Abstract: The virulence of eight isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae and four isolates of Beauveria bassiana (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) to adult Cylas puncticollis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) was tested in the laboratory. Insects were sprayed with a standard concentration of 1.0 107 conidia mL21 using Burgerjon’s spray tower. All the isolates tested were pathogenic to C. puncticollis. Mortality varied between 77.5% and 84.2% with isolates of B. bassiana and between 62.5% and 89.2% with isola...
Abstract: Pollination by bees and other animals increases the size, quality, or stability of harvests for 70% of leading global crops. Because native species pollinate many of these crops effectively, conserving habitats for wild pollinators within agricultural landscapes can help maintain pollination services. Using hierarchical Bayesian techniques, we synthesize the results of 23 studies – representing 16 crops on five continents – to estimate the general relationship between pollinati...
Abstract: Field surveys were carried out in four agroecological zones to assess the geographic distribution, host range and perennation of Cotesia sesamiae and Cotesia flavipes in cultivated and natural habitats in Kenya.The distribution of the two Cotesia species in different ecological regions was most affected by the suitability of the local stem borer species for parasitoid development, and temperature, as both species were found in localities dominated by their suitable host(s) where te...
Abstract: Polydnaviruses are rarely studied for their natural variation in immune suppressive abilities. The polydnavirus harboring braconid Cotesia sesamiae, a widespread endoparasitoid of Busseola fusca and Sesamia calamistis in sub-Saharan Africa exists as two biotypes. In Kenya, the western biotype completes development in B. fusca larvae. However, eggs of the coastal C. sesamiae are encapsulated in this host and ultimately, no parasitoids emerge from parasitized B. fusca larvae. Both bi...
Abstract: The present study aimed at investigating the susceptibility of the microorganisms Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis to ethanolic extracts of propolis (EEP) from three regions of Kenya (Taita, Tana and Samburu). Propolis was extracted using four different concentrations of ethanol: pure, 70%, 50%, and 30%. Ethanol (70%) and Streptomycin were used as controls. The agar diffusion method using filter paper disks was...
Abstract: All jumping spiders have unique, complex eyes with exceptional spatial acuity and some of the most elaborate vision-guided predatory strategies ever documented for any animal of their size. However, it is only recently that phylogenetic techniques have been used to reconstruct the relationships and key evolutionary events within the Salticidae. Here, we used data for 35 species and six genes (4.8 kb) for reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships between Spartaeinae, Lyssomanina...
Abstract: Accurate and reliable information on the distribution of tsetse habitats is crucial for the effective management of African Trypanosomiasis in sub-Saharan Africa. However, conducting large-scale surveillance of tsetse flies to develop distribution maps is impractical due to vast areas infested and limited resources available. To address this challenge, we evaluated the applicability of tsetse habitat models developed in the intensively sampled Shimba Hills National Reserve in Kenya...
Abstract: Background: Capacity strengthening of rural communities, and the various actors that support them, is needed to enable them to lead their own malaria control programmes. Here the existing capacity of a rural community in western Kenya was evaluated in preparation for a larger intervention. Methods: Focus group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews were carried out in 1,451 households to determine (1) demographics of respondent and household; (2) socio-economic statu...
Abstract: There has been a considerable recent interest in the criteria by which animals choose mates and in the extent to which mating systems tend to be based on mutual mate choice. In this study, we consider Evarcha culicivora, a salticid spider from East Africa. This species has some unusual characteristics, including active display by females as well as males, males that kill females more frequently than females kill males and wide intrasexual variation in body size. For females, larger...
Abstract: Females of Anopheles gambiae Giles normally oviposit in a large number of fresh, small, sunlit, and spatially spread temporary pools. Such pools are associated with lower levels of predation compared to large, longerlasting habitats. We compared oviposition levels on preferred (water collected from natural anopheline larval habitats) and non-preferred (distilled water) aqueous substrates by gravid females that contained different densities of conspecific eggs or early and late inst...
Abstract: Phlebotomine sand flies transmit many viral protozoan and bacterial pathogens of public health importance. Knowledge of the ecologic factors influencing their distribution at local scale can provide insights into disease epidemiology and avenues for targeted control. Animal sheds, termite mounds and houses are important peri-domestic and domestic habitats utilized by different sand flies as resting or breeding habitats. However, our knowledge for selection of these habitats by sand...
Abstract: Eswatini was the frst country in sub-Saharan Africa to pass a National Malaria Elimination Policy in 2011, and later set a target for elimination by the year 2020. This case study aimed to review the malaria surveillance data of Eswatini collected over 8 years between 2012 and 2019 to evaluate the country’s eforts that targeted malaria elimination by 2020. Coverage of indoor residual spraying (IRS) for vector control and data on malaria cases were provided by the National Malaria...
Abstract: Macphail’s “null hypothesis,” that there are no differences in intelligence, qualitative, or quantitative, between non-human vertebrates has been controversial. This controversy can be useful if it encourages interest in acquiring a detailed understanding of how non-human animals express flexible problem-solving capacity (“intelligence”), but limiting the discussion to vertebrates is too arbitrary. As an example, we focus here on Portia, a spider with an especially intric...
Abstract: Ticks of the genus Rhipicephalus are important parasites of livestock in the world. Rhipicephalus ticks cause huge economic losses to cattle and have a great capacity to develop resistance to chemical acaricides. There is the need therefore to develop alternative strategies that could complement the existing control methods of this ectoparasite. Entomopathogenic fungi are being considered as a promising option for the control of ticks on-host and off-host. The aim of this study was...
Abstract: This thesis reports studies on three aspects of Glossina biology:- a) Studies on the peridomestic behaviour of Glossina fuscipes fuscipes in the sleeping sickness epidemic focus of Busoga, Uganda. b) Application of analysis of cuticular hydrocarbons in the chemotaxonomy of Glossina and c) Studies on the ovulation and late mating of virgin Glossina. A search near homesteads, made over a period of 20 months, revealed tsetse puparia and puparial shells under Coffea canephora (coffee),...