Aureobasidium strains isolated from diverse unconventional environments belonging to the species A. pullulans , A. melanogenum , and A. subglaciale were evaluated for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) production as a part of their modes of action against Botrytis cinerea of tomato and table grape. By in vitro assay, VOCs generated by the antagonists belonging to the species A. subglaciale showed the highest inhibition percenta...

Phytophagous insects of the genus Bactrocera are among the most economically important invasive fruit fly pests. In 2003, an unknown Bactrocera species was found in Kenya. First identified as an ‘aberrant form’ of the Asian B. dorsalis complex, it was later recognized as a new species, Bactrocera invadens . Within 2 years of its discovery, the species was recorded in several African countries, becoming an important quarantine...

A set of 10 microsatellite markers was used to survey the levels of genetic variability and to analyse the genetic aspects of the population dynamics of two potentially invasive pest fruit fly species, Ceratitis rosa and C. fasciventris, in Africa. The loci were derived from the closely related species, C. capitata . The degree of microsatellite polymorphism in C. rosa and C. fasciventris was extensive and comparable to that o...

Samples of seven of the 10 morphological species of midges of the Culicoides imicola complex were considered. The importance of this species complex is connected to its vectorial capacity for African horse sickness virus (AHSV) and bluetongue virus (BTV). Consequently, the risk of transmission may vary dramatically, depending upon the particular cryptic species present in a given area. The species complex is confined to the Ol...

The exon‐primed intron‐crossing (EPIC) PCR technique was used to analyse the size variation at the first intron of the Ceratitis capitata Adh 1 gene. A total of 27 samples from 16 natural populations was analysed from five geographical regions in the species range: Africa, Mediterranean Basin, Latin America, Hawaii and Australia. The Adh 1 first intron varies extensively in length with at least 18 size variants ranging from 14...