Resumo em Inglês:

ABSTRACT Stomoxys Geoffroy, 1762 are major livestock pests in the tropics and are common in diverse habitats. This study aims to conduct a survey on the Stomoxys fauna of Cameroon. From 2015 to 2017, entomological studies using standard traps (n=204) were conducted in eight administrative regions found in five agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Cameroon with 606 trap-points over 22,032 traps days. A total of 77,804 Stomoxys specimens were collected, with eight taxa consisting of six species (S. calcitrans (Linnaeus, 1758), S. omega Newstead, Dutton & Todd, 1907, S. xanthomelas Roubaud, 1937, S. inornatus Grunberg, 1906, S. transvittatus Villeneuve, 1916, and S. sitiens (Rondani, 1873)) and two subspecies (Stomoxys niger niger Macquart, 1851 and S. niger bilineatus Grunberg, 1906) identified. Among all the recorded taxa, S. calcitrans and S. n. niger were present in five and seven of the eight regions respectively, but S. sitiens was rare and only found in the North. Furthermore, the highest species number (seven out of eight) was recorded in the Guinee savanna of the Adamawa region. The highest apparent density range of 101 to 200 Stomoxys/ trap/ day (s/t/d) was recorded in the Sudan savanna AEZ of the Far North region. Stomoxys occurred in all the AEZs in eight regions, some of which are major cattle rearing regions. This represents risk for the mechanically transmission of dangerous pathogens in those regions.

Resumo em Inglês:

ABSTRACT Neodexiopsis Malloch (Diptera, Muscidae) is a member of the subfamily Coenosiinae, with more than a hundred species recorded in the Neotropical region. In Ecuador, it is known by four species, which may be an underestimated number. We describe five new species based on recently collected material: Neodexiopsis bicoloratta new species, N. longialata new species, N. nigrocalyptrata new species, N. plana new species, and N. secunda new species. A key to segregating all the recorded species from Ecuador is presented. The male and female terminalia of the new species were dissected and illustrated. Images of the habitus of the adult from the new species are presented.

Resumo em Inglês:

ABSTRACT Asphondylia hancorniae, sp. n. (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae) is described and illustrated. This species was collected in Atlantic Forest and Caatinga domains in Bahia State (Northeastern Brazil). It induces galls on fruits of Hancornia speciosa Gomes (Apocynaceae), a plant native to Brazil. Asphondylia hancorniae is compared to other congeneric species which induce galls on Apocynaceae.

Resumo em Inglês:

ABSTRACT Perennial ryegrass is one of the most important food sources in animal production. However, several pests affect this crop, and one of the primary control strategies is the symbiotic relationships between ryegrass endophyte fungi. This fungus produces alkaloids that exhibit toxic activity against arthropods. Furthermore, the effect of fungi may extend to higher trophic levels, including predators (spiders and/or insects), decreasing their abundance and diversity. Given the importance of spiders and insects as predators, whether the symbiotic interaction between perennial ryegrass and endophyte fungus reduces the abundance and diversity of predators pose an important question. To address this question, natural enemies in perennial ryegrass were collected and analyzed over a year, and the percentage of endophyte fungus was evaluated by the presence of hyphae from two ryegrass cultivars, Jumbo (E-) and Alto AR1 (E+). We observed an 80% endophyte infection rate for (E+) and 0% for (E-). Moreover, 222 individual spiders corresponding to 10 families were identified in both perennial ryegrasses, including 209 individuals for (E-) and 13 for (E+). The most abundant spider family was Lycosidae, representing 71.17% of the total spiders. In addition, 65 insects were collected, corresponding to 6 families, with Carabidae being the most abundant. Furthermore, the Simpson index indicated the dominance of the family Lycosidae. Overall, spider and insect abundance and diversity were reduced in (E+), suggesting a negative effect of the endophyte on predator populations.

