Dear all,
 
 I am looking for information regarding the artificial feeding, using membranes, of the cattle tick Amblyomma
Hebraeum. I would  be very grateful for any references and any general information regarding the artificial feeding of
ticks would also be welcome.
 
 
 
             Thank you for your help,
 
 
 
                     Steve Corrigan.
 

Hi everyone
I am trying to obtain DNA from a single Boophilus microplus  tick larvae. I
am boiling after macerating my larvae in 15 ul of TE buffer. I have obtained
enough DNA for PCR  but only with a half of the samples (50%). Does somebody
have experience or literature that could recomend me about this. Sugestions
are welcomed
Thank you very much for your help

Ruben Hernandez
Texas A&M University
 

Hi all,

An Australian zoo has an interesting problem with a pterygosomatid mite
attacking the Fijian Crested Iguana, and I'm trying to provide them with
some taxonomic support.  The mite keys to Hirstiella Berlese in Davidson
1958.  Does anyone know of a key to the species?

From Newell & Ryckman 1964 and Jack & Girot 1965 I can tell that it is not
H. pelaezi, pyriformis, or insignis (or H. trombidiiformis since this mite
lacks a lateral eye), but near H. bakeri and H. boneti (i.e. two pairs of
setae on the scutum).  I haven't been able to track down the source of
these names yet.

NB - for a first approximation, I would have guessed they belong to the
Raphignathina rather than Anystina.

Cheers,

Dave Walter
 

Dr David Evans Walter
Department of Zoology & ENTOMOLOGY
Hartley-Teakle Building
The University of Queensland
St Lucia, QLD 4072 Australia

phone: 07-3365-1564
fax: (61) 7-3365-1922

Visit the Mite Image Gallery at:
http://www.uq.edu.au/entomology/mite/mitetxt.html
 

Greetings all!
I'm looking at some mites samples from a farmer's field. There is a concern
of crop damage and the main critter I'm seeing is Bryobia. Does anyone know
of a species level key for this genus? I'd appreciate any information.
Thanks in advance!
Regards,
Jeff
********************************************************************
Jeff Battigelli P.Ag., R.P.Bio.
Dept. of Biological Sciences
CW-405 Biological Sciences Bldg.
University of Alberta      Voice:(780) 492-0463
Edmonton,  AB              FAX : (780) 492-9234
T6G 2E9                    email: jbattige@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
********************************************************************
Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.

At 9:11 AM -0600 6/7/1999, J. Battigelli wrote:
>Greetings all!
>I'm looking at some mites samples from a farmer's field. There is a concern
>of crop damage and the main critter I'm seeing is Bryobia. Does anyone know
>of a species level key for this genus? I'd appreciate any information.

There is a key to North American species in:

Baker, E.W. & D.M. Tuttle. 1994.  A guide to the spider mites
(Tetranychidae) of the United States.  Indira Publishing House, West
Bloomfield, Michigan. 347pp.

Barry M. OConnor                phone: (734) 763-4354
Museum of Zoology               FAX: (734) 763-4080
University of Michigan          e-mail: bmoc@umich.edu
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079  USA
 

Dear All,

I am wanting to make contact with persons working on, or with an interest in
marine Hydrachnidia (Hydrachnellae?). Various species of these mites are
appearing in our rocky-shore samples. We would be happy to exchange
specimens for their identification. If anyone is aware of such persons not
on the list, I would be grateful to receive their addresses.

Kind regards

David Marshall
 
 
 

Dr David J Marshall
Department of Zoology
University of Durban-Westville
P/Bag X54001
Durban 4000
SOUTH AFRICA

Phone:  +27-31-2044460 (NUMBER CHANGED)
Fax:    +27-31-2044790
 

 
Dear All,

I am wanting to make contact with persons working on, or with an interest
in Mites :
House Dust, Stored Food, Feader, or others that could be found in House Dust.
I Would be honored if you Dear Collegue  could give me "references" or some
 books about it, and where find them !
Please send to :
Dr. Isaac Aisenberg Ferenhof , From Brazil , Ixodides Lab, Prof.
Serra-Freire's Team, FIOCRUZ.
We would be happy to have more specimens knoledge  for their identification.
Thanking in advace for your time . effort wiht these  "Fellow"  here,
Kind regards ,
[ ]'s
Isaac Ferenhof
e-mail <<< ferenhof@olimpo.com.br>>>
 

