RCAAP Repository

Centris (Ptilocentris) danunciae sp. nov. (Peru, Huanta) and Centris (Melacentris) bitaeniata sp. nov. (Peru, Iquitos) are described. Some taxonomic notes are also given for Centris (Melacentris) dorsata Lepeletier, 1841 (= Centris ehrhardti Schrottky, 1902, syn. nov. = Centris dorsata var. maculosa Friese, 1924, syn. nov.) and Centris (Melacentris) collaris Lepeletier, 1841 (= Centris pocograndensis Schrottky, 1902, syn. nov.), species forgotten since their description.

The objective of this work has to get knowledge about the reproductive aspect of the tree crab Aratus pisonii (H. Milne Edwards, 1837). The sampling were made monthly from April, 2000 to April, 2001, in the Itacurucá's mangrove (22º54'S and 43º33'W), Rio de Janeiro. The crabs were collected handly, using an effort of 50 minutes with three collectors. In laboratory, the specimens were separated by sex and had measured the carapace width and lenght. The ovigerous females were separated and the mass of eggs was removed for a mensurament of size and count of eggs. Afterwards, the animals were conservad in 70% alcohol. A total of 783 individuals were caught among 59% males and 41% females among these 8% were ovigerous. The ovigerous females were found almost during the whole year, except in the winter showing major plenty on February and March, demonstrating the reproductive period. The ovigerous females presented size between 14.0 and 23.6 mm of carapace width and the average fecundity estimated to the specie was 9081 ± 3684 eggs. The mean size of the eggs was 0.27 mm varied from 0.24 to 0.29 mm and the size at onset of egg production was verified from 13.1 to 15.0 mm of the carapace width.

This work aims to determinate the spatial distribution of two sympatric freshwater shrimp species, Potimirim glabra (Kingsley, 1878) and Potimirim potimirim (Müller, 1881) in Sahy River, municipality of Mangaratiba. The populations were collected from September, 1997 to February, 1999. The animals were collected monthly by sieving the marginal vegetation, on rocky surface and among litter on river bottom. The animals were sorted sexed. Their carapace length measured and total length measured. A total of 4,889 animals were collected in Sahy River: 3,281 P. glabra and 1,608 P. potimirim. The spatial distribution of P. glabra and P. potimirim showed an environmental partition. Potimirim glabra occurred in abundance at the farthest stations from the beach, wilst and P. potimirim, at the nearest stations from the sea.

Two new species of Psychodidae, Brunettia soteropolitana sp. nov. and Brunettia itabunensis sp. nov. from Bahia, northeast of Brazil are described.

The Parsimony Analysis of Endemicity (PAE) consists in an important tool of the historical biogeography which has the purpose of detecting distribution patterns of organisms and the relationships among areas of endemism. Insect distribution data included in Membracidae-Hoplophorionini occurring in the American Continent were used in the present research in order to establish the relationships among eight predetermined areas of endemism which are: 1) Mexico, 2) Greater Antilles, 3) Central America, 4) North Andes, 5) Central Andes, 6) South Andes, 7) Amazon, e 8) South East Brazil. The data matrix was based on the presence (coded as 1) and abscence (0) of taxa in the areas. The analysis was performed with the use of computer program Hennig86 (Farris 1988) applying the comands ie (implicit enumeration), and xs w (successive weighting). Resulted in the cladogram (A2,((A6,(A1 ,(A3,(A4,A5)))),(A7,A8))) with 236 steps, consistency index = 0.94 and retention index = 0.86. Areas 7 and 8 follow a subtropical and tropical vegetation pattern made up respectively by pluvial forests and groves. The remaining areas (except 2) agree with mountainous vegetation of the Andes pattern and groves throughout the extention.

Riggia acuticaudata sp. nov. is described on the basis of 10 female specimens recovered from the body cavity of the freshwater catfish, Ancistrus sp. The fish were caught in a stream called the Corrego Piraputanga, a tributary of the Paraguai River. The new species differs from the others in the genus by being smaller and less convex and by having a pleotelson that tapers abruptly rather than being the same width throughout. Also, the pereopods and dactyls are much smaller, the maxillule has two terminal and three subterminal spines and the first two pleopods are elongate and acute. Additionally, R. acuticaudata sp. nov. is from a different Order of fish host and a new geographic area.

