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European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) genetic variation and population structure in East Anglia have been studied. The species was introduced into Britain and the resulting populations have been greatly affected by diseases and humans. Distinct social behavior is seen in stable environmental conditions and genetic structuring at the intrapopulation level results. Sampling from 17 sites and genotyping with nine microsatellite loci showed genotypical proportions significantly different from that seen with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Genetic structure in the populations is not likely to come from historical structuring existing before myxomatosis, reflecting recent events instead.

Descriptions of the mosquitoes of the Republic of the Sudan are mostly limited to works published more than 60 years ago. Khartoum State in central Sudan, which encompasses the capital city, has experienced many outbreaks of diseases caused by mosquito-borne pathogens, including Rift Valley fever. In this paper we focus on the composition ofAedesmosquitoes in high-risk areas in and around major agricultural projects. This is based on longitudinal surveillance of adults and larvae during the hot dry and rainy seasons in 2013. A total of 630 adult female mosquitoes were collected.Anophelesmosquitoes were the most abundant (n = 456, 72.4%), followed byCulex(n = 96, 15.2%) andAedes(n = 78, 12.4%). Only threeAedesspecies were identified:Aedes caballus(n = 38, 48.7% of theAedes),Aedes vexans arabiensis(n = 30, 38.5%) andAedes caspius(n = 10, 12.8%). A total of 42,549 larvae were collected.Aedeslarvae were the most abundant (n = 30,936, 72.7%), followed byCulex(n = 9656, 22.7%) andAnopheles(n = 1957, 4.6%). TheAedeslarvae includedAe. caspius(n = 21,957, 71.0% of theAedes),Ae. vexans arabiensis(n = 5577, 18.0%),Aedes quasiunivittatus(n = 107, 0.3%),Aedes dentatus(Theobald) (n = 204, 0.7%) and 3091 unidentifiable larvae (10.0%), denoted as Forms X, Y and Z. We discuss the bionomics of the four identified species ofAedesand provide updated keys for the identification of the mosquito genera and the larvae and adults of theAedesspecies recorded from the Republic of the Sudan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) undergoes crowding-induced phase transformation from solitary form to gregarious form. The transformations involves changes in behaviour, colour, development, morphometry, fecundity and endocrine physiology. Recession populations of the desert locust exist primarily in the solitary phase as small populations in patchy environments and are prone to extinction because of climatic events. Significant genetic differentiation among recession populations along the Red Sea coast of Eritrea was previously reported. It was hypothesized that despite the mixing effect of recurrent swarms, metapopulation dynamics could have produced genetic divergence among these highly scattered recession populations. A Monte Carlo simulation of the population dynamics of the desert locust in a metapopulation setting, with a realistic range of parameter values clearly demonstrated that this is possible. Population growth was represented by a discrete-time logistic equation. The duration of recessions and swarms was sampled from normal distributions whose means and standard deviations were varied based on reported estimates. An average recession duration of 10 ± 3 generations and swarm periods half as long but almost twice as variable produced a partitioning of the total genetic variance most similar to that in the empirical study. In conventional metapopulation analysis, whether turnover leads to increased or reduced divergence is dependent on the number of colonists relative to the number of recurrent migrants, and on whether the colonists arise from a single patch or many patches. In the case of locusts, the stochastic boom and bust cycle is the overriding factor. Divergence between patches during recession due to founder effect and recurrent drift is balanced by the high rate of mixing during plagues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]