Michael Eugene Nicolas Majerus was a British geneticist and professor of evolution at the University of Cambridge. He was also a teaching fellow at Clare College, Cambridge. He was an enthusiast in Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection and became a world authority in his field of insect evolutionary biology. He was widely noted for his work on moths and ladybirds and as an advocate of the science of evolution. He was also an enthusiastic educator and the author of several books on insects, evolution and sexual reproduction. He is best remembered as an ardent supporter and champion of experiments on peppered moth evolution.
Harmonia axyridis is a large lady beetle or ladybug species that is most commonly known as the harlequin, Asian, or multicoloured Asian lady beetle. This is one of the most variable species in the world, with an exceptionally wide range of colour forms. It is native to eastern Asia, but has been artificially introduced to North America and Europe to control aphids and scale insects. It is now common, well known, and spreading in those regions, and has also established in Africa and widely across South America. This species is conspicuous in North America, where it may locally be known as the Halloween beetle, as it often invades homes during October to overwinter.
The Laboulbeniomycetes are a unique group of fungi that are obligatorily associated with arthropods, either as external parasites or for dispersal (Pyxidiophorales).
The Laboulbeniales is an order of Fungi within the class Laboulbeniomycetes. They are also known by the colloquial name beetle hangers or labouls. The order includes around 2,325 species of obligate insect ectoparasites that produce cellular thalli from two-celled ascospores. Of the described Laboulbeniales, Weir and Hammond 1997 find 80% to be from Coleoptera and the next largest group to be the 10% from Diptera. Recently, the genus Herpomyces, traditionally considered a basal member of Laboulbeniales, was transferred to the order Herpomycetales based on molecular phylogenetic data. Laboulbeniales typically do not kill their hosts, although they may impair host fitness if the parasite density is high.
Agaricomycotina is one of three subdivisions of the Basidiomycota, and represents all of the fungi which form macroscopic fruiting bodies. Agaricomycotina contains over 30,000 species, divided into three classes: Tremellomycetes, Dacrymycetes, and Agaricomycetes. Around 98% of the species are in the class Agaricomycetes, including all the agarics, bracket fungi, clavarioid fungi, corticioid fungi, and gasteroid fungi. Tremellomycetes contains many basidiomycete yeasts and some conspicuous jelly fungi. Dacrymycetes contains a further group of jelly fungi. These taxa are founded on molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, and supersede earlier morphology-based classifications. Agaricomycotina contains nearly one third of all described species of fungi.
Entomophthora is a fungal genus in the family Entomophthoraceae. Species in this genus are parasitic on flies and other two-winged insects. The genus was circumscribed by German physician Johann Baptist Georg Wolfgang Fresenius (1808–1866) in 1856.
Coccinellidae is a widespread family of small beetles. They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in the United Kingdom; "lady" refers to mother Mary. Entomologists use the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles to avoid confusion with true bugs. The more than 6,000 described species have a global distribution and are found in a variety of habitats. They are oval beetles with a domed back and flat underside. Many of the species have conspicuous aposematic (warning) colours and patterns, such as red with black spots, that warn potential predators that they taste bad.
Rickia is a genus of fungi in the family Laboulbeniaceae. The genus contain 132 species.
Stamnaria is a genus of fungi in the family Helotiaceae. The genus contains at least 7 species, all of which are parasites of horsetails, reproducing through apothecia which burst through the outer surface of the hosts. It has an anamorph with genus name Titaeospora, but according to current rules the holomorph name Stamnaria should be used where possible.
Dinocampus coccinellae is a braconid wasp parasite of coccinellid beetles, including the spotted lady beetle, Coleomegilla maculata. D. coccinellae has been described as turning its ladybird host into a temporary "zombie" guarding the wasp cocoon. About 25% of Coleomegilla maculata recover after the cocoon they are guarding matures, although the proportion of other ladybird species which recover is much lower.
Rickia wasmannii is a species of the widely distributed entomoparasitic order of fungi Laboulbeniales. It is an obligatory ectoparasite of ants of the genus Myrmica. The thalli penetrate outer layer of the cuticle, and appear on the host body surface. Little is known about its effect on the host ant, but it is usually regarded as a rather neutral symbiont. Contrarily, however, a recent study has documented an increased need of drinking water and a shortened life-span of infected ants.
Pandora is a genus of fungi within the order Entomophthorales of the Zygomycota. This has been supported by molecular phylogenetic analysis.
Zoophthora is a genus of fungi in the family Entomophthoraceae. Like other taxa in this family, Zoophthora species cause disease in insects and as such are considered entomopathogenic fungi.
Cryptandromyces elegans is a species of fungus in the family Laboulbeniaceae. It is found in the Netherlands.
Olla v-nigrum is a species in the family Coccinellidae, in the suborder Polyphaga. The species is known generally as the ashy gray lady beetle. The distribution range of Olla v-nigrum includes Central America, North America, and Oceania. It is usually gray or pale tan with small black spots on its elytra and thorax. However, a variation can resemble Chilocorus orbus, another species of lady beetle. This form is black with two red spots on the wing covers and has white on the edge of the prothorax.
Psyllobora vigintimaculata, the twenty-spotted lady beetle, is a species of lady beetle in the family Coccinellidae. It is found in North America.
Allantonematidae is a family of insect-parasitic nematodes from the order Tylenchida. Allantonematid nematodes infect a variety of insects including beetles, butterflies, flies, thrips, ants, and more. For instance, the nematode Howardula aoronymphium parasitizes mushroom-feeding fruit flies, Formicitylenchus oregonensis parasitizes carpenter ants, and Metaparasitylenchus hypothenemi parasitizes a pest of coffee beans, the coffee berry borer.
The Herpomycetales is an order of fungi within the class Laboulbeniomycetes. The order includes a single dioecious genus, Herpomyces, with 27 accepted species of obligate ectoparasites that are associated exclusively with cockroaches. Like the Laboulbeniales order, they produce cellular thalli. However, the thalli of Herpomyces are developmentally and morphologically unique.
Laboulbenia slackensis is a microscopic fungus found on Carabidae arthropods. Like all fungi found in the Laboulbeniomycetes class, L. slackensis is an obligate ectoparasite and lives its entire life cycle on one host. It is differentiated from other related species based on host preference, and is studied as an example of speciation due to ecological niche preference.
Furia is a genus of fungi within the family of Entomophthoraceae of the Zygomycota. This has been supported by molecular phylogenetic analysis.
