The family Spiciviridae , belonging to the order Ghabrivirales , is currently composed of only one officially recognized genus, Spicivirus . However, metagenomic studies have revealed an increasing diversity of related viruses, suggesting that the current classification may underestimate their evolutionary complexity. In this context, the aim of the present study was to detect and characterize new viruses related to the Spiciv...

Historically Amblyomma hebraeum has been found in the north-eastern part of South Africa and along the coastal belt stretching to the Eastern Cape area. A change already noted in the past 20 years has been the increase in distribution area in the Eastern Cape, which now includes a larger inland area. It has been postulated that climate change has brought about a change in the distribution of A. hebraeum and subsequently, its p...

Methylmercury (MeHg) contamination can cause damage to the salivary glands, which is associated with oxidative stress and glandular dysfunction. Açaí ( Euterpe oleracea Martius), a fruit rich in antioxidants, emerges as a natural alternative to mitigate the toxic effects of MeHg. This study aimed to evaluate whether clarified açaí juice exerts a protective effect on the major salivary glands of rats intoxicated with MeHg. Wist...

Metatranscriptomic analysis of Wyeomyia confusa mosquitoes collected in the Atlantic Forest (Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo, Brazil) led to the identification of a previously uncharacterized virus, designated Wyeomyia confusa Lispivirus (WcLispV-SP), classified within the family Lispiviridae , genus Canmovirus . The viral genome consists of a negative-sense single-stranded RNA (ssRNA−) of 12,698 nucleotides, encoding six open read...

Xant homonas axonopodis pv. ricini is the major bacterial pathogen of castor bean ( Ricinus communis L.), an important source for oil production in several countries; only castor bean has been reported as its natural host. Recently, its pathotype strain ICMP 5747 was shown to cause disease in eucalypt plants and to group with Xanthomonas euvesicatoria in a multi-locus sequence analysis (MLSA), raising doubts about its taxonomi...

Herewith we present the first detection of Amblyomma lepidum (Dönitz, 1909) on cattle in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s smallholder farmers rely heavily on their livestock, mainly cattle and goats. Even though great importance is placed on cattle farming, no systematic surveillance of tick and tick-borne diseases is currently being conducted in the country. Forming part of the Amblyomma genus, A . lepidum is a brightly ornate tick with...