Repositório RCAAP

Enigmogramma antillea sp. n., from Puerto Rico and Cuba, is the second endemic Plusiinae recorded for the Antilles.

Xanthodirphia abbreviata sp. n., is described from material collected in high elevations in the mountains of Costa Rica.

Three genera and four species of Neotropical Bombycoidea described by Francis Walker, formerly unrecognized, are here identified. Six genera and five species are synonymized, one genus is revalidated, and one reinstated, and five new combinations are established.

Nyceryx brevis sp. n., is described from Central Brazil.

Three new species of Saturniidae from Central Brazil are described: Cicia norape Becker (Ceratocampinae), Dysdaemonia concisa Becker, and Rhescyntis reducta Camargo & Becker (Arsenurinae).

The Caribbean skate Dipturus teevani (Bigelow & Schroeder, 1951) is recorded for the first time from Brazilian waters. The specimen was collected in the continental slope off Bahia State. With this record, four species of Dipturus Rafinesque, 1810 are known from Brazil: D. chilensis (Guichenot, 1848), D. leptocauda (Kreft & Stehmann, 1975), D. trachyderma (Krefft & Stehmann, 1975) and D. teevani (Bigelow & Schroeder, 1951). They are typical inhabitants of deep waters between the outer shelf edge (195-200m) and the slope (more than 500m). Although morphologically conservative, the species of Dipturus can be distinguished from each other by the number of dorsal and nuchal thorns, the number of caudal thorns, dorsal and ventral spinulation and specific total length. An identification key for the species of Dipturus recorded from Brazil is presented.

Mixed shores of rocks and sand are appropriate systems for the study of limitations that the isolation of rocks may impose for gastropods that typically inhabit rocky shores. We marked 52 Stramonita haemastoma (Linnaeus, 1767) snails on a mixed shore and found that 34 of them moved between rocks one to four times during 15 surveys in a period of 72 days. In the experiments, the snails moved on rock by continuous, direct, ditaxic, alternate undulations of the foot sole but on submerged sand they used slower arrhythmic discontinuous contractions of the foot sole. They switched between modes of locomotion in response to the type and topography of the substrate and possibly to water dynamics. In nature, snails moved between rocks forming aggregations where they oviposited. This may have masked other causes of movement, such as availability of prey. Most snails burrowed into the sand when the rocks became exposed during low tides. Further experiments are needed to explicitly address the possible causes of movements among rocks and burial.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the population structure and the breeding period of Pachycheles monilifer (Dana, 1852) inhabiting sabellariid worm reefs in the littoral of São Paulo State coast. The specimens were obtained at 2-month intervals from September/94 to July/95. The study sites were located at the rocky shores of Tenorio and Paranapuã Beaches. Individuals sampled showed a total averaged 4.4 ± 1.4 mm carapace length. Ovigerous females were more frequent in September. Despite clear differences regarding the arrangement of these sabellariid colonies, they are extremely important to the establishment and maintenance of P. monilifer.

The beetles are a useful group for studies on trophic structure of communities, mainly in forested areas. These kind of studies are based on food habits of species groups. The different terms applied to nomminated these groups (trophic category, ecologic group, trophic group, guild, trophic guild) are discussed. The term trophic group, a natural unity, is proposed to form a group of species with the same food habits, not considering the trophic level. The guild, an artificial unity, is recognized as an important tool to group organisms group that use the same resources as defined by the investigator (Hawkins & MacMaiion, 1989; Simberloff & Dayan 1991; Wilson 1999). The known alimentary habits of Coleoptera are classified in five trophic groups - herbivores, algivores, fungívores, detrivores and carnivores. Within each trophic group, subgroups are recognized. The subgroup are in a lower hierarchic level and are defined by morphological (herbivores), taxonomic (fungivores) atributes of the food, by the food origin (detrivores) and by the way that the food is obtained (carnivores). A food resource diagram showing connections among the trophic groups, based on consumer-consumed (predator-prey) relations, is presented.

This is the first of a series of contributions concerning exoskeletal morphology of neotropical lycaenid butterflies (blues and hairstreaks). The cephalic capsule morphology of Hemiargus hanno (Stoll, 1790) is herein presented with drawings and SEM photographs.

Cyphonia cabetteae sp. n. and C. xavantina sp. n., both from Nova Xavantina, Mato Grosso, are described and illustrated. These two new species are very close to Cyphonia intermedia Sakakibara, 1968 and to Cyphona clavata (Fabricius, 1787), concerning their overall aspects.

The genus Eupempelus Bates, 1870 is revised and its taxonomic position altered in transferring from Cleomenini Lacordaire, 1869 to Heteropsini Lacordaire, 1869. The genus and the type species, Eupempelus olivaceus Bates, 1870, are redescribed and two new species added: Eupempelus illuminus sp. n., from Bolivia and E. spinithorax sp. n., from Ecuador. All the species are illustrated and keyed.

