The emerging coronavirus pandemic has severe impacts on One Health globally. Diseases, zoonoses, and biosecurity are important emerging issues for species conservation at the world zoos. Zoos emphasize public health to protect visitors and zoo staff, and animal hygiene to manage the good health. There is no border between on a zoo ground and neighboring natural environment. Therefore, zoo biosecurity including preventive medicine protocols to protect the animals from infectious diseases transmitted by wildlife are routinely conducted. Infectious diseases of captive animals should be prevented to spread outside. Investigation of rescued wildlife and necropsies of the carcasses found on zoo grounds must be useful monitoring tools of wildlife diseases and provide a baseline measure of the risk by local wildlife. A sparrow mass mortality caused by emerging salmonellosis in Hokkaido, 2008–2009. The initial case found dead on a zoo ground was investigated as a preventive medicine program to protect the captive animals and biosecurity.

Zoos can play an important role as a wildlife health center to protect One Health for human, animal and ecosystem based on conservation medicine. Zoos can work as wildlife disease information networks and an early warning system by monitoring wildlife diseases and conducting biosecurity countermeasures.

Nagano Prefecture, an inland mountain area of Japan, extends widely north and south, with elevation that varies greatly by location. Mosquitoes transmitting infectious disease have a diversity of habitats in Nagano, and many species can be expected there. However, there have been few reports about mosquito fauna in this region; in particular, little information is available on mosquitoes such as Culex (Culex) pipiens complex and Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus. In this study, we investigated the mosquito fauna in 17 areas to clarify their horizontal and elevational distribution patterns between July and September from 2012 to 2014. We focused especially on Cx. pipiens complex compared with Ae. albopictus. A total of 1,117 mosquitoes were collected, and identified as belonging to 17 species. The most abundant species was Cx. pipiens complex, followed by Ae. albopictus. Both species were mainly collected in the southern and eastern parts of Nagano Prefecture, excluding highland areas. Ae. albopictus was collected at a maximum elevation of 789 m while Cx. pipiens complex was collected at a maximum elevation of 996 m. That means the habitat of Cx. pipiens complex was more widely distributed than that of Ae. albopictus. The annual mean air temperature of the site at 789 m was estimated to be 10.2°C and that of the site at 996 m was estimated to be 8.5°C. There was a difference of 207 m in elevational distribution between the two species, with a difference in annual mean air temperature of 1.7°C.

Trypanosoma are known to be a diverse group of parasites that infect animals belonging to all classes in the subphylum Vertebrata and are important pathogens that affect human and animal health. Although many trypanosomatids have been found in mammals and birds in Japan, information regarding their invertebrate host is currently lacking. During our virome analyses of ticks and horse flies, several trypanosoma-like sequences were found. Further sequence characterization and PCR-based screening revealed trypanosomatids termed Trypanosoma sp. 17ISK-T2 and 17ISK-T22 in the nymphs of Haemaphysalis flava, and T. theileri-like sequences in Tabanus rufidens. These results indicate that virome analysis by next-generation sequencing (NGS) can also be used as a tool for protozoan detection from arthropods. Further investigations will assist in understanding the diversity and transmission dynamics of these parasites in Japan.

Three new species of black flies of Simulium (Simulium) are described from adults and pupae collected in Nepal. All these new species, S. ratekholaense, S. maskeyae and S. gokarnaense, are placed in the S. multistriatum species-group of Simulium (Simulium). Simulium sp. B in the same species-group recorded from Nepal is regarded to be conspecific to S. barraudi Puri originally described from India. The male and pupa of S. barraudi are redescribed based on a male reared from a pupa collected in Nepal.

Four new species of black flies of Simulium (Simulium) are described from adults and their associated pupal exuviae and cocoons in Nepal. All these new species, S. tatopaniense, S. dailekhense, S. langbangense, and S. nakanoi, are in the S. tuberosum species-group of the subgenus Simulium Latreille. Simulium dailekhense sp. nov. and S. langtangense are the same species previously reported as S. ramosum Puri and S. rufibasis Brunetti from Nepal, respectively. A list of 57 black fly species recorded from Nepal is provided.

The role of zebra stripes is considered to be defensing from blood sucking by insects, such as tsetse flies and tabanid flies, those perform actively host-seeking flight. Aedes albopictus is opportunistically blood sucker, so, the reaction to zebra stripes may be different from such flies. Thus, we investigated the reaction of A. albopictus to the rugs of three color patterns, black, white, and zebra stripes. During the sunny days on August and September, 2019 with three different times in a day (morning, daytime, and evening), we counted the number of mosquitoes landed on the rugs on human decoy at a park in Tokyo. Significant difference (p<0.05) was found in the total number of mosquitoes landed on the three types of rugs, while no significant difference (p>0.05) was found in the numbers of mosquitoes landed on the rugs at each observation time. The number of A. albopictus which landed on the black-colored rug was two times more than that of a mosquito flying around the face of human decoy, while those on the rugs of white color and zebra stripes were a half and only 3% of those flying around the face of human decoy, respectively. The lured A. albopictus landed smoothly on the black rug, but the landings were not smooth on the zebra-striped rug. It was revealed that A. albopictus avoids zebra stripes as same as tsetse flies and tabanid flies.

The role of zebra stripes has so far been described in four categories: camouflage and visual disturbance, reduced body temperature rise, social function, and avoidance of blood-sucking insects. Although there are various studies that prove this, a few are from the viewpoint of entomology. Therefore, we verified whether zebra stripes would avoid blood-sucking flies by trapping method at Toga, Toyama, Japan, using the Nzi trap (with attractant) made black, white and zebra-patterned cotton cloth. As a result, the zebra-striped Nzi traps and white ones could not significantly (p<0.01) attract and capture Tabanus iyoensis than the black ones, and significant difference between the zebra-striped and white ones were not recognized (p>0.05).

Lobopterella dimidiatipes was collected in Chichijima, Ogasawara Islands, Japan. This is the first record of L. dimidiatipes found on the Ogasawara Islands.