 
Dear All

Some researchers in the Microbiology Department here are experiencing a
serious mite infestation of fungal cultures. They approached a horticultural
company and were given a list of names of miticides for possible use
(Abamectin, Acrinathrin, Azocyclotin, Cyhexatin, Bifenthrin, Chofentezine,
Amitraz, Fenpropathrin, Chlorphenapyl - active ingredients). My question is,
are all of these equally effective in controlling the mites? If not can
anyone advise, which should be used? Any other suggestions would be welcome.
I have identified the mite as an astigmatid.

Regards

David
 
 

Dr David J Marshall
Department of Zoology
University of Durban-Westville
P/Bag X54001
Durban 4000
SOUTH AFRICA

Phone:  +27-31-2044460 (NUMBER CHANGED)
Fax:    +27-31-2044790
 

Dear Colleagues:

I prepared archives of all the messages posted on this list during the last
two months and placed them on the acarology home page for future reference.
You may access it from the news section of the main page or go directly to:

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/acarology/archives.html

When I first started this list, I prepared archives but could not continue
due to the shortage of time. I like a volunteer from the list who is
willling to help me to maintain an archive page on the web for members.  If
you have kept most messages posted in the past and are willing to help the
acarology community in this capacity, please let me know.  We can then
discuss how we can proceed.
Thank you for your attention!
 

Zhi-Qiang Zhang
Owner, Acarology list

Dr Zhi-Qiang Zhang
Acarologist, Landcare Research
Auckland, New Zealand
 
 

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
 

Hi,
can anybody tell me where I can find a software programme to calculate LT50
and LT95?

Would appreciate any insights or information,

Dr Michele Maroli
 

address
Istituto Superiore di Sanita'
Department of Parasitology
Viale Regina Elena, 299 - 00161 - Rome, Italy
Tel. ++39 06 49902302 - Fax ++39 06 49387065
e-mail: maroli@iss.it
home page ISS: http://www.iss.it

Just for your info. So serious problem highlighted in so serious sources.
What going on? Why we are still without so serious grants?..

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The Plite of the Humble bee

(scanned and recognized from Financial Times, June 12-13, 1999)

A tiny mite is threatening to wipe out the UK's honey bee, causing
environmental problems. Kevin Brown reports on the battle to save a vital
friend of the farmer.

Summer has arrived at last, and the countryside is bursting into bloom: The
birds are singing, butterflies waft gently by on the breeze, and in the
fields the honey bees are buzzing. Or perhaps not.

Most people who live in the country will have noticed fewer bees around. But
even country dwellers may not realise that Britain's bees are quite
literally fighting for survival. Some experts think they may lose, with
nasty implications for farming and the environment.

The principal enemy is a tiny mite, only just big enough to be seen with the
naked eye, called varroa jacobsoni. Discovered seven years ago in Devon,
south-west England, and Suffolk in the east, it has been marching steadily
northwards, and is now entrenched in virtually every English and Welsh
county. Ireland and Scotland are less affected, but both have had outbreaks.

Varroa is doubly lethal. It carries or "triggers" deadly viruses (no-one is
quite sure which), and it buries itself in the sealed cells inside the hive
where the larval bees pupate. There, it sucks out their bodily fluids. The
bees emerge with damaged legs or wings, or are simply too weak to perform
their function in the complex life of the colony.

Varroa was first identified at the turn of the century living on an Asian
honey bee species called apis cerana. No-one knows how or when it jumped
species to the European honey bee, apis mellifera. But by the 1990s it was
widespread in continental Europe.

It probably crossed the English Channel as a result of illegal trading of
queen bees to increase stocks, or in commercial shipping. The trade was
outlawed to prevent varroa entering the UK. However it got here, varroa has
been a disaster. British beekeepers say their bees seem to suffer more than
those in mainland Europe, perhaps because the cooler, wetter weather makes
the bees more susceptible to the mite or the associated viruses, or both.

