Invasive ants carry novel viruses in their new range and form reservoirs for a honeybee pathogen.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Sebastien A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4614435 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Invasive ants carry novel viruses in their new range and form reservoirs for a honeybee pathogen.
Sébastien Alexandra A Lester Philip J PJ Hall Richard J RJ Wang Jing J Moore Nicole E NE Gruber Monica A M MA
Biology letters 20150901 9
When exotic animal species invade new environments they also bring an often unknown microbial diversity, including pathogens. We describe a novel and widely distributed virus in one of the most globally widespread, abundant and damaging invasive ants (Argentine ants, Linepithema humile). The Linepithema humile virus 1 is a dicistrovirus, a viral family including species known to cause widespread arthropod disease. It was detected in samples from Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Argentine an ...[more]
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