Natural History and Comparative Morphology of Immatures of Gamelia anableps (C. Felder & R. Felder) (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae, Hemileucinae)

Egg, larva, and pupa of Gamelia anableps (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1874) are described for the first time and the chaetotaxy of the first instar provided. Eggs and selected structures of larvae and pupae were also investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy. Eggs are laid in clusters, are ellipsoidal and laterally flat. Larvae passed through eight instars in about 78 days. Pupation occurs inside a poorly organized cocoon of yellowish silk. The dark brown pupa is cylindrical in shape with appendages firmly fused together and to the body wall. The chaeotaxy is compared with other Saturniidae species belongining to Hemileucinae, Ceratocampinae, and Saturniinae and the natural history of G. anableps compared with other Saturniidae.

Using population genetic methods to identify the origin of an invasive population and to diagnose cryptic subspecies of Telchin licus (Lepidoptera: Castniidae)

Telchin licus, the giant sugarcane borer, is an important pest species of sugarcane in northeast Brazil. Four subspecies of Telchin licus are recognized in Brazil based on their geographic distribution and subtle differences in wing colour pattern. Some taxa are morphologically indistinguishable, and their accurate identification is key to their efficient control. Mitochondrial genes sequences (cytochrome oxidase I and subunit 6 of the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase) were applied to delimit taxonomic entities of T. licus, and to infer the origin of a newly established population in the state of São Paulo. The molecular data indicated that specimens sampled at different regions in Brazil are morphologically cryptic but genetically isolated entities, and at least three subspecies were assigned to the sampled localities. These data also suggested that the population collected from the state of São Paulo must have a common origin with populations from northeast Brazil, which corroborate the hypothesis that ornamental plants infested with larvae of T. licus might have been transported from the northeast to the southeast regions.

Outbreak of copper poisoning in cattle fed poultry litter

In a feedlot of about 1,000 head of cattle, 146 animals died within a period of a few months affected by a disease characterized by anorexia, icterus, hemoglobinuria, constipation, or diarrhea. The clinical course of the disease lasted a few days. Postmortem findings were generalized icterus and a yellow discolored liver. The kidneys were dark brown, and the urinary bladder was filled with urine of the same dark-brown color. The main histopathological findings were centrolobular coagulative necrosis, apoptosis, bilestasis, and proliferation of bile ducts in the portal space. Changes in the kidneys included nephrosis and the presence of bile and precipitates, and cylinders of albumin and of hemoglobin in the uriniferous tubules. Liver samples, collected from 3 animals on which postmortem examinations were performed, had 2,008, 2,783 and 4,906 ppm copper in their dry matter. Two samples of poultry litter fed to the cattle contained 362 and 323 ppm copper. The green forage that formed the rest of their feed only had 4.7 ppm copper. Copper poisoning was diagnosed, most probably caused by feeding litter from poultry that had been fed a ration treated with copper sulfate to avoid aspergillosis.

Beneficial effects of anti-growth hormone antiserum in avian muscular dystrophy

Human subjects and mice have been found to have a milder progression of muscular dystrophy when the disease is associated with genotypically determined dwarfism. In this paper we describe an experimental test for reducing growth hormone in dystrophic chickens that uses rabbit anti-chicken growth hormone anti-serum (anti-cGH). Antiserum was injected daily into dystrophic (line 413) male chickens from day 1 to day 8 after hatching. Dystrophic chickens injected with anti-cGH maintained a significantly higher score in the standardized test for righting ability (P less than 0.001-0.051) from 3 to 9 1/2 wk after hatching when compared with dystrophic controls. The observed prolongation of the functional ability of injected dystrophic animals suggests that growth hormone plays a role in potentiating the symptoms of dystrophy in chickens.