News by Subject Biology

Ozaena ground beetles likely have anatomical adaptations enabling them to parasitize ant nests throughout their life cycle, according to a study published Jan. 16, 2019, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Wendy Moore from the University of Arizona, USA, and colleagues.

The cyanobacteria blooms that plague western Lake Erie each summer are both an unsightly nuisance and a potential public health hazard, producing liver toxins that can be harmful to humans and their pets.

Among the many threats to honey bee colonies around the world, one stands alone: the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor. For decades, researchers assumed that varroa mites feed on blood, like many of their mite and tick cousins. But new University of Maryland-led research suggests that varroa mites have a voracious appetite for a honey bee organ called the fat body, which serves many of the same vital functions carried out by the human liver.

Madariaga virus (MADV), or South American eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV), has -- until now -- been found primarily in animals of South and Central America, with the first human outbreak occurring in Panama in 2010. Now, scientists writing in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases report the identification of MADV in eight children in Haiti in 2015 and 2016.

Known to be feeding on many economically important crops, including maize, sugarcane, beet, tomato, potato and cotton, the larvae of the native to the Americas fall armyworm moth already seem to present a huge threat to the world's yield. Moreover, it only took 2 years for the pest to establish throughout sub-Saharan Africa. A study in the open-access journal NeoBiota looks into the factors and likelihood for it to spread to other regions and continents.

For the first time, a group led by Denise Aumer and Eckart Stolle, at the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg's Institute of Biology, have finally found the root cause responsible for thelytoky syndrome--which dramatically turns bees from altruistic helpers to selfish mercenaries.

A team led by entomologists at the University of California, Riverside, performed a study on the Big Island and found viruses associated with the varroa mite, a parasite of honeybees, have spilled over into the western yellowjacket, a honeybee predator and honey raider. The result is a hidden, yet remarkable, change in the genetic diversity of viruses associated with the larger pathogen community of the mite and wasp, with repercussions yet to be understood.

For years, the diagnosis of scabies has relied on time-consuming and intrusive full-body examinations. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have found that an exam of just a patient's hands, feet and lower legs may have the potential to catch more than 90 percent of all scabies cases, regardless of severity. These speedier exams may be useful in public health assessments on the prevalence of scabies.