Resumo em Inglês:

ABSTRACT The Brazilian fauna of Meloidae is poorly studied, even though it includes more than 160 species. In this paper, we aimed at widening the knowledge on four species of blister beetles from this country. Specifically, we defined the uncertain range of Tetraonyx angulicollis, as extended in south-eastern Brazil rather than in Mexico, and implemented the description of the species with figures. We studied the taxonomy and distribution of three almost unknown species of Nemognatha from Brazil, São Paulo State, providing descriptions and figures of sexual characters and colour variability of N. beauregardi, to which is probably referable as a junior synonym of N. plaumanni, of N. rufoscutellaris and of N. cfr. gounellei. Moreover, we assigned these three species to the subgenus Pauronemognatha, recently recorded from South America.

Resumo em Inglês:

ABSTRACT Tropical forests are three-dimensional with the presence of numerous micro-environments formed by horizontal and vertical gradients. Such micro-environments can affect the nesting preference of organisms, including the trap-nesting Hymenoptera. Bees and wasps are key elements in ecosystems and are considered as sensitive to environmental changes, and trap-nests sampling methodology is widely used in their ecological and conservation studies. However, many uncertainties remain about nesting site preferences. From this perspective, our aim is to assess the diversity descriptors of trap-nesting Hymenoptera in different micro-environments. The sampling was conducted on three micro-environments (canopy, understory and treefall gaps) replicated on ten permanent plots within a Brazilian Atlantic forest hotspot. In each micro-environment, we installed trap-nest stations made by a set of twenty bamboo artificial nests. We found 762 brood cells from ten wasp and five bee species. The rarefaction curves indicate the lower species richness in understory stations, while treefall gaps and canopy stations were not significantly different. We analyzed abundance, mortality and parasitism rates using generalized linear models, but only abundance varies significantly among micro-environments. Our data indicates that trap-nesting Hymenoptera prefer to nest in micro-environments with higher exposure of sunlight. Canopy and treefall gap assemblages are consistently more abundant and diverse than understory probably due the higher temperature and lower humidity. On the other hand, mortality, parasitism rates, and the species composition were similar among environments. Our hypothesis is that the species composition was not affected as these species have a foraging range that encompasses nearby micro-environments.

Resumo em Inglês:

ABSTRACT Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti is an important vector of dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika virus. It is well known that resistance monitoring and genetic diversity data help designing the vector control programs. This study aimed to evaluate resistance to pyrethroids (PYs) through the frequency of kdr mutations Val1016IIe and F1534C, and the genetic variation of the mitochondrial gene ND4 in six natural populations of A. aegypti from Paraná - Brazil. Adults were obtained from eggs collected from Alvorada do Sul, Marilena, Maringá, Nova Londrina, Paranavaí and São Carlos do Ivaí. From these adults, 345 were used to identify the 1016 and 1534 sites, and 120 were used to perform the ND4 gene analysis. The studied populations from Paraná showed PYs resistance, low gene flow and genetic diversity. Additionally, a relationship was observed among the haplotypes of populations from the Amazon and Southeastern Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and North America.

Resumo em Inglês:

ABSTRACT The Afrotropical Zaprionus Coquillett, 1902 (Diptera: Drosophilidae) has gained visibility since the 1990s due to the geographic expansion of Zaprionus indianus Gupta, 1970. More recently, a second species, Zaprionus tuberculatus Malloch, 1932, invaded regions outside its original African regions, causing economic concerns, particularly in Europe. In 2021, Z. tuberculatus was captured for the first time in the Americas, specifically in urban parks, and preserved fragments of the Brazilian Cerrado, causing concerns about the competition with native drosophilids. Here we report the occurrence of Z. tuberculatus 900 km from its first record in urban and rural areas of Viçosa, MG, but not in forest fragments. Considering the great capacity for dispersion and the potential of Z. tuberculatus to compete with native drosophilids species, as well as the potential harm to fruit production when co-occurring with Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931), further studies would be necessary to monitor this invasion and create mechanisms to control it.