Colleagues-

Does anyone on the list have access to these articles?  I will reimburse any
costs.

1. Glukhov VF, Novikov VG, Dorofeev VI, Kravtsov VA.
[Chicken ticks, reservoirs and vectors of fowl Mycoplasma]
Veterinariia. 1978 Sep;(9):53-5. Russian.

2. Shifrine M, Bailey KP, Stone S
Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia: isolation of Mycoplasma mycoides var.
mycoides from ticks collected from infected cattle and infection attempts
using these ticks.Bull Epizoot Dis Afr. 1972 Jun;20:43-5

I thank all of those  in advance that respond.

Best wishes-

Jim Occi
Research Microbiologist
Merck Research Labs
Bldg R80y-325
PO Box 2000
Rahway, New Jersey 07065
USA

ACAROLOGY SUMMER PROGRAM at OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
(second announcement)

The 2002 session of the Acarology Summer Program will be held from June 24
- July 12 at the campus of the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.

For the 2002 session we will be offering the following workshops:

INTRODUCTORY ACAROLOGY (June 24 - June 29)
This one-week workshop will present an overview of the identification,
systematics and biology of the major groups of Acari.  A second emphasis
will be on the techniques (study,  collection, preservation) used in
acarology. The course is designed as either a stand alone course or as an
introduction for the novice to prepare for the other, more specialized,
workshops (Klompen)

SOIL ACAROLOGY (June 24 - July 12)
This three-week workshop will concentrate on the Acari associated with soil
and litter.  Week one will concentrate on Mesostigmata (Walter), week two
on Prostigmata (Welbourn), and week three on Oribatida (Norton).
Arrangements for additional lecturers are being finalized.  The main
emphasis is on identification and systematics of both adults and immatures,
but this course will have a strong secondary emphasis on ecology and
life-history.

MEDICAL - VETERINARY ACAROLOGY (July 1 - July 12)
This workshop will review the various Acari associated with humans and
domestic animals. Week one will concentrate on ticks (Ixodida), while week
two covers all other groups of mites. In addition to the main emphasis of
identification, tick week will include extensive discussions of disease
transmission (Needham, Schwan, Klompen).  Week two will include discussions
of various Mesostigmata and Astigmata (including feather mites, OConnor),
chiggers (Trombiculoidea, Welbourn), and miscellaneous Prostigmata
(Klompen) in addition to detailed discussions of dust mites (Needham)

AGRICULTURAL ACAROLOGY  (UPDATE)
A combination of increasing costs and  declining enrollment forced us to
consider scheduling this workshop in alternating years.  This workshop was
scheduled for 2003 and not for 2002.  However, in a prior announcement we
noted that Agricultural Acarology might be offered if we have enough people
interested in taking this workshop in 2002. We are close to the critical
number to make this workshop viable for us, so if you would be interested
taking this workshop this year (2002), please let us know, and let us know
soon.  Addition of this workshop is not a guarantee, but the more folks are
interested in coming, the more we will try to add it.

Information on registration, fee structure, and financial aid can be found
on our web-site http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~acarolog/sum2k1.htm or by
contacting Glen Needham (needham.1@osu.edu) or Hans Klompen
(Klompen.1@osu.edu).

Dr. Hans Klompen
Ohio State University                      | Tel: (614) 292-7180
Museum of Biological Diversity      | FAX: (614) 292-7774
1315 Kinnear Rd.                            | E-mail: klompen.1@osu.edu
Columbus, OH 43212-1192

PLEASE READ, SIGN AND FORWARD TO FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES, THANK YOU!!!
 Through a fellowship system, the Argentinean State annually provides a
number of young scholars with the means to further their education
abroad.
These young people are supposed to enhance their skills in some of the
world
's finest institutions and come back to work in our country.

 Due to the present situation, more than 50 students are currently
living in
several countries around the world without the benefit of receiving
their
October, November and December stipends. They are not able to receive
neither social, nor familiar support because cash flow from Argentina to

the
rest of the world is forbidden. Argentinean credit cards are of almost
no
use.

 Some of these students are unable to handle this severe situation and
are
considering the possibility of going back to Argentina with an
interrupted
education. Payments were arranged a month ago by the CONICET (the
fellowship
awarding institution) but the transfer has not been yet authorized by
the
Banco Central (Main Argentinean Bank).

