Punjab University Journal of Zoology

9-14

Authors: Khalid Idrees Khan, Rafat H. Jafri and Muzaffar Ahmad

The worker of Microtermes unicolor, Microcerotermes championi and Heterotermes indicola were infected with a surface culture of Aspergillus niger for a period of 10, 20, and 30 minutes and the mortality pattern was described. Their 100% death occurred quickly when the insects were crawled over a conidial culture of A. niger for a longer period of time. Out of 3 termite species M. championi was found to be more susceptible to A. niger than M. unicolor and H. indicola.

27-34

Authors: Mushtaq A. Saleem and A.R. Shakoori

The sixth instar larvae of Tribolium castaneum showed 100% mortality after 16 days and adult beetles after 18 days of total starvation under laboratory conditions at 35oC and 75% relative humidity. Rate of wet weight loss was greater in sixth instar larvae than adult beetles. Larvae reduced their wet weight sharply during initial 48 hours of starvation and thereafter maintained steady reduction. In contrast adults reduced their wet weight gradually throughout the experimentation. However, both stages of T. castaneum decreased their dry weight abruptly during the initial 48 hours followed by steady reduction.

45-51

Authors: Anjum Nasim Sabri and Shahid Hasnain

A manganese resistant strain AnMn-1 was examined, which could prevent the toxic action of Mn2+ up to 2000 µg/ml in the medium. It was Gram-negative, pleomorphic, motile with high convex, undulate and circular colonies. It favoured neutral to alkaline media and was sensitive to Co2+, Hg2+, Cm and Sm but could tolerate Ni2+, Zn2+, Ba2+, Sn2+, Fe2+,Cu2+, Ap, Tc and Km in the medium. It was facultative anaerobic, spore-former and had catalase, oxidase and urease enzymes. It has the ability to produce acid from arabinose, rhamnose and glucose. It could hydrolyse urea, decarboxylase lysine and ornithine. Single plasmid was present in it. Conjugation experiments under different set of environmental conditions like time (0-24hrs), pH (6.5-8.5), temperature (25o, 28o, 32o, 37o) and donor to recipient ratio (1 to 10) revealed that maximum transfer frequency was found at 37oC when pH of the medium was 8 and also at donor to recipient ratio 10. It shared maximum characters with Gram-negative Bacillus.

59-66

Authors: Narayan C. Rooj

Light and scanning electron microscopic studies of the gill-arch and gill-rakers in two Indian hill-stream fishes, Garra lamta (Hamilton) and Noemacheilus rupicola (McClelland) show many striking features. In the former fish, due to its herbivorous nature and for leading an active life even in the midst of high current of water with the help of its adhesive apparatus, gill-rakers are reduced without showing taste-buds, whereas in the later one, due to is carnivorous nature and a burrowing and a sluggish life at the bottom in sand/mud, the system is elaborate, with stumpy gill-rakers, provided with girdle like lamellae at the surface, many taste-buds with transverse like openings, provided with thick rim. Origin of the gill rakers has been suggested form the gill-arch tissues, by investigation.

79-87

Authors: Syed Shahid Ali and Abdul Rauf Shakoori

The various haematological parameters in albino rats were prominently altered after oral administration of DDT (100mg, 20mg and 10mg/kg body wt/day) alongwith the feed for a total period of 48 hours, 15 days and 18 months respectively. total erythrocytic count (TEC) and haemoglobin (Hb) content was reduced upto 16 and 11% (48 hours), 17 and 9% (15 days) and 14 and 8% in case of 18 month treatment, respectively. the decrease in PCV was 7 and 8% after 15 days and 18 months of DDT feeding. Among the slight but various indices values, the mean capuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) exhibited significant decline at 48 hours (10%) and 15 days (5%). Mean carpuscular volume (MCV) and mean carpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) increased up to 19 and 12% during 48 hours, 26 and 9% during 15 days and 13 and 11% in 18 months experiments respectively. Significant increase (48%, 64% and 29% was also observed in total leukocytic count (TLC) in all three treatments, respectively. the study suggests that DDT is extremely toxic compound which involves variety of pathology in the blood components of non-targent systems.

