Outside the pattern: Evolution of the genital asymmetry in Saicinae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae).

Despite genital structures in insects being consistently important as systematic and taxonomy evidence, within assassin bugs (Heteroptera, Reduviidae) at least, the male and female genitalic structures of several subfamilies are poorly or totally unknown. The genital structure is mostly symmetric within Saicinae genera, but male genital asymmetry has been recorded in Gallobelgicus, Polytoxus, and recently Pseudosaica. The subfamily has been considered as closely related to Emesinae and Visayanocorinae but this hypothesis has never been tested using a comprehensive taxa sampling, being a constraint to test morphological traits changes or exploring characters' evolution hypotheses. Here, we compiled a morphological data set of 170 characters that includes external morphological characters and genitalia of both sexes of Saicinae which was analyzed cladistically including 55 terminals, comprising 16 genera (64% of the generic diversity), 43 species of Saicinae and 12 outgroups. Saicinae was recovered as polyphyletic, Saicireta correntina is recovered as sister-species of Empicoris armatus + Collartida (Emesinae), Oncerotrachelus, Carayonia (Visayanocorinae), and the Clade Saicinae sensu stricto. Carayonia orientalis is recovered as sister-species of Saicinae sensu stricto. Ancestral state reconstruction of symmetry of the male genitalia shows an ancestor with symmetric male genitalia, two independent emergences of asymmetrical male genitalia within Saicinae sensu stricto, and the asymmetrical endosomal sclerites appearing before the other asymmetric traits.

Estimative of Black Pepper leaf area with basis on the leaf blade linear dimension / Estimativa da área foliar de pimenta do reino a partir de dimensões lineares do limbo foliar

This research was aimed at establishing regression equations to estimate black pepper (Piper nigrum) leaf area based on linear leaf measures. Different black pepper varieties where growth on the field, four different size leaves were collected per plant with a total of 52 leaves to establish the regression equation and 28 to validate the equation for each variety (Bragantina, Laçará, Guajarina e Cingapura). Leaf midrib length (LML), maximum leaf broad width (MLBW) and leaf area (LA) were measured. Pearson"s linear correlation coefficients were determined between observed and predicted measures with the observed LA, besides estimating the linear regression equation for each variety. The equations best-fitted to estimate LA based on circumscript rectangle were: 1) LA = 2.2689 + 0.6900 x LML x MLBW; 2) LA = 1.6402 + 0.6816 x LML x MLBW; 3) LA = 1.4942 + 0.6215 x LML x MLBW and 4) LA = 0.7467 + 0.6735 x LML x MLBW, for Bragantina, Laçará, Guajarina and Cingapura varieties respectively. For all equations predicted values had high correlation coefficient with observed values thus showing that these equations must be variety specific and that they are appropriate for black pepper leaf area estimative.(AU)

O objetivo deste trabalho foi estabelecer equações de regressão para estimar a área foliar de diferentes variedades de pimenta-do-reino (Piper nigrum) cultivadas no campo, a partir de medidas lineares de folhas. Foram coletadas quatro folhas por planta, de tamanhos diferentes, totalizando 52 folhas, para estabelecer a equação de regressão e 28 para validar a equação para cada variedade (Bragantina, Laçará, Guajarina e Cingapura). Procederam-se às medições do comprimento da nervura central (LML), da maior largura do limbo foliar (MLBW) e da área foliar (LA). Determinaram-se os coeficientes de correlação linear de Pearson entre as medidas mensuráveis e preditas com a LA observada, além de estimarem-se as equações de regressão linear para cada variedade. As equações que melhor se ajustaram para estimar LA com base no retângulo circunscrito foram: LA = 2.2689 + 0.6900 x LML x MLBW, para Bragantina; LA = 1.6402 + 0.6816 x LML x MLBW, para Laçará; LA = 1.4942 + 0.6215 x LML x MLBW, para Guajarina e LA = 0.7467 + 0.6735 x LML x MLBW, para Cingapura, para as quais os valores preditos apresentaram elevada correlação com os valores observados, indicando que as equações devem ser específicas para cada variedade e que são coerentes para estimar a área foliar de pimenta do reino.(AU)