Jenella E. Loye

PMD, a Registered Botanical Mosquito Repellent with Deet-Like Efficacy

ABSTRACT para-Menthane-3,8-diol(PMD) is a monoterpene spent product of the distillation of leaves of the Australian lemon-scented gum tree (updated nomenclature Corymbia citriodora ssp. citriodora). In April 2005, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) endorsed two non-deet mosquito repellents, including PMD. However, few mosquito professionals have in-depth familiarity with the history and efficacy of PMD. In this article, we describe the origin and development of PMD as a repellent and offer a comprehensive review of its performance against Aedes, Anopheles, Culex, and Ochlerotatus. In addition, we present original data from field and laboratory studies involving large numbers of subjects and comparisons with high-concentration deet and other repellents. We conclude that not only is the CDC endorsement warranted but also that it probably underestimates the value of PMD as a deet alternative for public health applications.

Birds, bugs and blood: avian parasitism and conservation

Parasitism has far-reaching implications not only for the ecology and evolution of species but also for conservation. The effects of blood-feeding ectoparasites on colonially nesting bird species have been wodely studied, but recent surprising reports show that solitarily nesting species are also commonly attacked, mainly by the larvae of flies. Most bird species are solitary nesters; as their habitats are increasingly fragmented, how will the potential for such parasitism be affected? One example is that of the endangered Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata), in which habitat changes have introduced a deadly parasitic fly species in a complex and unpredicted manner. As theories on habitat fragmentation outpace the data, we need to carry out more field studies of the interactions between fragmentation and parasitism, and to include parasitism in species survival and recovery plans.

Invasion, colonization, and disturbance; historical ecology of the endangered Miami blue butterfly

The Miami blue butterfly, Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri (Lycaenidae), which was widespread in coastal southern Florida in the last century, is now reduced to a few dozen individuals on a single islet of the Florida Keys. We present the first account of its reproductive ecology, and analyze its decline. We correct the common view that a principal host plant, balloon vine, is an exotic weed. Four other insects also feed on seeds of balloon vine, including a true bug, a wasp, and another lycaenid hairstreak that colonized the area in 1970. Larvae of the two lycaenids were negatively associated across sites, due in part to oviposition decisions. Balloon vines were more likely to abort fruit containing larval blues than hairstreaks. Most focal host plants disappeared between 1988 and 2003, mainly due to human disturbance. In addition, comparative evidence suggests that the blue and wasp were more susceptible to mosquito control spraying than were the other insects.

Soapberry Bug (Hemiptera: Rhopalidae: Serinethinae) Native and Introduced Host Plants: Biogeographic Background of Anthropogenic Evolution

ABSTRACT Soapberry bugs (Hemiptera: Rhopalidae: Serinethinae) have recently colonized introduced and invasive plants in the soapberry family (Sapindaceae), and they have rapidly differentiated as a result. These plants have been carried among continents at many places and times, and they may possess alien coevolutionary histories with other soapberry bug genera and species, exposing native bugs worldwide to both new challenges and new opportunities in host exploitation. To provide geographic and phylogenetic contexts for this human-catalyzed evolution, we analyzed the worldwide host relations of the three soapberry bug genera on native versus non-native sapinds. We found that the adopted introduced hosts are taxonomically distant from native hosts in six of seven global biogeographic regions. Only a few genera account for most of the introductions, and natives and non-natives are now reciprocally distributed across several pairs of continents. The evolutionary result may be local diversification, but also global convergence on currently rare bug phenotypes when plants with small endemic ranges are widely exported.

Field Test of a Lemon Eucalyptus Repellent against Leptoconops Biting Midges

ABSTRACT We tested a lemon eucalyptus–based repellent against the biting midge Leptoconops carteri Hoffman in the Central Valley of California. This relatively new active ingredient has demonstrated high efficacy in a number of studies with mosquitoes. Ten subjects tested spray and lotion formulations on 2 consecutive days, along with a deet-positive control and an untreated control, with 6 h of continuous exposure per treatment. Half of the eucalyptus subjects received no bites, and the true median protection time probably exceeded the test duration.

Female dimorphism in a male-monomorphic species

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Hybridization and adaptation to introduced balloon vines in an Australian soapberry bug

Contemporary adaptation of plant feeding insects to introduced hosts provides clear cases of ecologically based population divergence. In most cases the mechanisms permitting rapid differentiation are not well known. Here we study morphological and genetic variation associated with recent shifts by the Australian soapberry bug Leptocoris tagalicus onto two naturalized Neotropical balloon vines, Cardiospermum halicacabum and C. grandiflorum that differ in time since introduction. Our results show that these vines have much larger fruits than the native hosts (Whitewood tree –Atalaya hemiglauca– and Woolly Rambutan –Alectryon tomentosus–) and that bugs living on them have evolved significantly longer beaks and new allometries. Genetic analyses of mitochondrial haplotypes and amplified fragment length polymorphic (AFLP) markers indicate that the lineage of bugs on the annual vine C. halicacabum, the older introduction, is intermediate between the two subspecies of L. tagalicus found on native hosts. Moreover, where the annual vine and Whitewood tree co‐occur, the morphology and genomic composition of the bugs are similar to those occurring in allopatry. These results show that hybridization provided the genetic elements underlying the strongly differentiated ‘Halicacabum bugs’. In contrast, the bugs feeding on the recently introduced perennial balloon vine (C. grandiflorum) showed no evidence of admixture, and are genetically indistinguishable from the nearby populations on a native host.