Résumé
ABSTRACT The SISBIOTA-BRASIL was a three-year multimillion-dollar research program of the Brazilian government to document plants and animals in endangered/understudied areas and biomes in Brazil. Distributional patterns and the historical events that generated them are extensively unknown regarding Brazilian fauna and flora. This deficiency hinders the development of conservation policies and the understanding of evolutionary processes. Conservation decisions depend on precise knowledge of the taxonomy and geographic distribution of species. Given such a premise, we proposed to research the diversity of Diptera of the Brazilian western arc of Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal in the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Rondônia. Three important biomes of the South American continent characterize these Brazilian states: Amazon forest, Cerrado (Brazilian Savannah), and Pantanal. Besides their ecological relevance, these biomes historically lack intensive entomological surveys. Therefore, they are much underrepresented in the Brazilian natural history collections and in the scientific literature, which is further aggravated by the fact that these areas are being exponentially and rapidly converted to commercial lands. Our project involved over 90 collaborators from 24 different Brazilian institutions and one from Colombia among researchers, postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students, and technicians. We processed and analyzed nearly 300,000 specimens from ~60 families of Diptera collected with a large variety of methods in the sampled areas. Here, we provide a detailed overview of the genera and species diversity of 41 families treated. Our results point to a total of 2,130 species and 514 genera compiled and identified for the three states altogether, with an increase of 41% and 29% in the numbers of species and genera known for the three states combined, respectively. Overall, the 10 most species-rich families were Tachinidae, Cecidomyiidae, Tabanidae, Psychodidae, Sarcophagidae, Stratiomyidae, Bombyliidae, Syrphidae, Tephritidae, and Asilidae. The 10 most diverse in the number of genera were Tachinidae, Stratiomyidae, Asilidae, Mycetophilidae, Syrphidae, Tabanidae, Muscidae, Dolichopodidae, Sarcophagidae, and Chloropidae. So far, 111 scientific papers were published regarding taxonomic, phylogenetic, and biogeographical aspects of the studied families, with the description of 101 new species and three new genera. We expect that additional publications will result from this investigation because several specimens are now curated and being researched by specialists.
Résumé
ABSTRACT The Empididae fauna of Chile is basically known from a taxonomic perspective. Herein, we have added biological data based on a species of Hilarini, improving our knowledge regarding the southern temperate fauna of the family. We report for the first time the prey and nocturnal activities of the Patagonian empidid species Hilarempis sigillata Collin, 1933. Specimens were collected until two hours after sunset on a white light sheet at a river margin in the Chilean region of Los Lagos, close to the Puyehue National Park. Adults were found on the sheet with prey of the Chironomidae genera Cricotopus, Xestochironomus, Microtendipes, Podochlus, Heptagyia and Reissmesa (Diptera), as well as a species of the Coniopterygidae genus Semidalis (Neuroptera) and a species of the Limoniidae genus Erioptera (Diptera). The empidids held the prey close to their body using the mid tarsi, in most cases with the ventral side of the prey turned up or laterally.
Résumé
ABSTRACT Although the species richness of Stratiomyidae (Diptera) in Brazil (~340 species) is one of the highest for the family worldwide, we still do not know the actual number of species, the extent of their distribution, or the species seasonal dynamics for a single area in the Neotropics. The soldier fly fauna in the semideciduous seasonal forests, which cover a major area of the countryside of the state of São Paulo, is poorly known compared to the best-known areas in the Atlantic Forest for stratiomyids, such as the ombrophilous forests on the southeast coast. With the constant habitat fragmentation of the remnants of the semideciduous forests in the state for crops and pastures for cattle, we are losing valuable data about biodiversity. This study details the stratiomyids for a single area in the Neotropical Region, using a standardized collecting methodology with Malaise traps, from May 2010 to December 2011. Here, we provide a list of 41 stratiomyid species and 25 genera in eight subfamilies from a total of 1,533 specimens collected in the Reserva Biológica e Ecológica Augusto Ruschi, Sertãozinho, Brazil. The current number of species/morphospecies reported for the state of São Paulo is raised to 113, with Merosargus golbachi James, 1971 in James and McFadden, 1971 and M. tripartitus James, 1971 in James and McFadden, 1971 reported for the first time to Brazil. Our analyses estimate even higher richness in the studied area, probably between 48 to 114 species, indicating that further collection efforts are needed.
Résumé
ABSTRACT Hexapods, commonly known as insects, are a neglected taxonomic group in the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, with unanswered questions about their species richness and the ecological processes in which they are involved (e.g., colonization, introduction, establishment, and extinction). Herein, we provide an updated Hexapod checklist with current nomenclatural combinations. The entomofauna of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago is currently composed of 453 species in 21 orders. The orders, and their respective number of species, are: Blattaria (9), Coleoptera (118), Collembola (29), Dermaptera (3), Diplura (1), Diptera (134), Embioptera (1), Hemiptera (29), Hymenoptera (59), Isoptera (2), Lepidoptera (25), Mantodea (1), Neuroptera (3), Odonata (5), Orthoptera (11), Phasmatodea (1), Phthiraptera (6), Psocoptera (3), Siphonaptera (1), Thysanoptera (10), and Zygentoma (2). The archipelago has 263 new taxon records (family + genera + species). Thirty-eight species (3.39%) were described from local specimens and most of them are likely endemic species. This study more than doubles our knowledge (from the previous 190 records) of the entomofauna in this large Brazilian archipelago. This study also provides a baseline for studies on its conservation status and for implementing future environmental management programs.
Résumé
ABSTRACT The genus Neogriphoneura Malloch, 1924 is currently composed of 11 species with New World distribution. Neogriphoneura timida Curran, 1942 is recorded for the first time in South America, with occurrences in Brazil, Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago; and new Central American records are presented: Belize, Honduras and Mexico. Here we redescribe the species and present, for the first time, illustrations of the male terminalia and female spermathecae, and discuss the main diagnostic characteristics of external morphology. A brief discussion about the postcopulatory sexual selection in this species is proposed based on morphology of the spermathecae.