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The mitochondrial DNA of the cattle grub Hypoderma lineatum (de Villers) (Diptera: Oestridae) was completely sequenced. The entire molecule was 16 354 bp long and presented a heavy bias towards A + T, which accounted for 77.8% of the whole genome. Hypoderma lineatum genes were organized in the same order and orientation as in the mitochondrial genomes available for other species belonging to the Oestroidea superfamily and compared in this study [ Chrysomya putoria (Wiedemann), Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel), Lucilia sericata (Meigen) and Dermatobia hominis (L.)], except for the occurrence of a 102-bp non-coding region partially present in other species. The complete sequence of H. lineatum will represent a useful dataset to evaluate the evolutionary pattern of mtDNA within Oestroidea by using molecular information in diagnostic, taxonomic and evolutionary studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subfamily Steganinae (Diptera, Drosophilidae) includes flies which display zoophilic feeding behaviour in the larval and/or adult stages, some of which act as vectors of Spirurida eyeworms, which infect both carnivores and humans. To date, the taxonomy and phylogeny of the subfamily Steganinae has been studied only superficially and many aspects of their systematics remain unresolved. Thus, the present study aimed to provide a molecular dataset to facilitate the identification and phylogenetic analysis of Steganinae species based on partial (∼ 700 basepairs) mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 ( cox1) sequences. A total of 134 flies belonging to 13 species and eight genera of Steganinae were subjected to molecular and phylogenetic analyses. The mean nucleotide variation within the Steganinae subfamily was 8.1%, with a variation within genera for which more than one species was examined ranging from 1.6% (in Phortica spp.) to 21.8% (in Amiota spp.). Interspecific pairwise divergence ranged from 1.6% ( Phortica variegata vs. Phortica semivirgo) to 24.8% ( Cacoxenus indagator vs. Amiota alboguttata) and intraspecific variation ranged from 0% to 1%. Seventy of the 233 amino acids were variable, including 26 parsimony informative sites and 44 singleton sites, with some highly conserved residues identified within the genera Stegana and Amiota. Parsimony and maximum likelihood-based phylogenetic analyses provided strong support for the genus Phortica, phylogenetically distinct from the genus Amiota. Gitona distigma was placed in an unresolved position adjacent to the outgroup taxa, Drosophila yakuba and Drosophila melanogaster. The molecular data reported here represent the first molecular dataset based on cox1 of Steganinae flies and provide a base for further investigations into the evolutionary relationships among this little-studied subfamily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Larvae belonging to five species of Hypoderma spp. (Diptera, Oestridae) cause myiasis in wild and domestic ruminants that is characterized by migrations within deep tissues. In China hypodermosis is one of the most important arthropod diseases affecting ruminants and, moreover, represents a significant zoonosis, with numerous reports of Hypoderma spp. affecting farmers. Recently, a sixth species, Hypoderma sinense Pleske, has been rediscovered but the endogenous migration pathway within the host body is completely unknown and it represents a major constraint for the control of larval infection. In December 2003 a total of 165 larval stages of Hypoderma spp. were collected from different anatomical sites of 40 yaks slaughtered at an abattoir in the province of Gansu, China. The morphological characters and size of the recovered larvae were used to infer migratory routes and 45 specimens were also subjected to a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay of cox1 mtDNA and amplicons sequenced. All the larvae molecularly processed were identified as H. sinense and sequence identity was confirmed by a PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) tool carried out using BfaI and HinfI endonucleases. The finding of H. sinense larvae only in the oesophagus or both in oesophagus and subcutaneous tissue of 12 and 15 animals, respectively, indicates that H. sinense larvae migrate through the oesophagus similarly to Hypoderma lineatum (De Villers). The description of the endogenous life cycle of H. sinense will help to determine the timing of specific treatment programmes to guarantee the improvement of animal welfare and health, thus resulting in an increase in livestock production in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thelazia callipaedaRailliet and Henry (Spirurida: Thelaziidae), commonly called oriental eyeworm for its widespread presence in the Far East, has been recently found to affect dogs, cats and foxes in northern and southern Italy. Although the biology ofT. callipaedain the definitive hosts has been recently investigated, many doubts still remain about its biology in insect vectors. It has been suggested that more than one species of Diptera, namelyMusca domesticaLinnaeus (Diptera: Muscidae) andAmiota okadaiMaca (Diptera: Drosophilidae), may be involved in the transmission ofT. callipaedain China. The aim of the work described here was to verify the role ofM. domesticaas a vector ofT. callipaedaboth in experimental and natural conditions. A total of 310m. domestica(Group 1) were put in a cage and allowed to feed for 14 days around the eyes of a dog naturally infected byT. callipaeda. Ten flies were collected daily for 14 days. A total of 149 houseflies (Group 2) were fed withT. callipaedafirst stage larvae (L1) and dissected at 1, 2 and 7 days post-infection. From June to August 2003, flies were netted (Group 3) in two different sites every 10 days both from the environment and directly from the periocular region of dogs affected by thelaziosis.Muscaflies were examined for eyeworms by dissection and visual inspection of house flies (Groups 1 and 2) and using a molecular approach (Groups 1–3)viaa specific amplification of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) sequence ofT. callipaeda. On the whole, 180 pools ofM. domesticaflies were processed molecularly and all the experimentally infected flies (Groups 1 and 2) were found to be negative both at the visual dissection and at the molecular assay. Similarly, the 234M. domesticacollected from Group 3 were negative forT. callipaeda. The results clearly suggest thatM. domesticais unlikely to act as a vector ofT. callipaedain southern Europe, in contrast with a single previous report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the study conducted to examine the prevention of endemic canine vector-borne diseases (CVBD) in dogs using 10 percent imidacloprid and 50 percent permethrin which shows 90.68 percent reduction in CVBD incidence density rate.