Coelomomyces opifexi Pillai & Smith (Coelomomycetaceae: Blastocladiales) IV. Host range and relative susceptibility of Aedes australis and Opifex fuscus larvae

Abstract

The host range of Coelomomyces opifexi was investigated. Of the three species of mosquito larvae tested, Aedes australis and Opifex fuscus were susceptible whereas Culex pervigilans was refractory to infection. The results of laboratory infection experiments using inoculum derived from larvae of both species clearly indicated that Ae. australis larvae are more susceptible to infection than O. fuscus; this conclusion is supported by observations of natural infection pools. Of three species of copepods also tested, only Tigriopus sp. cf. angulatus became infected; Cyclops vernalis and C. bicuspidatus proved refractory to infection.     

Cladistic analysis of the Sepsidae (Cyclorrhapha: Diptera) based on a comparative scanning electron microscopic study of larvae

The result of a phylogenetic analysis of the Sepsidae based on larval characters is presented. It is shown that cyclorrhaphan larvae can be as rich a source of characters as Nematocera immatures when investigated using an SEM. The cladistic analysis comprised fifty-two species in sixteen genera of the Sepsidae and five outgroup species and used fifty-seven morphological characters. It found seven parsimonious trees which only differed with respect to the arrangement of some species within the genus Themira. The basal dichotomies of the phylogenetic trees are particularly well supported, indicating the conservative nature of larval characters. Orygma is confirmed as the sister group of all the remaining sepsids, the Sepsinae. There is good larval evidence that Ortalischema is the sister group of all remaining Sepsinae and that the Toxopodinae constitute an early radiation within the Sepsidae. According to larval data, some genera are paraphyletic ( Themira, Palaeosepsis ), but adult characters appear to contradict these findings. Among the traditionally recognized higher taxa within the Sepsidae, Hennig's Themira species-group and Steysbal's Sepsini have to be rejected as polyphyletic. However, Hennig's Sepsis species-group is confirmed as monophyletic and will probably constitute one major element of a future phylogenetic system of the Sepsidae. States of the strongly modified fore-legs of some adult sepsid males are mapped onto the phylogenetic tree, largely confirming Šulc's ideas about the evolution of these features. The origin and evolution of male sternites with brushes and a gland on the tibiae of the males ('osmeterium') are discussed. Whereas adult characters point to a sister-group relationship between the Sepsidae and the Ropalomeridae, larval characters appear to indicate a sister-group relationship between the Coelopidae and the Sepsidae. The evidence for both hypotheses is critically evaluated.     

Differentiation of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) with egg surface morphology and morphometrics using scanning electron microscopy

Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are potential arboviral vectors leading to high human fatality worldwide. Efforts in the present study were made to differentiate the eggs of A. aegypti and A. albopictus morphologically and morphometrically using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Morphometrically, these species’ eggs were 48.48% significantly different of the 33 attributes including egg dimensions, micropylar apparatus, dimensions and density of outer chorionic cells (OCCs), tubercles and width of exochorionic network. In comparison to A. aegypti eggs, A. albopictus eggs were significantly smaller and more tapered at the posterior end; however, the micropylar disc of A. aegypti was wider and had incomplete circular sectors whereas it was a narrower polygon without sectors in A. albopictus. These species were also significantly different with regards to OCC which enclose both large central and small peripheral tubercles. Specifically, the exochorionic networks in A. aegypti were interwoven, reticulated and extensively wide whereas they were narrow, prominent and solid-wall-like in A. albopictus. This feature may strengthen A. albopictus eggs against desiccation, when they are laid in containers. The morphometrical and morphological analysis of the egg’s attributes of A. aegypti and A. albopictus may be helpful in understanding egg biology as well as in species confirmation.     

Cosmos pollen ontogeny: A scanning electron microscope study

Summary Ontogenetic data concerning pollen not only clarifies the mode of deposition of the elaborate walls but has considerable functional and taxonomic relevance. Hitherto such studies have used optical or transmission electron microscopy but here a recently devised preparative technique has enabled pollen development inCosmos bipinnatus to be studied using the scanning electron microscope. The technique involves freeze-fracturing of osmium fixed, cryoprotected anthers, maceration in dilute osmium tetroxide, critical point drying, sputter coating and examination. The processes of pollen wall development can then be observed in three dimensions, an important aid to understanding the spatial relationships involved in the determination of ornamentation and apertures. Details of the pollen and tapetum are described at various stages between meiosis and anthesis. A close conformity is demonstrated between the results obtained and those of earlier transmission electron microscopic studies of the same and related species although very different interpretations are made.     

