Viral pathogen detection in U.S. game-farm mallard () flags spillover risk to wild birds.

The threat posed by emerging infectious diseases is a major concern for global public health, animal health and food security, and the role of birds in transmission is increasingly under scrutiny. Each year, millions of mass-reared game-farm birds are released into the wild, presenting a unique and a poorly understood risk to wild and susceptible bird populations, and to human health. In particular, the shedding of enteric pathogens through excrement into bodies of water at shared migratory stop-over sites, and breeding and wintering grounds, could facilitate multi-species long-distance pathogen dispersal and infection of high numbers of naive endemic birds annually.

Novel clades of tick-borne pathogenic nairoviruses in Europe.

Members of the Orthonairovirus genus (family Nairoviridae) include many tick-borne viruses of significant human and animal health impact, with several recently-documented pathogenic viruses lacking sufficient epidemiological information. We screened 215 adult ticks of seven species collected in Bulgaria, Georgia, Latvia and Poland for orthonairoviruses, followed by nanopore sequencing (NS) for genome characterization. Initial generic amplification revealed Sulina virus (SULV, Orthonairovirus sulinaense), for which an updated amplification assay was used, revealing an overall prevalence of 2.

Redescription of Leptoconops (Leptoconops) brasiliensis (Lutz) and Leptoconops (Megaconops) floridensis Wirth (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) with its first Brazilian record.

The Leptoconops Skuse genus includes many pestiferous biting midges found in coastal areas. Only two species were previously found in Brazil and some species have ancient descriptions lacking updated taxonomic features. Herein, we redescribe Leptoconops (Leptoconops) brasiliensis Lutz and L.

The expanding range of emerging tick-borne viruses in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region.

We analysed both pooled and individual tick samples collected from four countries in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region, using metagenome-based nanopore sequencing (NS) and targeted amplification. Initially, 1337 ticks, belonging to 11 species, were screened in 217 pools. Viruses (21 taxa) and human pathogens were detected in 46.

Chromosome-length genome assembly and karyotype of the endangered black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes).

The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) narrowly avoided extinction to become an oft-cited example of the benefits of intensive management, research, and collaboration to save a species through ex situ conservation breeding and reintroduction into its former range. However, the species remains at risk due to possible inbreeding, disease susceptibility, and multiple fertility challenges. Here, we report the de novo genome assembly of a male black-footed ferret generated through a combination of linked-read sequencing, optical mapping, and Hi-C proximity ligation.

High Levels of Diversity in Subgenus Revealed by Species Delimitation Analyses.

The subgenus is a poorly understood group of mosquitoes that includes several species of medical importance. Although there are currently twelve recognized species in the subgenus, previous studies have shown that this is likely to be an underestimate of species diversity. Here, we undertake a baseline study of species delimitation using the barcode region of the mtDNA gene to explore species diversity among a geographically and taxonomically diverse range of specimens.

Resurrection and redescription of Verrill, 1872 (Hirudinida, Glossiphoniidae) with a phylogeny of the genus .

(Verrill, 1872) is resurrected and redescribed based on morphological and molecular data from specimens of the type locality (New Haven County, Connecticut, USA) that demonstrate it is distinct from North American , European , and . is characterized by having dark chromatophores on the dorsal surface arranged lateral to patrilaterally and medially as a thin line or interrupted thin line along with three pairs of eye spots (with the first pair closest together), six pairs of crop ceca, and a united gonopore. Additional sampling of specimens of the genus is needed to understand its phylogeny especially as many species have not been collected since their description.

Whole genome analysis of clouded leopard species reveals an ancient divergence and distinct demographic histories.

Similar to other apex predator species, populations of mainland () and Sunda () clouded leopards are declining. Understanding their patterns of genetic variation can provide critical insights on past genetic erosion and a baseline for understanding their long-term conservation needs. As a step toward this goal, we present draft genome assemblies for the two clouded leopard species to quantify their phylogenetic divergence, genome-wide diversity, and historical population trends.

Incomplete lineage sorting and phenotypic evolution in marsupials.

Incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) makes ancestral genetic polymorphisms persist during rapid speciation events, inducing incongruences between gene trees and species trees. ILS has complicated phylogenetic inference in many lineages, including hominids. However, we lack empirical evidence that ILS leads to incongruent phenotypic variation.

Standards recommendations for the Earth BioGenome Project.

A global international initiative, such as the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), requires both agreement and coordination on standards to ensure that the collective effort generates rapid progress toward its goals. To this end, the EBP initiated five technical standards committees comprising volunteer members from the global genomics scientific community: Sample Collection and Processing, Sequencing and Assembly, Annotation, Analysis, and IT and Informatics. The current versions of the resulting standards documents are available on the EBP website, with the recognition that opportunities, technologies, and challenges may improve or change in the future, requiring flexibility for the EBP to meet its goals.

Molecular Analysis Reveals a High Diversity of Anopheline Mosquitoes in Yanomami Lands and the Pantanal Region of Brazil.

Identifying the species of the subfamily Anophelinae that are vectors is important to vector and malaria control. Despite the increase in cases, vector mosquitoes remain poorly known in Brazilian indigenous communities. This study explores Anophelinae mosquito diversity in the following areas: (1) a Yanomami reserve in the northwestern Amazon Brazil biome and (2) the Pantanal biome in southwestern Brazil.

Molecular species delimitation reveals high diversity in the mosquito Anopheles tessellatus Theobald, 1901 (Diptera, Culicidae) across its range.

