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Melophagus ovinus is a hematophagous insect that is distributed worldwide and plays a crucial role in transmitting disease‐causing pathogens. From June 2021 to March 2022, a total of 370 M. ovinus were collected from 11 sampling points in southern Xinjiang, China. The specimens were identified using morphological and molecular analyses. Rickettsia spp. and Anaplasma ovis were detected from all the samples using seven Rickettsia‐specific genetic markers and the msp‐4 gene of A. ovis. Approximately 11% of the M. ovinus specimens were positive for Rickettsia spp., and Candidatus Rickettsia barbariae was the most predominant species (35/41; 85.4%), while R. massiliae was least prevalent (6/41; 14.6%). Approximately 10.5% (39/370) of the M. ovinus specimens were positive for A. ovis of genotype III, which was co‐detected with Candidatus R. barbariae in M. ovinus (3/370; 0.8%). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the detection of R. massiliae and Candidatus R. barbariae in M. ovinus globally. The detection and control of insect‐borne diseases originating from M. ovinus should be strengthened in southern Xinjiang, an area important to animal husbandry and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probability-based seismic risk and random ground motion theories are used to develop high-precision seismic risk functions and models of regional building portfolios. Seismic intensity measures and structural demand parameters are critical in developing seismic fragility models for building clusters. Earthquake damage data indicate that ambient temperature may influence structural fragility, but the effect of temperature on seismic risk is commonly ignored. A method for quantifying seismic intensity is proposed in this study and optimized using 450,000 acceleration records detected by 15 stations during the Luding earthquake in Sichuan, China, on September 5, 2022. Considering the influence of different temperature fields, the proposed seismic intensity quantification method was used to evaluate structural damage during two destructive earthquakes in Xinjiang, China (the Aktao earthquake on September 2, 2003 and the Zhaosu earthquake on December 1, 2003). Three structural empirical seismic risk matrices and cloud maps were developed, and a vulnerability membership curve was generated using fuzzy decision-making, a membership algorithm, and nonlinear regression. A structural seismic risk index function was proposed, and vulnerability cloud diagrams and curves based on actual structural seismic vulnerability datasets were generated. Together, these analyses demonstrated the impact of temperature and intensity measures on the seismic risk to regional buildings. A model was established to evaluate the seismic risk to typical structures and was validated using historical earthquake damage data from China. This method improves the accuracy of earthquake risk and vulnerability assessments for typical building clusters given the influence of temperature. The developed seismic risk prediction model enables the evaluation of vulnerability and resilience of typical structures under low and high temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Halosiccatus and Halomicrobium should be merged based on phylogenomic analyses. • We propose Halomicrobium katesii Kharroub et al. 2008 as a later heterotypic synonym of Halomicrobium mukohataei (Ihara et al. 1997) Oren et al. 2002. • Strains LT50T and TH30 represent a novel species of Halomicrobium , named Halomicrobium salinisoli sp. nov. The genera Halosiccatus and Halomicrobium are the most closely related genera within the family Haloarculaceae (class Halobacteria). All species of these two genera are closely related to each other in phylogenetic analyses based on their 16S rRNA gene sequences, and also using the sequences of four housekeeping genes. The genus Halosiccatus was proposed based on inferred phylogeny using only one of the three distinct 16S rRNA genes detected in strain DC8T, while Halomicrobium zhouii , one of three species of Halomicrobium , was omitted from the reference species used in these analyses. The related 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of type strains of Halomicrobium katesii and Halomicrobium mukohataei were as high as 99.5%–99.7%, much higher than the threshold values proposed as species boundaries. These issues could have resulted in taxonomic inaccuracies in the genera Halosiccatus and Halomicrobium , and a thorough study was undertaken to clarify the status of all species in both genera. Based on phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses, the current four species of the two genera form a single clade with high bootstrap confidence, indicating that the genus Halosiccatus should be merged with Halomicrobium. Halomicrobium katesii Kharroub et al. 2008 is proposed as a later heterotypic synonym of Halomicrobium mukohataei (Ihara et al. 1997) Oren et al. 2002. An additional species is also described (strains LT50T and TH30), and was isolated from different Gobi saline soil samples of Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, China. Phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, genomic and phylogenetic properties indicated that strains LT50T (=CGMCC 1.15187T = JCM 30837T) and TH30 (=CGMCC 1.15189 = JCM 30839) represent a novel species of the genus Halomicrobium , for which the name Halomicrobium salinisoli sp. nov. is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]