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Identification key to pupae of Simuliidae (Diptera) from Southeastern of Brazil

In this work is given a dichotomic identification key to pupae of Simuliidae recorded from Southeastern Region of Brazil. We included the 49 species which already have their pupae described. In the key, besides characters commonly used (e.g. number of gill filaments, shape of apex and shape of cocoon), we used unusual characters (relative width and length of gill filaments; spacial configuration of gills; proportion of gill length to cocoon length; presence and position of cocoon floor). It is possible to recognize 70% of Simuliidae species from Southeastern Region of Brazil only using pupae characters. Often, this is the unique stage which one can access a precise identification of the species.

Cocoon; morfology; Neotropical; simuliid; taxonomy


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