Description of nymphal stages of Periglischrus cubanus (Acari, Spinturnicidae), parasites from Erophylla sezekorni bombifrons (Chiroptera) from Puerto Rico with observations on the nymphal stages and host-parasite relationships within the genus Periglischrus.

The adults of Periglischrus cubanus were described by Dusbábek (1968). In this study, we describe the nymphal stages of this species and make some general observations on nymphal stages in the genus Periglischrus.

Spinturnicid mites and bats cophylogeny: comment on Bruyndonckx et al. (2009) "Molecular cophylogenetic relationships between European bats and their ectoparasitic mites (Acari, Spinturnicidae)".

Recently, Bruyndonckx et al. (2009) used phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial sequences of European Spinturnicidae parasitizing bats to assess the coevolutionary relationships between host and parasite lineages. Despite being a good investigation into bat ecology and exhibiting an indisputable competence in molecular data analysis, the paper reflects a lack of knowledge of the basic biology and ecology of Spinturnicidae. This shortcoming arises from the fact that the authors do not appropriately review earlier important studies, so that they reach dubious conclusions. Here we comment on their findings and suggest references related to their hypotheses.

Description of Cameronieta torrei dusbabeki (Acari: Mesostigmata: Spinturnicidae), new subspecies with nymphs, parasitizing Pteronotus quadridens fuliginosus (Chiroptera: Mormoopidae) from Puerto Rico.

We describe a new subspecies, Cameronieta torrei dusbabeki, a parasite of Pteronotus quadridens fuliginosus (Gray 1843) from Puerto Rico.

Development of the uterine shell glands during the preovulatory and early gestation periods in oviparous and viviparous Lacerta vivipara.

The evolutionary process leading to the emergence of viviparity in Squamata consists of lengthening the period of egg retention in utero coupled with marked reduction in the thickness of the eggshell. We used light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to study uterine structure during the reproductive cycle of oviparous and viviparous females of the reproductively bimodal Lacerta vivipara. We compared the structure of the uterine shell glands, which secrete components of the eggshell, during preovulatory and early gestation phases of the reproductive cycle and also compared histochemistry of the eggshells. The uterine glands of both reproductive forms undergo considerable growth within a period of a few weeks during folliculogenesis and vitellogenesis preceding ovulation. The majority of the proteinaceous fibers of the shell membrane are secreted early in embryonic development and the uterine glands regress shortly thereafter. This supports previous observations indicating that, in Squamata, secretion of the shell membrane occurs very rapidly after ovulation. The most striking differences between reproductive modes were larger uterine glands at late vitellogenesis in oviparous females, 101 microm compared to 60 microm in viviparous females, and greater thickness of the shell membrane during early gestation in oviparous females (52-73 microm) compared to viviparous females (4-8 microm). Our intraspecific comparison supports the conclusions of previous studies that, prior to ovulation, the uterine glandular layer is less developed in viviparous than in oviparous species, and that this is the main factor accounting for differences in the thickness of the shell membrane of the two reproductive forms of squamates.

Description of a cryptic species, Spinturnix bechsteini n. sp. (Acari, Mesostigmata, Spinturnicidae), parasite of Myotis bechsteinii (Kuhl, 1817) (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) by using ecoethology of host bats and statistical methods.

Using ecoethology of bats and statistical methods, we anticipate the evidence of specific species of spinturnicids associated with Myotis myotis and Myotis bechsteinii (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) mixed colonies are unknown. Traditional description of this new crpytic species Spinturnix bechsteini, parasite of M. bechsteinii, is done. Statistical approach is based on analysis of variance and principal component analysis. The current knowledge on parasites of the genus Myotis in the West Palearctic subregion is presented.

Typing of Scedosporium apiospermum by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis and random amplification of polymorphic DNA.

The genetic diversity among epidemiologically unrelated strains of the human pathogenic fungus Scedosporium apiospermum or its teleomorph, Pseudallescheria boydii, from different areas in Europe, was investigated by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE) and random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Fourteen enzyme activities were analysed by starch gel electrophoresis, corresponding to 27 polymorphic loci and 43 iso-enzymes. Among the enzymes studied, propionate esterase, carboxyl esterase, superoxide dismutase, carbonate dehydratase and malate dehydrogenase were the most polymorphic, allowing the classification of the strains into 6-11 groups each. Combination of the data obtained for the different enzyme activities studied allowed differentiation of the strains. Similarly, a high polymorphism was also revealed by each of the 20 RAPD primers tested, but no single primer was able to differentiate all the strains. The most efficient primers were GC70, UBC-701 and UBC-703, which revealed 17 distinct genotypes each, and combination of the results obtained with this three-primer set allowed complete discrimination of the strains. The dendrograms obtained from MLEE or RAPD by the unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic average cluster analysis did not reveal any clustering according to the geographic origin of the strains or their pathogenicity.