La Crosse virus (LACV) is a mosquito-borne virus and a major cause of pediatric encephalitis in the USA. La Crosse virus emerged in Tennessee and other states in the Appalachian region in 1997. We investigated LACV infection rates and seasonal abundances of the native mosquito vector, Aedes triseriatus, and 2 recently introduced mosquito species, Ae. albopictus and Ae. japonicus, in an emerging disease focus in Tennessee. Mosquitoes were collected using multiple trapping methods specific for Aedes mosquitoes at recent human case sites. Mosquito pools were tested via reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of the S segment to detect multiple Bunyamwera and California serogroup viruses, including LACV, as well as real-time RT-PCR of the M segment. A total of 54 mosquito pools were positive, including wild-caught adult females and laboratory-reared adults, demonstrating transovarial transmission in all 3 species. Maximum likelihood estimates (per 1,000 mosquitoes) were 2.72 for Ae. triseriatus, 3.01 for Ae. albopictus, and 0.63 for Ae. japonicus. We conclude that Ae. triseriatus and Ae. albopictus are important LACV vectors and that Ae. japonicus also may be involved in virus maintenance and transmission.

The function of colouration in animals includes concealment, communication and signaling, such as the use of aposematism as a warning signal. Aposematism is unusual in mammals, and exceptions help us to understand its ecology and evolution. The Javan slow loris is a highly territorial venomous mammal that has a distinctive facial mask and monochromatic vision. To help understand if they use aposematism to advertise their venom to conspecifics or predators with different visual systems, we studied a population in Java, Indonesia. Using ImageJ, we selected colours from the facial masks of 58 individuals, converted RBG colours into monochromatic, dichromatic and trichromatic modes, and created a contrast index. During 290 captures, we recorded venom secretion and aggressiveness. Using Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling and generalised additive models for location, scale and shape, we found that young slow lorises differ significantly from adults, being both more contrasting and more aggressive, with aggressive animals showing fewer wounds. We suggest aposematic facial masks serve multiple purposes in slow lorises based on age. Change in colouration through development may play a role in intraspecific competition, and advertise toxicity or aggressiveness to competitors and/or predators in juveniles. Aposematic signals combined with intraspecific competition may provide clues to new venomous taxa among mammals.

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In a world increasingly dominated by human demand for agricultural products, we need to understand wildlife's ability to survive in agricultural environments. We studied the interaction between humans and Javan slow lorises (Nycticebus javanicus) in Cipaganti, Java, Indonesia. After its introduction in 2013, chayote (Sechium edule), a gourd grown on bamboo lattice frames, became an important cash crop. To evaluate people's use of this crop and to measure the effect of this increase on slow loris behaviour, home ranges, and sleep sites, we conducted interviews with local farmers and analysed the above variables in relation to chayote expansion between 2011-2015. Interviews with farmers in 2011, 2013 and 2015 confirm the importance of chayote and of bamboo and slow lorises in their agricultural practises. In 2015 chayote frames covered 12% of land in Cipaganti, occupying 4% of slow loris home ranges, which marginally yet insignificantly increased in size with the increase in chayote. Slow lorises are arboreal and the bamboo frames increased connectivity within their ranges. Of the sleep sites we monitored from 2013-2016, 24 had disappeared, and 201 continued to be used by the slow lorises and processed by local people. The fast growth rate of bamboo, and the recognition of the value of bamboo by farmers, allow persistence of slow loris sleep sites. Overall introduction of chayote did not result in conflict between farmers and slow lorises, and once constructed the chayote bamboo frames proved to be beneficial for slow lorises.

