Occurrence and frequency of subgroup I-6 spiroplasma in arthropods associated with old fields in Maryland and Virginia.
The Subgroup I-6 spiroplasma, "Maryland Flower Spiroplasma," originally discovered on fall flowers and subsequently recovered from a syrphid fly and a beetle triungulin, was isolated from two new fall flower hosts and from the guts of nine nectar-imbibing insect species. These data, together with lack of recovery of I-6 spiroplasma from foliage-feeding, plant-sucking, or flightless flower-associated insects, suggest that I-6 spiroplasma may infect and be disseminated by nectar- or pollen-foraging insects, and that the dynamics of maintenance will prove to be complex.
D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000382:microbiology; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000382:microbiology; D004064:Digestive System / Q000382:microbiology; D004463:Ecology; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007313:Insecta / Q000382:microbiology*; D008396:Maryland; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology*; D013112:Spiders / Q000382:microbiology; D013149:Spiroplasma / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D014768:Virginia