Microsporidiosis of Tachinaephagus zealandicus Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) (original) (raw)
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Occurrence of Microsporidia in Hymenopterans
2019
Microsporidia comprises of an obligate intracellular parasites infecting nearly all animals. Its presence has been reported widely in arthropods of class Insecta and mainly in the order hymenopterans. This paper focuses on the investigation of microsporidian infection in hymenopterans collected from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Insects from different families of Formicidae, Vespidae and Apidae were collected and investigated for microsporidian infection. Microscopy and staining technique has been applied for diagnosing the spores of microsporidia and intracellular mode of infection conformity by Scanning Electron Microscope. In the family Formicidae; Black garden ant (Lasius niger) showed 81.8% and Red ant (Solenopsis sp.) showed 82.6% of microsporidian infection. In the family Apidae; Honey bees (Apis mellifera) and Carpenter bees (Xylocopa sp.) revealed 94.1% and 90.4% of microsporidian infection. However, Red wasp (Polistes carolina) of Vespidae family showed only 1.31% of micr...
Environmental Entomology, 2003
The effects of an undetermined species of Nosema on Þtness of the muscoid ßy parasitoid Tachinaephagus zealandicus were examined in the laboratory. Infected female parasitoids that were given honey and water lived about one-half as long as uninfected parasitoids under these feeding conditions. Effects of infection on longevity were strongest at 30ЊC; infected and uninfected females lived 2.8 and 8.7 d, respectively. Infected and uninfected parasitoids that were given only water had similar longevities, but water-onlyÐfed parasitoids had much shorter lifespans than honey-fed parasitoids at all temperatures. Infection did not result in signiÞcant lengthening of development times of immature stages, with male and female parasitoids completing development from egg to adult in Ϸ23, 33, and 60 d at 25, 20, and 15ЊC, respectively. Overall emergence of uninfected parasitoid adults was 16 times greater than infected parasitoids at 15ЊC. Emergence of uninfected parasitoids was 11 and 3 times greater than infected parasitoids at 20 and 25ЊC, respectively, and sex ratios of emerged adults were signiÞcantly more male-biased in infected parasitoids at these temperatures than among uninfected parasitoids. Dissections of uneclosed puparia revealed that many infected parasitoids completed development to the adult stage but did not successfully emerge from host puparia. Infected and uninfected females killed similar numbers of hosts (70 Ð75 house ßy or Sarcophaga bullata larvae killed per group of Þve females in 24 h). Uninfected females parasitized signiÞcantly more house ßy larvae (59.7) and produced more than twice as many adult progeny (311.1) as infected females (34.1 hosts parasitized, 138.3 progeny produced). Infected females parasitized about as many S. bullata hosts as uninfected females and produced slightly fewer adult progeny (588.2 and 460.1 progeny per group of Þve uninfected and infected females, respectively). In tests with individual females given house ßy hosts daily throughout life, uninfected and infected parasitoids had similar longevities (3.9 and 3.7 d, respectively), but uninfected parasitoids produced 2Ð5 times as many adult progeny.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2022
The microsporidium Nosema pyrausta (Paillot) Weiser, 1961 plays an important role in the mortality of the European corn borer Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner, 1796), and shows high virulence to the beet webworm Loxostege sticticalis (Linnaeus, 1761). In contrast, the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella (Linnaeus, 1758) and the gypsy moth Lymantria dispar (Linnaeus, 1758) are referred to as resistant hosts, slightly susceptible to this microparasite. The goal of the present study was to test N. pyrausta against a broad range of lepidopteran species with different taxonomy, physiology, and ecology. The susceptibility to N. pyrausta spores fluctuated greatly among members of various families and superfamilies of Lepidoptera. As many as 13 species tested were found to be refractory (not able to support the development of the microsporidium), including three species of Yponomeutoidea, four species of Papilionoidea, one species of Pyraloidea, two species of Bombycoidea, and three species of Noctuoidea. The species found to be susceptible (with a high proportion of specimens displaying developed infection) included: Evergestis forficalis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Crambidae), Aglais urticae (Linnaeus, 1758) (Nymphalidae), and Dendrolimus sibiricus Chetverikov, 1908 (Lasiocampidae). The species newly found to be highly susceptible (high proportion of infected insects accompanied with high levels of
Parasitology Research, 2009
Encephalitozoon spp. are the primary microsporidial pathogens of humans and domesticated animals. In this experiment, we test the efficacy of four commercial antimicrobials against an Encephalitozoon sp. in an insect host by intra-hemocelic injection. All four antimicrobials, viz., thiabendazole, quinine, albendazole, and fumagillin, significantly reduced but did not eliminate microsporidia spore counts in the grasshopper host. Among these four drugs, thiabendazole was most effective in reducing the microsporidia spore level up to 90%, followed by quinine (70%), albendazole (62%), and fumagillin (59%). No control or quinine-treated animals died, whereas 45% of albendazole animals died. Despite the high mortality induced by albendazole, this drug significantly reduced spore counts, a result not seen in previous per os trials. Among the treatment groups, grasshoppers injected with thiabendazole lost a significant mass. Our study suggests that quinine and related alkaloids should be further examined for antimicrosporidial activity.