65sleep and sleep site selection, a comparative approach is required (Elgar, Pagel and Harvey, 1988; 66 Lesku, Roth II, Amlaner and Lima, 2006;Rattenborg, Martinez-Gonzalez and Lesku, 2009). Sleep can 67 comprise more than 50% of a primate's activity budget (Campbell and Tobler, 1984 79that are self-constructed or constructed by other species. Use of nests (either self-constructed or made in 80 tree holes or hollows) and platforms as sleep sites is common among strepsirhines and great apes, and, 81 presumably, the earliest humans (Sabater, Veá and Serrallonga, 1997;Bearder et al., 2003; Fultz, Brent, 82 Breaux and Grand, 2013;Samson and Shumaker, 2015b), but are rarely used by other haplorhines. 83Samson and Nunn (2015) distinguished these assembled nests, on the basis that for larger primates, tree 84 hollows would not be a viable sleeping option, and suggest that ancestral Paleocene and Eocene 85primates probably had galago-like fixed point nest use. Since most monkeys do not use nests, nest use 86 must have evolved multiple times. To be able to infer potential sleep site patterns in early primates (i.e. 87the ones for which only morphological data are available), we also must examine how body size, forelimb 88 to hindlimb ratio, and hand dexterity combine to assist living primates in their sleep site choices (Covert, 89 2002; Gebo and Dagosto, 2004). 4To examine the question further, Kappeler (1998) Rasmussen (1986) and Ehrlich and MacBride, (1989)]. 98Regarding the paucity of field data on many primate taxa, he urged further research of wild primates to 99 understand better the evolution of sleep site selection. 105In the twenty-first century, substantial taxonomic changes have occurred for both the African and Asian 106 lorisiforms. First, the dwarf galagos of the genus Galagoides were recognized as a polyphyletic clade 107 (Pozzi et al., 2015), and now are comprised of Galagoides (western and central Africa) and Paragalago 108(eastern Africa). Paragalago is a sister taxon to the genus Galago, and Galagoides and is a sister taxon 109 to the clade containing Sciurocheirus, Otolemur, Paragalago and Galago (Masters et al., 2017 132These data can be used as a basis to understanding ancestral sleep behavior of primates that can help to 133 inform sleep patterns that occurred later in primate evolution. 135 MATERIAL AND METHODS 136We follow the taxonomy of Nekaris 174To gain insight into sleep patterns and the presence of fragmented sleep in the lorisiforms, we compiled 175 data on when individuals entered and exited sleep sites. From selected sites, we added information on 176 pre-or post-dusk waking and pre-or post-dawn sleeping. We added observations of sleep during the 177 night or non-sleep behavior during the day. 178We examined evidence of predation on lorisiforms and highlight those instances where the events 179 occurred while the animal was asleep, or where we could reasonably infer that predation had taken place 180 during the daytime. We excluded predation events by nocturnal p...

West Nile virus (WNV) and Flanders virus (FLAV) can cocirculate in Culex mosquitoes in parts of North America. A large dataset of mosquito pools tested for WNV and FLAV was queried to understand the spatiotemporal relationship between these two viruses in Shelby County, TN. We found strong evidence of global clustering (i.e., spatial autocorrelation) and overlapping of local clustering (i.e., Hot Spots based on Getis Ord Gi*) of maximum likelihood estimates (MLE) of infection rates (IR) during 2008-2013. Temporally, FLAV emerges and peaks on average 10.2 wk prior to WNV based on IR. Higher levels of WNV IR were detected within 3,000 m of FLAV-positive pool buffers than outside these buffers.

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It has been suggested that strepsirrhines (lemurs, lorises, and galagos) retain the more primitive left-hand preference, whilst monkeys and apes more regularly display a right-hand preference at the individual-level. We looked to address questions of laterality in the slow loris (Nycticebus spp.) using spontaneous observations of 7 wild individuals, unimanual tests in 6 captive individuals, and photos of 42 individuals in a bilateral posture assessing handedness at the individual- and group-level. During the unimanual reach task, we found at the individual-level, only 4 slow lorises showed a hand use bias (R: 3, L: 1), Handedness index (HI) ranged from -0.57 to 1.00. In the wild unimanual grasp task, we found at the individual-level two individual showed a right-hand bias, the HI ranged from -0.19 to 0.70. The bilateral venom pose showed a trend toward a right-hand dominant grip in those photographed in captivity, but an ambiguous difference in wild individuals. There are many environmental constraints in captivity that wild animals do not face, thus data collected in wild settings are more representative of their natural state. The presence of right-handedness in these species suggests that there is a need to re-evaluate the evolution of handedness in primates.