93-108

Authors: M.R. Mirza

There are about 160 native species of freshwater fishes belonging to 69 genera, 23 families, 11 orders, 4 superorders and 3 cohorts of the teleostean fishes found in Pakistan and Kashmir. Of these, about 60% species are South Asian, about 8% species are High Asian, about 4% species are West Asian and about 24% species are endemic to Pakistan and Kashmir. The remaining native species are widely distributed. In addition, there are several species of exotic fishes which are not discussed in this paper. On the basis of the distribution of the native freshwater fishes, Pakistan and Kashmir can be divided into 5 ichthyogeographical provinces. I. Hindukash-Karakoram-Himalayan Province including the Northern Area and the adjoining parts of NWFP and Kashmir; II. Abasinh-Kashmir Province including the northern montane area of North West Frontier Province and Kashmir south of the Great Himalayan Range. III. Yaghistan Province comprising the north eastern Baluchistan and upper parts of the Gomal and Kurram rivers and the middle part of the Kabul river in Pakistan and Afghanistan. IV. Mehran Province comprising the Indus Plain southeastern Baluchistan east of the Central Brahui and Hala ranges, and the submontane areas of Pakistan and Kashmir; and V. Gedrosian Province including the western Baluchistan and the adjoining parts of Afghanistan and Iran (Hingol river, Lora-Pishin river, Mashkhel river, Dasht river and minor streams along the Makran coast). Of these, the Hindukash-Karakoram-Himalayan Province is a part of the High Asian Region; Abasinh-Kashmir, Yaghistan and Mehran Provinces belong to the South Asian Subregion of the Oriental Region; while the Gedrosian Province may be included in the Southwest Asian or West Asian Transitional Region.

15-19

Authors: Naryan C. Rooj

Morphological and histological structure of the respiratory organs with special reference to mouth, gill-openings, paired and unpaired fins, gills have been studied in detail. Four pairs of gills are not much developed. However, the region of the gill-head is provided with many taste buds forming a layer which are chemical detectors for food and water. Mucous gland cells also have formed a well developed middle layer, and the inner layer has formed by well developed abductor muscles. Primary lamellae are pointed at their tips, provided with two rows of moderately developed secondary lamellae in which thicker water blood diffusion barrier (2.25 µm) in comparison to other denizen, Garra lamta (1.75 µm) are present.

37-40

Authors: M.R. Mirza, Islam Ali And M.N. Javed

The fish fauna of the river Kurram and its tributaries in the Kurram Agency has been discussed. Labeo calbasu (Hamilton), Racoma labiata McClelland, Shistura punjabensis (Hora), Glyptothorax kashmirensis Hora and G. naziri Mirza and Naik have been recorded for the first time from this river. Tor putitora (Hamilton) and Cyprinion watsoni (Day), previously recorded from Kurram Agency, have not be collected

45-52

Authors: Shahid Hasnain and Anjum Nasim Sabri

From the effluents of Comfort Chemicals, a bacterium, AnFe-6, which could deter FeCl3 up to 2500 µg ml-1 was isolated. It had circular, convex, entire, off-white opaque colonies. Cells of AnFe-6 were Gram-negative, motile, pleomorphic, rods. It confers resistance to antibiotics, ampicillin (Ap) and chloramphenicol (Cm) and other metallic salts (Ba+2, Zn+2, Ni+2, Co+2, Cu+2, Hg+2, Mn+2 and Sn+2). However it was sensitive to kanamycin (Km), tetracycline (Tc) and streptomycin (Sm) antibiotics and Hg+2 salt. It favours neutral to alkaline pH (7.0 – 7.5) for its growth. It could respire anaerobically, had oxidase and urease activity. AnFe-6 could produce acid from arabinose, glucose and rhamnose. The isolate gave positive results for ONPG, Lysine decarboxylase, gelatin hydrolysis, ornithine decarboxylase and arginine dihydrolase tests. On the basis of these characters the isolate could be affiliated to family Vibrionaceae. By the gel electrophoresis of total cell lysate, no plasmid band was detected in this strain, but conjugation experiments revealed the presence of transferable iron resistance marker, genetic determinant for which has to be established. Minimum of 8 hours were required to establish mating aggregates. Conjugal transfer of genetic element carrying iron resistant marker was affected by donor and recipient proportion, temperature as well as pH of mating mixture. 25 oC inconcomitant with pH 8 showed synergistic response for conjugal transfer.

