango orchard revealed that peak population of B. zonata (40-30 per trap per week) and fruit infestation (9.05-7.45%) were recorded in June, July and August. The availability of host fruit and its productivity were critical factors affecting population fluctuations of the B. zonata fly. All of this information gives fruit fly activity in an area, an estimate of the population, species composition, sex, growth stage and determining whether the number of pests are increasing or decreasing to decide implementation of pest control operation. Mango (Mangifera indica L.), is one of the most versatile and delicious tropical fruits, and having an outstanding flavor with a range of varieties as a member of the family Anacardiaceae. Mango has a good nutritional value and there is great variation in the form, size, color and quality of the fruits. Mango is an excellent source of vitamin A and C, as well as a good source of potassium, beta-carotene and fiber. Normally, it is produced for human consumption as raw or ripe mango products. During the processing of ripe mango, its peel and seed are generated as waste, which is approximately 40-50% of the total fruit weight. Mango peel is a good source of dietary fiber and its chemical composition may be comparable to that of citrus fiber. The peel has a high value of antioxidant activity and glucose retardation index, while its aroma and flavor are pleasant (Larrauri et al., 1999). Mango canning by-products (seed and peel) together with ensiled mango peel were subjected to