Behavioural modification of a social spider by a parasitoid wasp

1. Manipulation of host behaviour by parasitoids has long captured the imagination of ecologists. Parasitoid wasps in the Polysphincta group of genera develop as external parasitoids of spiders. 2. In the present study, the previously undescribed interaction between a Zatypota sp. wasp (Ichneumonidae) and a social spider Anelosimus eximius (Theridiidae) is described. The larva of this Zatypota wasp is found to induce its host to disperse from their communal web and build an entirely enclosed web consisting of densely spun silk. 3. The wasp is observed to target primarily immature A. eximius individuals, with 37.5–44% of nests in a given area being parasitised. Of those nests, approximately 1.3–2.0% of individuals are hosts to the parasitoid larvae. Larger spider colonies had a significantly higher probability of harbouring parasitoids. 4. This interaction results in unusual behaviours for A. eximius induced by the parasitoid: (i) leaving the protection of the social nest and (ii) building a unique, altered web that it would not otherwise build. It is suggested that the wasp may be tapping into ancestral dispersal behaviours in its host and that a social species provides this wasp an evolutionary advantage by allowing a stable host source.     

Advances in the systematics and evolution of western Mediterranean representative species of the Pentanema conyzae clade through genetic fingerprinting

Forty-five populations of Pentanema corresponding to seven species included in the Pentanema conyzae clade have been studied using AFLP fingerprinting. The results show that allopolyploidization could have been involved in the diversification of this group, specifically in species P. langeanum and P. maletii. Molecular data confirm the presence of P. britannicum in the Iberian Peninsula and key steps are provided to identify the species that are morphologically the most challenging.     

Narratives of success among Irish and African Caribbean migrants

This paper compares the narratives of two men in midlife who migrated to the UK from Ireland and from the Caribbean as children, in the middle of the last century. We examine how success is narrated over the life course to show how migrants’ positioning of themselves differs from the ways in which they are positioned by outsiders, including in policy and public discourse. We conclude that while outsider narratives often polarise success and failure, insider understandings of success are dynamic and culturally and historically situated.     

Qualité et interprétation des examens du bilan biologique de thrombophilie constitutionnelle Cas particulier des principaux inhibiteurs: antithrombine, protéine C et protéine S

Biological screening for hereditary thrombophilia must be performed with constant concern for quality of the results and the interpretation. Different guidelines are available common to most laboratory tests, common to hemostasis tests, thrombophilia screening or specific for each test. These different steps are discussed in this paper with a special focus on the diagnosis of antithrombin, protein C and protein S deficiencies.     

Synthetic approaches to 6-substituted 9-(3-azido-3,4-dideoxy-β-d,l-erythro-pentopyranosyl)purines

Methyl 3-azido-2-O-benzoyl-3,4-dideoxy-β-dl-erythro-pentopyranoside (6) was synthesized through two routes in five steps from methyl 2,3-anhydro-4-deoxy-β-dl-erythro-pentopyranoside (1). The first route proceeded via selective azide displacement of the 3-tosyloxy group of methyl 4-deoxy-2,3-di-O-tosyl-α-dl-threo-pentopyranoside, followed by detosylation and benzoylation. The second route consisted, with a better overall yield, in the azide displacement of the mesyloxy group of methyl O-benzoyl-4-deoxy-3-O-methylsulfonyl-α-dl-threo-pentopyranoside (10), obtained by benzylate opening of 1, followed by benzoylation, debenzylation, and mesylation. Compound 6 was transformed into its glycosyl chloride, further treated by 6-chloropurine to give the nucleoside 9-(3-azido-2-O-benzoyl-3,4-dideoxy-β-dl-erythro-pentopyranosyl)-6-chloropurine (13). When treated with propanolic ammonia, 13 yielded 9-(3-azido-3,4-dideoxy-β-dl-erythro-pentopyranosyl)adenine.