访花昆虫红腹毛蚊触角感器扫描电镜观察

【目的】本研究旨在明确访花昆虫红腹毛蚊Bibio rufiventris触角感器的类型和分布。【方法】通过扫描电镜(scanning electron microscope, SEM)观察红腹毛蚊雌、雄成虫触角感器的种类、数量和形态,比较雌雄个体间的差异。【结果】红腹毛蚊雌、雄成虫触角均包含3部分,分别为柄节、梗节和鞭节,其中鞭节由8个亚节组成。雌成虫触角平均总长度为862.556±78.662μm,雄成虫触角平均总长度为880.361±83.253μm,雌、雄成虫触角各亚节的长度几乎相似,只有鞭节第8亚节长度有显著差异。红腹毛蚊的触角感器共有4大类,即刺形感器、锥形感器、毛形感器和B?hm氏鬃毛。其中,雌性红腹毛蚊触角感器共有6种亚型,即刺形感器、毛形感器2型、锥形感器(1, 2和4型)和B?hm氏鬃毛;雄性红腹毛蚊触角感器共有5种亚型,即刺形感器、毛形感器1型、锥形感器(2和3型)和B?hm氏鬃毛。【结论】红腹毛蚊雌、雄成虫触角感器在种类、数量以及形态特征方面存在一定差异。本研究为进一步探究红腹毛蚊触角感器的生理功能及其行为活动的分子机制提供了形态学基础。     

Mechanical wear of the gastropod radula: a scanning electron microscope study

The wear sustained by the teeth of the highly mineralized radula of Patella vulgata and the unmineralized radula of Agriolomax reticulatus has been studied with the scanning electron microscope. The unworn teeth of P. vulgata have tall pointed cusps and wear is first seen as a chipping of the tips then as abrasion. There is a well defined abraded surface giving the worn teeth a chisel shape. In cleaved teeth fibres ˜ 800 Å in diameter are observed parallel to the axis of the tooth. Evidence is presented for chemical etching and for the existence of a surface coat on the tooth. A. reticulatus teeth show wear over their whole surface. With the aid of the grooves in the jaw caused by the teeth the role of the jaw in flattening the radula and protracting and retracting the odontophore is confirmed. From the arrangement of the abraded surfaces on the teeth of P. vulgata it was deduced that the teeth rows are abraded one at a time while on a convex surface at or near the bending plane.     

Peritoneal fine structure of inguinal hernia: a scanning electron microscope study

Mesothelial cells of the normal human peritoneum of the anterior abdominal wall are covered with numerous surface microvilli. These cells become partially denuded inside the sacs of direct and indirect inguinal hernias and so lose the protective property the microvillar covering may impart on them. These mesothelial cells of hernial sacs also acquire an extensive surface coat of fibrin-like material, presumably due to the loss of that protective property, which may as a result subject them to adhesions. There is a considerable collagen build-up in the subserosal fibrous tissue of sacs of both direct and indirect inguinal hernias. Such a build-up is at variance with the accepted current surgical concept which suggests a defect in collagen synthesis, rather than a build-up, as the cause of direct hernia.     

The organization of the mammalian kinetochore: a scanning electron microscope study

Summary A procedure has been developed for scanning electron microscopy that enables the visualization of kinetochores along the surface of isolated chromosomes of the Indian muntjac. Indirect immunofluorescence and thin section analysis of the kinetochores of those isolated chromosomes verified that these structures retained in vivo composition and morphology during the isolation procedure. In scanning electron micrographs the outer surface of the outer kinetochore plate can be visualized as a series of fibers 25–30 nm in diameter that are arranged across the plate. These images are comparable to those obtained by whole mount transmission electron microscopic procedures (Rattner 1986) and are compatible with a model of the kinetochore in which chromatin fiber from the body of the chromosome extend to the outer kinetochore plate.     