A survey performed in the Guaratuba Bay supports the hypothesis that the G. melanopterus individuals migrate to reproduce at the sea during summer. In autumn and winter, the adults return to the Bay, a pattern not yet described in the literature for this species. G. melanopterus explores the most internal areas of the Bay when the continental influence is lower. Differences in feeding habits were registered between individuals occupying the investigated area and those from a nearby mangrove previously studied.

Anthidianum andicola sp. n. (from Argentina, Tilcara), is described; a description of the male of Chrisanthidium nigritum Urban, 1997 is presented and Anthidianum bizonatum (Friese, 1925) is considered as junior synonym of Anthidianum subpetiolatum (Schrottky, 1910).

In the collection of Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, there are specimens from Schrottky's collection which constitute the sintypes of some of the species of Anthidium that he described in 1910. Studying this genus, it is pertinent to designate the Lectotypes of these species, as follows: Anthidium cuzcoense Schrottky, 1910; Anthidium garleppi Schrottky, 1910; Anthidium nigerrimum Schrottky, 1910; Anthidium patagonicum Schrottky, 1910, and Anthidium peruvianum Schrottky, 1910. The lectotype of Anthidium kuscheli Moure, 1957, deposited in the collection of Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, is also here designated.

An illustrated key to identify nine families of Coleoptera commonly found in stored products is presented. Keys for the identification of Anobiidae [Lasioderma serricorne (Fabricius, 1792), Stegobium paniceum (Linnaeus, 1761)], Bruchidae [Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say, 1831), Zabrotes subfasciatus (Boheman, 1833)], Curculionidae [Sitophilus oryzae (Linnaeus, 1763), S. zeamais Motschulsky, 1885], Silvanidae [Ahasverus advena (Waltl, 1832), Cathartus quadricollis (Guérin, 1892), Oryzaephilus mercator (Fauvel, 1889), O. surinamensis (Linnaeus, 1758)] and Tenebrionidae [Gnathocerus cornutus (Fabricius, 1798), Tribolium castaneum (Herbst, 1797), T. confusum du Val, 1868] are also provided. These keys cover the most frequent Coleoptera found in stored products, specially grains, and are to the adult stage only. Illustrations of external morphology and general characteristics are provided for each species reported.

Three new species of Ladoffa Young, 1977 are described: L. rubronigra sp. n. (North Brazil and Guyana), L. isabellina sp. n. (North Brazil), and L. trifasciata sp. n. (Panama). They are similar to the other species of the genus in the general aspect, mainly with regards to the coloration. However, they can be distinguished by the aspect of the male genitalia.

From July 1996 to June 1997, in Armação do Itapocoroy, Penha, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, monthly census were done in three areas of traditional fishery and Itacolomis islands. A total of 10021 seabirds were registered, belonging to eight species, five genus and four families. The average number of seabirds per dragging varied between 80,2 and 113,6. Sterna spp, appeared at first in 43,3% of the released by-catch, followed by Larus dominicanus Lichtenstein, 1823, Fregata magnificens Matheus, 1914, Phalacrocorax brasilianus (Humboldt, 1805) and Sula leucogaster Boddaert, 1783. The average size of the fish consumed by the seabirds oscillated from 8,3 cm (Sterna spp.) to 18,5 cm (F. magnificens), with an average time from 6,12 to 7,55 minutes per by-catch released. In general, seabirds use 84,0% of the by-catch fish as a feeding source.

Data on body mass and measurements of external characteristics (length, width and height of bill; tarsus, tail, wing and total lengths) for live birds from eastern Mato Grosso do Sul State, Central Brazil are reported. Mean, standard deviation and minimum and maximum values are show for 95 species.

A comparative analysis of the scapulocoracoid and cervico-thoracic synarcual cartilage of juvenile specimens of Rhinoptera brasiliensis Müller & Henle, 1841 and R. bonasus (Mitchill, 1815) was accomplished, in order to identify specific, individual and ontogenetic differences. In the scapulocoracoid, the scapular foramen and the posterodorsal fenestra is larger in R. brasiliensis. The anterior fenestra bridge is thicker and the metacondyle is thinner and longer in R. bonasus. This species also possesses a larger re-entrance between the mesocondyle and the metacondyle, as well as in the fitting region of'the synarcual cartilage, placed close to the scapular process. The individual differences are: posteroventral fenestra with variable diameter independent of the size of the specimens; scapulocoracoids, in some specimens, are more fragile even if they have been kept in the same conservation conditions. In the cervico-thoracic synarcual cartilage, the lateral stay in R. brasiliensis encloses completely the superior portion of the anteroscapular bridge. There are three more prominent condyles beside the suprascapula in R. brasiliensis, R. bonasus, however, shows a protuberance close to the suprascapula, inconspicuous and more distant from the scapular lamina. Several specimens of different size of R. bonasus show a synarcual cartilage wider in ventral view and higher in lateral view. In the majority of specimens, the number of ventral spinal foramina is higher than the dorsal ones in both species. R. bonasus has only one pair of asymmetric basal foramina, whereas R. brasiliensis possesses three or four foramina. Regarding individual differences, at least one specimen of R. bonasus exhibits a single basal foramen.