 Please, send your support to this e-mail address:

 becariosar@yahoo.com.ar

To the President of CONICET
To the President of the Banco Central

We the undersigned  hereby request that you authorize the payment of the

"CONICET External Fellowships".

Tenths of young Argentinean students, chosen by this fine institution
through public competition,
are currently in a severe economic situation due to the delays in the
payment of the October, November and December stipends.
We believe that the Argentinean economical crisis should not result in
the
vulnerability of these young people studying in
several countries around the world only to go back and develop their
knowledge and professions in Argentina.
 

Yours Sincerelly,

--
-------------------------------------------
Hugo R. Fernandez
Flathead Lake Biological Station
311 BioStation Lane,
Polson,  MT 59860-9659
......................................................
E mail hugof@selway.umt.edu
 

There are several research funding pools that are contributed
to and awarded by consensus among beekeepers.

This is a request for informal proposals for research by
acarologists that might be of practical value to the beekeeping
community as applied to the mite "Varroa Destructor".

Background
-----------------

A mite that has only recently even been properly identified,
as "varroa destructor" (first mis-identified as "Varroa jacobsoni")
is agreed to be the primary cause of the near complete
elimination of feral honeybee colonies in most of the temperate
zones worldwide, and is known to be a major factor, if not the
primary factor in much higher rates of managed honeybee colony
losses.

A mixed bag of pesticide and non-pesticide approaches have
been attempted to manage and limit mite populations, but
there are no known long-term solutions with promise.

At first, fluvalinate-impregnated strips were used, in the form of
a product named Apistan.  Apistan-resistant varroa were soon
discovered.

Formic acid in a gel-pack was introduced under the name
"Apicure", but was found to be less effective than Apistan,
and marketing was suspended due to problems with the
packaging of the gel-pack leaking.  It is not known when
or if this product will be marketed again.

The next chemical trotted out was a coumaphos-impregnated
plastic strip trade-named CheckMite+.  While only limited use
has been permitted under special temporary EPA exemptions,
coumaphos-resistant mites have already been confirmed.

There have been attempts to utilize less toxic substances
including essential oils, food-grade mineral oil, and various
steam-vapors thereof.  Results in controlled studies have
not been encouraging, but most of the work done on these
substances has been flawed by a lack of adequate controls,
and both a lack of an impartial stance and a lack of scientific
training/credentials by those undertaking the "studies".

The sole exception in the "non-toxic" work has been the
development of a technique involving the "dusting" of a
colony with confectioners powdered sugar, which clogs up
the tarsal pads of the varroa, and allows them to fall through
a screen-mesh colony floor, where they cannot reach another
bee, and die.  While this method clearly works, it is very labor
intensive, and impractical for commercial beekeepers with
large numbers of hives.  It remains an excellent diagnostic
tool.

Preliminary work is now being done in bee breeding that
appears to have resulted in the ability to select and breed
queens for a trait that (somehow) suppresses mite reproduction.
While the mites do not reproduce at as a high a rate, the
mechanism by which mite reproduction is "suppressed" is
not understood, and only limited test have been done to date.

A good overview of the history of attempts at varroa control
in the USA from the beekeeper's perspective can be found here:

http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~mts/apishtm/threads/varroa.htm
 

Request For Proposals
---------------------------------

Acarology is not the specialty of most, if not all the researchers
who have worked on the "varroa problem" to date.  Since the
mite affects honey bees, funding has been given to scientists
known to beekeepers with a track record in working with bees.

Acarologists clearly have expertise that may apply to the
problems at hand - we need your insight.

The mere fact that beekeepers are even considering the use of
the highly toxic organophosphate "coumaphos" should make it
clear that we running out of viable alternatives.

An ideal approach would be to find a varroa-specific predator,
parasite, virus, or other biological control that would be harmless
to bees and not become a pest itself.

Another approach might be to better understand the mites
themselves, and take approaches used in other pest-control
efforts, such as introducing large numbers of sterile mites
into infested hives in an attempt to break the breeding cycle
and prevent varroa from overwhelming a colony.

Any proposal would be welcome, as this mite has defied the
best efforts of the beekeeping community.  (If we had any
promising ideas, we would not be asking for proposals,
would we?)

Proposal Format
------------------------

Please draft proposals in English, and use "plain text",
of the type that could be submitted to this e-mail list.
If prior papers are to be attached to your submission,
they can be in PDF, Microsoft Word 95/97, html, or
other common formats.  (When in doubt, simply attach
the attachment, and do your best to explain what
specific software was used to create it.)