63-68

Authors: Muhammad Saeed Akhtar, Muhammad Irshad and Amjad Rafooq

Wooden blocks of Magnifera indica were treated with different concentrations (0.1%, 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.8%) of dieldrin and Lorsban. Blocks treated with each insecticide were segregated into two groups, i.e. leached and unleached. Lorsban was found more effective than dieldrin in protecting wooden blocks from attack of Microcerotermes championi Snyder, during short term laboratory experiments.

13-26

Authors: Abdul Rauf Shakoori, Uzma Butt, Rahila Riffat and Farah Aziz

Danitol, a synthetic pyrethroid, force fed to a group of male domesticated rabbits at a dose of 10mg/kg body weight per day for seven days, produced significant abnormal changes in the blood and liver. The red blood cell count, hemoglobin content and mean corpuscular hemoglobin were significantly decreased (15%, 14% and 31%, respectively), whereas white blood cell count increased 46%. The blood serum glutamate oxalocetate transaminase activity and bilirubin content increased 76% and 67%, respectively after 4 days of treatment, whereas alkaline phosphatase and acid phosphatase activities, and concentrations of protein and cholesterol decreased 54%, 19%, 15% and 26%, respectively after 4 days of treatment. All other biochemical parameters including liver function tests remained unchanged. In liver only isocitrate dehydrogenase activity showed a significant increase after 7 days treatment, whereas all other hepatic biochemical components remained unalteres.

37-46

Authors: Firdausia Azam Ali

The terminal composite ganglion of the adult Pieris brassicae is made up by the fusion of the 6th, 7th, 8th larval abdominal ganglia. In all six pairs of peripheral nerves are given off by this complex throughout the life of the insect. In the larva each ganglion has its separate set of nerve tracts which number is retained in a compressed and medified form in the adult.

7-18

Authors: Akhtar Tanveer

A study was made on the hemocyte morphology of freshwater snails Physa acuta and Bellamaya bengalensis. The hemolymph directly obtained from the heart was allowed to settle for 30 minutes before fixation and staining. Both snail species showed two basic types of hemocytes known as spreading hemocytes and round hemocytes. Light microscopy of these hemocytes revealed behavioural distinctions. In both the snails studied, the spreading hemocytes predominates. Mean percentage of these cells constitutes 90.51 ± 3.71 and 93.38±2.03 for P. acuta and B. bengalensis respectively. Similar values for round hemocytes were 6.62±1.22 and 9.48±1.01 percent. Majority of the spreading hemocytes were mononucleated. However, less than 2% of the total blood cells were binucleated or multinucleated, with unequal nuclei termed as mother nucleus and daughter nucleus. Round hemocytes were always mononucleated. The mean size of the mononucleated spreading hemocytes was 1378.42±578.08 and 1745.26±990.39 (µm)2, while that of the binucleated cells was 1843±1117 and 3202.0±1646.39 (µm)2 for P. acuta and B. bengalensis. The nucleus of spreading hemocyte was rounded to oval, kidney shaped or lobulated. Only spreading hemocytes produced filopodia and pseudopodia in almost all directions and were capable of exhibiting rapid changes in shape, but no net motion. The number of pseudopodia produced by spreading hemocytes lie between 9-27 with an average value of 17.47±5.77 and 13.79±4.89 for P. acuta and B. bengalensis respectively. Maximum average length of pseudopodia of a single spread hemocyte was 327.37±143.67µm and 226.84±95.68µm for P. acuta and B. bengalensia. The round hemocytes were characterized by the presence of more of less circular or weavy boundary, and no pseudopodia. They also posses comparatively hyaline (clear) cytoplasm alongwith few granules and vacuoles of various sizes. The mean area occupied by round hemocytes was 416.0±140.22 and 950.0±928.10 (µm)2 for P. acuta and B. bengalensis, with a typical rounded to oval nucleus. Only spreading hemocytes fuse with one another to form synctia but round hemocytes did not fuse either with each other or with spreading hemocytes. However, fusion among spreading hemocytes was reversible. The present findings are discussed in the light of available sutides on themolluscan blood in general and gastropod hemolymph in particular.