Anopheles tessellatus is a potentially important vector found across South, East and Southeast Asia. While it was formerly considered a formidable vector of human Plasmodium and filarial parasites in the Maldives, and of lesser importance as a vector of human Plasmodium in Sri Lanka and parts of Indonesia, it is currently of little or unknown health importance in many other parts of its range. This study describes the genetic diversity and evolutionary relationships among An.

Incursion and establishment of the Old World arbovirus vector Aedes (Fredwardsius) vittatus (Bigot, 1861) in the Americas.

Routine biosurveillance efforts at the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 18 June 2019, detected two unusual mosquitos in a CO-baited CDC light trap. Morphological and molecular analysis confirmed the presence of Aedes (Fredwardsius) vittatus (Bigot, 1861) - the first record of the Old World dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever virus vector into the Americas - and provides evidence for its establishment in Cuba. Newly submitted GenBank sequences from Dominican Republic further evidence its establishment in the Caribbean, and a median-joining network analysis using mitochondrial COI gene sequences clearly supports multiple introductions of Ae.

Leeches in the extreme: Morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations to inhospitable habitats.

With more than 700 described species, leeches include morphological, physiological, and behavioral diversity and occur in terrestrial and aquatic habitats, including freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosystems. Leeches inhabit a number of extreme environments, including extremes in temperature, moisture, salinity, pressure, light, and pollution. In some cases, leeches in extreme environments have specialized morphological, physiological, or behavioral adaptations to survive these conditions, yet unique adaptations are not apparent in some species.

The evolutionary history of extinct and living lions.

Lions are one of the world's most iconic megafauna, yet little is known about their temporal and spatial demographic history and population differentiation. We analyzed a genomic dataset of 20 specimens: two 30,000-y-old cave lions (), 12 historic lions () that lived between the 15th and 20th centuries outside the current geographic distribution of lions, and 6 present-day lions from Africa and India. We found that cave and modern lions shared an ancestor 500,000 y ago and that the 2 lineages likely did not hybridize following their divergence.

Improving Illumina assemblies with Hi-C and long reads: An example with the North African dromedary.

Researchers have assembled thousands of eukaryotic genomes using Illumina reads, but traditional mate-pair libraries cannot span all repetitive elements, resulting in highly fragmented assemblies. However, both chromosome conformation capture techniques, such as Hi-C and Dovetail Genomics Chicago libraries and long-read sequencing, such as Pacific Biosciences and Oxford Nanopore, help span and resolve repetitive regions and therefore improve genome assemblies. One important livestock species of arid regions that does not have a high-quality contiguous reference genome is the dromedary (Camelus dromedarius).

West Nile virus, Anopheles flavivirus, a novel flavivirus as well as Merida-like rhabdovirus Turkey in field-collected mosquitoes from Thrace and Anatolia.

Mosquitoes are involved in the transmission and maintenance of several viral diseases with significant health impact. Biosurveillance efforts have also revealed insect-specific viruses, observed to cocirculate with pathogenic strains. This report describes the findings of flavivirus and rhabdovirus screening, performed in eastern Thrace and Aegean region of Anatolia during 2016, including and expanding on locations with previously-documented virus activity.

A new species of leech of the genus (Hirudinida, Glossiphoniidae) from the American alligator () in Mississippi, USA.

To date, the only species of leech reported from the American Alligator, is . Seven specimens of a previously undescribed species of were collected from the feet and lower jaw of a single female alligator from the Pascagoula River Wildlife Management Area, George County, Mississippi. The new species was named Richardson & Moser, , in honor of the contributions of Dr.

Co-circulation of West Nile virus and distinct insect-specific flaviviruses in Turkey.

Background: Active vector surveillance provides an efficient tool for monitoring the presence or spread of emerging or re-emerging vector-borne viruses. This study was undertaken to investigate the circulation of flaviviruses. Mosquitoes were collected from 58 locations in 10 provinces across the Aegean, Thrace and Mediterranean Anatolian regions of Turkey in 2014 and 2015.

A novel rhabdovirus, related to Merida virus, in field-collected mosquitoes from Anatolia and Thrace.

Next-generation sequencing technologies have significantly facilitated the discovery of novel viruses, and metagenomic surveillance of arthropods has enabled exploration of the diversity of novel or known viral agents. We have identified a novel rhabdovirus that is genetically related to the recently described Merida virus via next-generation sequencing in a mosquito pool from Thrace. The complete viral genome contains 11,798 nucleotides with 83% genome-wide nucleotide sequence similarity to Merida virus.

Isolation and genomic characterization of Culex theileri flaviviruses in field-collected mosquitoes from Turkey.

Vector surveillance for the arthropod-borne infections has resulted in the isolation of a growing number of novel viruses, including several flavivirus strains that exclusively replicate in insects. This report describes the isolation and genomic characterization of four insect-specific flaviviruses from mosquitoes, previously collected from various locations in Turkey. C6/36 Aedes albopictus and Vero cell lines were inoculated with mosquito pools.

A pictorial key to the sections, groups, and species of the Aedes (Diceromyia) in the Afrotropical Region (Diptera: Culicidae).

Nine species of the subgenus Diceromyia Theobald of genus Aedes Meigen in the Afrotropical Region are treated in a pictorial key based on diagnostic morphological features. Images of the diagnostic morphological structures of the adult head, thorax, abdomen, leg and wing are included. The medical importance of the Furcifer Group species in Africa was briefly reviewed.