The remaining portion of the Atlantic Forest within the State of Sao Paulo is highly fragmented and most of the remainders are wrapped up in an essentially agricultural mosaic. This study aims at the local surveying of non-volant mammals, including their distribution and relative abundance within the human-altered environments of campus "Luiz de Queiroz", University of Sao Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo State, Brazil, an urbanized area bordered by two highways and the Piracicaba River. The landscape of the study area is characterized by a mosaic of small forest fragments surrounded by pastures, agriculture, and planted forests. Small mammals were captured from February to October, 2001, with an effort of 7056 day-traps, sampling the most representative environments of the campus: planted Eucalyptus (L'Héritier) and Pinus (Shaw) forests, native forest fragment, meadow, rubber tree (Hevea sp.) plantation, agriculture and pasture area. Occurrence of medium and large frame mammals was recorded daily (morning and afternoon) from November of 2000 to October of 2001 along a trail set up to merge the studied environments. Sixteen species of non-volant mammals were recorded, ten of medium or big body-size, and six of small body-size. Capybara (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris (Linnaeus, 1766)) and coati (Nasua nasua (Linnaeus, 1766)) were the most abundant species.

Imposex, the development of male sex organs on the female, is registered and described for Olivancillaria vesica vesica (Gmelin, 1791) at Restinga da Marambaia beach, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil.

This paper reports the occurrence of diapause in Tenuipalponychus tabebuiae Aguilar, Flechtmann & Ochoa, 1991, for the first time in tropical region, and describes the morphological differences between the diapausing and no-diapausing females.

Vestistiloides gen. nov. is described for C. uncicornis Fowler, 1895, the type species, Ceresa concinna Fowler, 1895, C. nigra Goding, 1928, C. nigrovittata Fowler, 1895, C. nigricornis Fowler, 1895, C. nitidalis Buckton, 1905, C. sallei Stål, 1864, C. variabilis Fowler, 1895 and Vestistilus distinctus Andrade, 1989.

Zeraikia novafriburguensis gen. nov., sp. nov. are described. A key for New World genera of Peiratinae is given.

The species Ophidascaris durissus sp. nov. is proposed with basis on specimens recovered from the rattlesnake Crotalus durissus L., 1758 (type host) captured in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil (type locality). By the lack of interlabia, the new species can be compared only to O. natricis Yamaguti, 1935 from Japan and O. freitasi Hoa & Lien, 1970, from Vietnam. However, O. durissus sp. nov. differs from O. natricis mainly by the absence of internal lip papillae, location of the vulvar aperture and length of the spicules; from O. freitasi mostly by the greater number of pre-cloacal and distribution of post-cloacal papillae.

Aspects of the behavior of the theraphosid spider Pachistopelma rufonigrum, in two species of tank bromeliads in an area with white sands in the Serra de Itabaiana, Sergipe, Brazil, are described. Observations on habitat, microhabitat, foraging, ecdysis and reproduction, were made. Our data suggested that P. rufonigrum inhabits only these species of bromeliads, since all stages of the life cycle were observed in the plant. The relationships degrees between P. rufonigrum and the species of studied tank bromeliads are discussed.

Eight cicada species were collected in an urban area of Brasília (Brazil). Their nymphal casts were characterized and a dichotomous key was prepared to identify cicada species.