Proposal Complexity
------------------------------

We are mere beekeepers, and may not understand
much of what acarologists consider to be "standard
terminology", so we encourage all to use plain English
where possible, define terms, and speak to us as you
might a small child, member of the press, or your dean.

Funding Amounts
-------------------------

While we would prefer multi-phase projects with budgets
that do not require large up-front allocations, we are happy
to discuss any scenario, and will engage in discussions
with ALL respondents to give fair consideration to all.

Funding Sources
------------------------

No government funds are to be used.  These are private
funds, mostly contributions by beekeepers and the firms
that make beekeeping supplies.  Since varroa appears to
be a "survival issue" for the industry as a whole, we will
continue to raise funds.  Specific proposals of interest
would help in fundraising, since a synopsis of the proposal
will clearly motivate higher contributions to the funding pool.

Peer Review
------------------

The closest thing to "peers" we might have to review proposals
would be retired scientists who keep bees as a hobby,
a handful of entomologists, and some agriculture
extension agents.  There is no lack of college-educated,
clear-thinking people, but we must stress that any
"review" will likely take the form of several passes of
question/answer.  Consider us laymen.  We will make
every effort to be supportive and cooperative.  We want
to fund promising investigation work.

Joint Ventures/Participation
----------------------------------------

No limits.  Any number can participate.  We fund
projects, not institutions.

Support
-----------

We will work to make whatever resources we can
provide available to respondents, including bee colonies,
equipment, technical consultation from those who focus
on bees, and of course, an unlimited supply of varroa mites.
When it doubt, ask.  You'd be surprised what resources we
might be able to supply.

Timeframe
---------------

We'd like to see expressions of interest and preliminary
statements of capability within the month, simply to
identify the interested parties.  We expect a dialogue,
rather than a formal "submission", so we will not impose
any deadlines.

Where To Send Replies
----------------------------------

Please send all e-mail to jfischer@supercollider.com,
and use the term "Varroa" in the subject line.  We can
distribute all correspondence for you.

Thank you in advance for your consideration,

 james fischer

Dear all,

I'm looking for information on the ecology of the Oribatids and Mesostigmata listed below. Of particular interest is GENERATION TIMES, INTRINSIC RATE OF GROWTH (r), POPULATION CHANGES OVER TIME, DISPERSAL RATES. If no specific information, then more general  information on the differences between Oribatids, Mesostigmata and Prostigmata in ecology would be really useful.
I'm aware of the literature by Norton, Luxton, Berthet and Mitchell.

Oribatids;
Chamobates borealis
Sphaerozetes  piriformis
Tectocepheus sarekensis
Quadroppia quadricarinata
Achipteria nitens
Carabodes marginatus
Carabodes labyrinthicus
Oribatula  tibialis
Porobelba spinosa
Damaeus clavipes
Carabodes willmanni
Odontocepheus elongatus
Minunthozetes  pseudofusiger
Chamobates cuspidatus
Moritzoppia  oreia
Ramusella  Ramusella

Mesostigmata:
Pergamasus crassipes (Linnaeus 1758),
Paragamasus integer (Bhattacharryya 1963)
Paragamasus schweizeri (Bhattacharryya 1963)
Paragamasus processiferus (Halbert, 1915)
Zercon zelawaiensis (Sellnick 1944)
Paragamasus robustus (Oudemans 1902)
 

Thanks for your attention,
Martin Hoyle.

Martin Hoyle,
School of Life and Environmental Sciences,
University of Nottingham,
University Park,
Nottingham,
NG7 2RD,
UK

Dear oribatologists:
Is there anybody working on Protoribatidae? Or, someone that worked on it
in the past? I have two new species (from Argentina), related with
Maculobates-Totobates-Ingella... even Liebstadia (similis), but
artificiality of keys make hard a good classification. I'd like to discuss
criteria about this group, and I can send material if there are someone
interested.
Best regards
Sincerely

Pablo

***********************************************
* Pablo A. Martinez                           *
* Laboratorio de Artropodos                   *
* Departamento de Biologia                    *
* Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales    *
* Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata       *
* Funes 3350                                  *
* (7600) Mar del Plata                        *
* Argentina                                   *
***********************************************