The forward primer (SR-J- 14799) for the amplification of a portion of the 12s rRNA gene was designed in our labora-
tory. The reverse primer (SR-N-74594) is similar to SR-J- 14588 . the former being six nucleotides shorter than the latter. These primers resulted in the amplification of a 430 bp fragment from all insects and the tick included in this study, with the exception of M. sanguinipes (Fig. 1 b). In addition. this fragment has been amplified and sequenced from cockroaches, termites and a mantid , sand flies and Aedes spp. Therefore the 12s rRNA primer set is also applicable across a broad range of insect taxa as well as ticks.