31-41

Authors: Fouzia Qamar, Firdausia Azam Ali and Shahid Husnain

Agrobacterium tumefaciens was isolated from two sources. One source was the young and freshly cut tumors from trees of Populus sp. present along the canal near the vicinity of Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Punjab University, Lahore. The other source was from stink bugs which were always found to be present in the proximity of the tumors of these trees. These insects habitually feed on them. Total of eight isolates were obtained and designated as F3O, F3W, F3y1, F3y2(1), BS, BSc and BSy. First five were obtained from the tumors and later three were isolated from hemolymph of stink bug. Two of these strains i.e., F3O and BSy were selected for inoculation studies. These were injected as well as fed in measured dozes to the insects. The effects were observed after 5 hrs, as bacteria-treated insects started showing high rate of mortality after 8 hrs. they insects which received bacteria by means of feeding survived for comparatively longer duration. Blood smear preparations of inoculated insects showed as disturbed hemocyte structure. Histological studies of the gut of bacteria-fed insects revealed a significant decrease in the length of the cells of centeric epithelium. Their total body protein content also showed a significant increase over that of the controls, but no significant increase was noted in two case of inoculated insects.

57-79

Authors: Akhtar Tanveer

Population of Bellamaya bengalensis Lamarck, were exposed to various temperatures ranging from 0-45 oC with 5 oC interval to observe their survival, growth and reproduction. Juvenile (one week old) and adult snails (70, weeks old) were kept under observation for 24 and 32 weeks. It appeared that for both juvenile and adult snails optimum temperature for survival, growth and reproduction was 25.0±1.0 oC. At this temperature snails also exhibited maximum specific growth rate for length and weight. However, condition factor was pointing to the fact that at this optimum temperature, weight increase was more pronounced than the length. The snails could not tolerate the temperature above 35.0 oC and below 15.0 oC beyond 96 hours (juvenile) and 7 days (adult).

89-100

Authors: Firdausia Azam Ali and Farrukh Naveed

Cholesterol metabolism of starved as well as those Lucilia cuprina (Wied.) reared on different diets was studied during the first 40 hours of their life. In the starved insects the amount of cholesterol increased from 4 to 12 hours (from 0.325 to 0.395 mg/100 mg) then decreased at 16 hours but started to increase till 28 hours when it was found to be 0.690 mg/100mg. A decrease was noted afterwards which continued till the end with the contents falling to 0.31 mg/100mg. In the beef extract-fed flies cholesterol level increased from 4 till 12 hours (from 0.345 to 0.391 mg/100mg) but then a slight decreased occurred at 16 hour-stage followed by an increase till 28 hours, when the amount was estimated to be 0.518 mg/100mg. A steady decrease occurred occured till the end when the contents were found to be 0.34 mg/100mg. In glucose-fed flies contents increased from 4 hours to 12 hours (from 0.343 to 0.384 mg/100mg) followed by a slight decrease at 16 hours. After 28 hours they reached the maximum which was 0.482 mg/100. Then the level started to fall down till at the 40 hour it was 0.35mg/100mg. IN mixed diet-fed flies cholesterol level increased till 12 hours (from 0.353 to 0.403 mg/100mg), then decreased slightly at 16 hours and started to increase and reached its maximum at 28 hours which was 0.512 mg/100mg. Later on a depletion in the values occurred, the level started to fall down and had become 0.35 mg at the end of 40 hours.