The Spread of Infection by the Microsporidan, Nosema disstriae , in Insect Cell Lines 1
The Journal of Protozoology, 1983
Nosema disstriae, a parasite of the forest tent caterpillar, Malacosoma disstria, was cultured with cell lines UMN-MDH-1 (Mulacosoma disstria), IPLB-1075 (Heliothis zea), and BTC-32 (Triatorna infestans). Infected cultured cells were used to infect the healthy cell lines. Electron micrographs of thin sections of 6-day-old cultures revealed infected cells that exocytosed vesicles containing vegetative and immature sporulating forms of the parasite. Some of these forms were believed to be responsible for intercellular transmission of the parasite. The spread of infection was augmented by culturing the cells at high densities; if the density was too low, there was little or no cross infection. Cross infection was inhibited, but not blocked completely, by high osmolality of the culture medium. The yield of spores from a confluent cell monolayer at the end of growth was generally 1-4 x lo7 per ml of culture medium. NE of the main applications of invertebrate cell culture is I This investigation was supported by Research Grant A1 099 14 from the
Effects of the ant Formica fusca on the transmission of microsporidia infecting gypsy moth larvae
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 2013
Transmission plays an integral part in the intimate relationship between a host insect and its pathogen that can be altered by abiotic or biotic factors. The latter include other pathogens, parasitoids, or predators. Ants are important species in food webs that act on various levels in a community structure. Their social behavior allows them to prey on and transport larger prey, or they can dismember the prey where it was found. Thereby they can also influence the horizontal transmission of a pathogen in its host's population. We tested the hypothesis that an ant species like Formica fusca L. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) can affect the horizontal transmission of two microsporidian pathogens, Nosema lymantriae Weiser (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) and Vairimorpha disparis (Timofejeva) (Microsporidia: Burenellidae), infecting the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar L. (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Lymantriinae). Observational studies showed that uninfected and infected L. dispar larvae are potential prey items for F. fusca. Laboratory choice experiments led to the conclusion that F. fusca did not prefer L. dispar larvae infected with N. lymantriae and avoided L. dispar larvae infected with V. disparis over uninfected larvae when given the choice. Experiments carried out on small potted oak, Quercus petraea (Mattuschka) Liebl. (Fagaceae), saplings showed that predation of F. fusca on infected larvae did not significantly change the transmission of either microsporidian species to L. dispar test larvae. Microscopic examination indicated that F. fusca workers never became infected with N. lymantriae or V. disparis after feeding on infected prey.
Infection by the microsporidium of Clado Nosema/Vairimorpha in pupal parasitoids
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências
The sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis is one of the hosts more used for parasitoid pupal multiplication in Brazil. The parasitoids pupal of Trichospilus diatraeae and Palmistichus elaeisis are generalist natural enemies with potential to suppress populations of diverse families of lepidopteran pests. The success in the utilization of these natural enemies in the field is directly related to the capacity of search of the host, this capacity might be affected by the presence of the pathogens. In this context, the aim of this essay was to detect the presence of intracellular parasites of Phylum Microsporidia. These pathogens may cause morphological and behavioral alterations. The presence of infection was verified by microscopy and was confirmed by amplification of region small subunit (SSU) of ribosomal rNA using universal primers for microsporidia of Nosema sp. The purified PCR products were submitted to sequencing, and the sequences that had been obtained were edited and aligned with the sequences in a genbank database. In this way, it was possible to verify the presence of intracellular parasites in T. diatraeae, P. elaeisis and D. saccharalis pertaining to Clade Nosema/Vairimorpha. However, this is the first one report about detection of the microsporidia in the parasitoids T. diatraeae and P. elaeisis.