The agriculture ministry spends about œ1.3m ($2m) a year on research into
bee health, mainly on varroa, and has put an extra œ250,000 into the battle
this year. Two chemical treatments have now been licensed and are available
on plastic strips that can be stuck into hives. Beekeepers have also
developed a range of more traditional treatments, including formic acid,
marjoram oil and lactic acid.

Traditional or chemical, the treatments seem to work. Beekeepers say
thousands of mites shower down through treated hives, looking like little
black crabs. But treatments are ineffective over the long term. There is no
way to stop bees from healthy colonies picking up mites from flowers on
which they are

feeding. And other colonies become reinfected because drones - the male bees
whose main job is to mate with the queen - sometimes move from one hive to
another. The ministry's scientists say that national losses are about 30 per
cent of colonies a year.

Some areas have been much harder hit. In the southern county of Kent, still
the garden of England and home to the bulk of Britain's soft fruit growers,
losses have been as high as 90 per cent. This is a serious problem for
farmers, for whom bees are one of the main ways of pollinating flowering
crops such as oilseed rape, linseed, field beans and fruits.

The Bee Farmers' Association runs a "bees on wheels" scheme called the
National Pollination Service that puts farmers and fruit growers in touch
with beekeepers whose hives can be transported to the farm for a fee, and
left there while pollination takes place. But varroa has so thinned out bees
that farmers may now be 100 miles from the nearest bee farm big enough for
the job.

"Unless it suddenly becomes very profitable, which is unlikely, I am very
pessimistic," says Mike Williams, the pollination secretary of the BFA. "I
think there may be a time in a few years when farmers will find it very
difficult to get bees."

Varroa is also destroying millions of wild honey bees, the ones formerly
seen nesting in trees, or sometimes chimneys. Many areas in southern England
that used to support 15 or 20 wild colonies in a couple of square miles now
have none. "I would be surprised if there was a 100 per cent wipe out of
wild honey bees, but I would not be surprised if 99 per cent disappeared,"
says Peter Dalby, chairman of the Beekeepers' Association's technical group.

"This is quite serious. A honey bee colony can be 50,000 to 80,000 bees. If
you have lost 20 colonies in a couple of square miles, that is a lot of
pollinators gone, and it is going to have a big impact on the environment."

The good news for bee lovers is that bumble bees - the big stripy bees most
often seen in gardens - are immune to varroa, as are more than 100 kinds of
solitary bees that inhabit the British Isles. But the bad news is that these
bees are becoming less common too, because agriculture and tidier gardens
are destroying their habitat. Their numbers are simply too small, in any
case, to replace the lost millions of honey bees.

Some arable farmers are setting up their own apiaries to help keep numbers
up. But varroa will not go away. "We are not going to overcome this," says
Medwyn Bew, head of the National Bee Unit. "It is possible to maintain
colonies in spite of it - that has been done in other parts of the world.
But we are going to have to work very hard at it."
 

Dear friends,
        I am in need of the following reprint:
PUTMAN, W. L. 1939. The plum nursery mite(Phyllocoptes fockeui Nalepa
and Trt). Ann. Rep. Entomol. Soc. Ontario 70: 33-40.
        Our library could not find it locally. Would you be so kind as to
supply me with a copy.
        Thanking you in anticipation
        Regards
        Eddie Ueckermann
ARC-Plant Protection Research Institute
Private Bag X134
Pretoria
0001 South Africa
Tel. No. +27-12-329 3272 x 221
Fax. No. +27-12-329 3278
E-mail: rieteau@plant2.agric.za

Hallo,
Can anybody help me with the e-mail address of Dr Thomas Schwalbe at the
Staatliches Museum fur Naturkunde, Gorlitz, Germany.
Thank you in advance
Louise Coetzee
----------------------------------------------------------
Louise Coetzee         Tel: + 27 51 4479609
Dept of Acarology      Fax: + 27 51 4476273
National Museum        acarol@nasmus.co.za
P.O. Box 266           www.nasmus.co.za
Bloemfontein
9300 South Africa