Orthoflavivirus Lammi in Russia: Possible Transovarial Transmission and Trans-Stadial Survival in Aedes cinereus (Diptera, Culicidae)

In the last few years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of discovered viruses that are transmitted by arthropods. Some of them are pathogenic for humans and mammals, and the pathogenic potential of others is unknown. The genus Orthoflavivirus belongs to the family Flaviviridae and includes arboviruses that cause severe human diseases with damage to the central nervous system and hemorrhagic fevers, as well as viruses with unknown vectors and viruses specific only to insects. The latter group includes Lammi virus, first isolated from a mosquito pool in Finland. It is known that Lammi virus successfully replicates in mosquito cell lines but not in mammalian cell cultures or mice. Lammi virus reduces the reproduction of West Nile virus during superinfection and thus has the potential to reduce the spread of West Nile virus in areas where Lammi virus is already circulating. In this work, we isolated Lammi virus from a pool of adult Aedes cinereus mosquitoes that hatched from larvae/pupae collected in Saint Petersburg, Russia. This fact may indicate transovarial transmission and trans-stadial survival of the virus.

Geographical and Tick-Dependent Distribution of Flavi-Like Alongshan and Yanggou Tick Viruses in Russia

The genus Flavivirus includes related, unclassified segmented flavi-like viruses, two segments of which have homology with flavivirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase NS5 and RNA helicase-protease NS3. This group includes such viruses as Jingmen tick virus, Alongshan virus, Yanggou tick virus and others. We detected the Yanggou tick virus in Dermacentor nuttalli and Dermacentor marginatus ticks in two neighbouring regions of Russia. The virus prevalence ranged from 0.5% to 8.0%. We detected RNA of the Alongshan virus in 44 individuals or pools of various tick species in eight regions of Russia. The virus prevalence ranged from 0.6% to 7.8%. We demonstrated the successful replication of the Yanggou tick virus and Alongshan virus in IRE/CTVM19 and HAE/CTVM8 tick cell lines without a cytopathic effect. According to the phylogenetic analysis, we divided the Alongshan virus into two groups: an Ixodes persulcatus group and an Ixodes ricinus group. In addition, the I. persulcatus group can be divided into European and Asian subgroups. We found amino acid signatures specific to the I. ricinus and I. persulcatus groups and also distinguished between the European and Asian subgroups of the I. persulcatus group.

[CONTRIBUTION TO THE BLACK FLY FAUNA OF THE TRIBE SIMULIINI (DIPTERA: SIMULIIDAE) OF THE SAKHA REPUBLIC (YAKUTIA)]

The data on the black fly fauna of the tribe Simuliini (Diptera: Simuliidae) of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) comprising available literature, collections of the Zoological Institute RAS, and new material collected in Yakutia were analyzed. Three new species were recorded in the fauna of the Sakha Republic: Archesimulium polare Rubzov, 1940, A. splendidum Rubzov, 1940, and A. tumulosum Rubzov, 1956. Distribution of eleven black fly species was clarified. Processing of the collected material confirmed the presence of 9 black fly species previously known from Yakutia. On the whole, the fauna of the region comprises 27 black fly species.

[Contribution to the black fly fauna of the tribes Nevermanniini and Wilhelmiini (Diptera: Simuliidae) of the Sakha Republik (Yakutia)]

In this paper, the data on fauna of Nevermanniini and Wilhelmiini tribes (Diptera: Simuliidae) were analyzed. All the accessible literature sources, institute collections and new materials recently collected in Yakutia were examined. Regional fauna was supplemented by two species: Schoenbaueria dendrofila (Patrusheva, 1962) and S. furculata Shewell, 1952, the latter being new for the Russian fauna also. The distribution of five more species from Simuliidae family was clarified. Processing of the collected material proved that 10 species previously registered in Yakutia can still be found in the region.