Kupffer's vesicle in Fundulus heteroclitus: a scanning and transmission electron microscope study

Kupffer's vesicle, a transitory organ peculiar to teleost embryos, was investigated in embryos of Fundulus heteroclitus by scanning electron microscopy. The roof of the vesicle is constructed to rather large columnar cells which are in continuity wiht hypoblast cells. Each of the roof cells is adorned with a single long cilium which emerges from a depression in the center of the surface and extends into the cavity of the vesicle. Studies with a transmission electron microscope confirm and extent these observations. The surface of the roof of the vesicle variously exhibits the presence of droplets and viscous and/or filamentous material. The exposed surface, however, sometimes appears clean and somtimes appears to have undergon partial destruction. The periblast floor of the vesicle is characterized by the presence of numerous folds and/or microvillus projections into the cavity of the vesicle. A filamentous precipitate is sometimes present. These observations are discussed in terms of the possible functional significance of this unique evanescent organ of the teleost embryo.     

Cuticular morphology of five species of Dirofilaria: a scanning electron microscope study

Cuticular markings of five species of Dirofilaria were examined by SEM. Variations in the patterns on the en face view were observed among the species. Transverse striations were observed on the cuticles of all five species, but longitudinal ridges were lacking on Dirofilaria immitis, the type species of the subgenus Dirofilaria. They were present on the other four species, Dirofilaria repens, Dirofilaria tenuis, Dirofilaria corynodes, and Dirofilaria magnilarvatum, members of the subgenus Nochtiella. Longitudinal ridges and other cuticular structures and patterns were seen to vary among the species and with the portion and aspect of the worm examined. It is suggested that SEM would be a good tool for a detailed study of specific cuticular morphology of all species of Dirofilaria, thus contributing toward their differentiation and recognition.     

Red cell fragmentation in human disease (a light and scanning electron microscope study)

Although the mechanism of schizocyte formation has been amply documented in animal experiments and in in-vitro models, the fragmentation encounter between flowing red cells and fibrin strands has not previously been successfully demonstrated in human, microangiopathic disease. If blood flow is restored briefly in vitro immediately prior to tissue fixation, the instant of red cell fragmentation can be captured. Examination of tissue specimens fixed in this manner shows a pathophysiologic process that amplifies the findings previously described in other studies. In the patient under study, the microangiopathic process was widespread in all specimens of pulmonary and renal tissue that had been fixed after brief restoration of blood flow. Small arteries as well as the true microcirculation of both organs were involved. The microangiopathic process in the small arteries and arterioles presented as a partially occlusive thrombus of characteristic histology. The pulmonary capillaries contained linear fibrin microclots festooned with distorted and partially fragmented red cells. The microcirculation of the kidney showed the same findings as well as amorphous, sludged, occlusive red cell masses, particularly in the renal medulla.     

A scanning electron microscope study of microvascular anastomoses.

The abdominal aortas of 30 rats were sutured under an operating microscope. The results were studied under a scanning electron microscope at 8 different periods after operation, ranging from 3 minutes to one month. The observations are presented.     

疟疾媒介中华按蚊触角感器的扫描电镜观察

【目的】明确中华按蚊Anopheles sinensis雌成虫与幼虫触角感器的类型、形态和分布。【方法】利用光学显微镜观察中华按蚊成虫与幼虫触角的形态结构,利用扫描电镜观察触角上的感器类型、形态和分布。【结果】中华按蚊雌成虫触角由柄节、梗节和鞭节组成,鞭节有13个亚节。触角上共发现4种类型的感器,分别为毛形感器(锐型和钝型)、刺形感器(大型和小型)、锥形感器(Ⅰ型和Ⅱ型)和腔锥形感器(大型和小型)。雌成虫触角各类感器总计约1 135.67±86.75个,其中毛形感器数量最多(662.00±6.22个),随后是刺形感器(294.67±33.35个)和锥形感器(146.00±42.39个),腔锥形感器数量最少(36.50±5.90个)。毛形感器、刺形感器和锥形感器在鞭节的每个亚节均有分布,而大型腔锥形感器在第9-11亚节没有分布,小型腔锥形感器仅分布于第13节的顶端。幼虫触角的鞭节不分亚节,呈管状,触角末端有一个感觉锥,鞭节上分布有与成虫锥形感器相似的锥形凸起,初步定名为类锥形感器,其数量和大小随幼虫龄期的增长而显著增加,锥体表面的凹槽越来越明显,其功能还需要通过超微结构和电生理等研究进一步确定。【结论】本研究对中华按蚊幼虫和雌成虫触角感器的形态特征、类型、数量及其分布进行了观察和分析,结果为进一步研究中华按蚊感器的生理功能奠定了基础。