Polychaetes are metameric worms recognized for having parapodia, chaetae, and nuchal organs. Some authors have extended the Annelida to include Pogonophora, Echiura, and Clitellata. These suggestions are insufficient to generate a monophyletic group. They do not take into account two very large and important clades that in a cladistic analysis at a higher level are shown to be nested within the Annelida: the Ecdysozoa (arthropods and related taxa) and Enterocoela (deuterostomes and related taxa). Evolutionary histories of most characters across metazoan phyla are still very poorly known. Metameres and coeloms have been considered homoplastic in the literature, and yet the homeobox genes responsible for the expression of metamerism and of paired appendages, at least, are very largely distributed among the Metazoa. A phylogenetic analysis was performed for the ingroups of Polychaeta, including Clitellata, Enterocoela, and Ecdysozoa as terminal taxa. The remaining non-metameric phyla Platyhelminthes, Nemertea, Mollusca, and Sipuncula were included to root the tree within the Bilateria. Empirical data was obtained from the literature and run with the software Hennig86 with two comparative interpretations of a priori hypotheses of primary homology: one with negative characters (coding losses) and another considering only positive characters (without assumptions about losses). The most relevant conclusions are: (1) Annelida and Polychaeta are non-monophyletic, even when including Echiura, Clitellata, and Pogonophora; (2) Articulata, as traditionally circumscribed for Annelida and Arthropoda, is also not monophyletic; (3) Metameria becomes monophyletic only when Ecdysozoa and Enterocoela are included in addition to the traditional annelid taxa; (4) Ecdysozoa are the sister group of Aphrodita; (5) Clitellata are related to deposit-feeding sedentary polychaetes (scolecids), and Questidae represent their sister group; (6) Owenia plus Enterocoela form a monophyletic group related to the tubicolous polychaetes.

Vegetation islands inside urban area can propitiate the formation of: a) adults refuge to many mosquitoes species, b) diversity of hosters, c) allows the proliferation of immature stages through naturals and artificial breeding, these ones were done by the interaction between antropic activity developed in these spaces or around areas. Considering the possibilities of contacts between the vector and the human population, the aim of this work was to verify the Culicidae species that can use man as blood source in the restricted areas of Botanical Garden, Curitiba. The capture of adults using the method of human bait at soil level, inside the forest, monthly during the period of October 13th 1998 to September 22nd 1999, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 312 Culicidae specimens were captured, and 15 species were found. The predomiant species belong to Culex (Culex) coronator Dyar & Knab, 1906 group. Others species found with potential epidemiological importance were: Haemagogus (Conopostegus) leucocelaenus (Dyar & Shannon, 1924), Ochlerotatus (Ochlerotatus) fluviatilis (Lutz, 1904) e Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) strodei Root, 1926.

The post-marsupial growth stages of the gammaridean ampithoid species Sunampithoe pelagica Milne-Edwards, 1830, six developmental stages for juveniles, three for females and at least seven for males, were described. The characterization was based on the increase of antennal article number, in the morphological modifications of gnathopods I and II, and on alteration of the number of setae.

At the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999, the golden mussel Limnoperna fortunei (Dunker, 1857), Mytilidae, originating from Southeast Asia, was registered for the first time in the Guaíba Lake Basin, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Quantitative samples were taken since the first register and for two years at various localities in the Jacuí Delta, northern limit of Guaíba Lake, and in the south limit of the later where it empties into Patos Lagoon. Samplings in Patos Lagoon revealed the presence of L. fortunei in October 2000 at Arambaré (30º54'S, 51º30'W) and in January 2001 at São Lourenço do Sul (31º20'S, 51º58'W). Quantitative samplings on roots of water hyacinths Eichhornia azurea (Sw.) Kunth and E. crassipes (Mart.) Solms-Laubach, on rhizomes of rushes Scirpus californicus (C.A. Mey.) Steud. and on trunks of Cephalanthus glabratus (Spreng.) K. Schum, were made in Jacuí Delta and on the beaches of Vila de Itapuã and Pombas camping area, in the Municipality of Viamão. Limnoperna fortunei encreased in number to a maximum density of 27,275 individuals/m² one year and five months after the first register and 62,100 individuals/m² two years later. In November 2000, i.e., two years after the appearance of the species in Guaíba Lake, it was recorded the first macrofouling in the pipes catching water for the city of Porto Alegre and in filters and pipelines of the cellulose industry Riocell-Klabin, Municipality of Guaíba (30º06'S, 51º20'W). Limnoperna fortunei preferentially occur on rhizomes of rushes, initially forming flat clusters that grow to large mass. It also fix on the shells and soft parts of native bivalves and on shells and operculum of gastropods, prevening full closure of these mollusks. The recent decrease of rushy areas on the shores of Guaíba Lake is attributed to invasion of L. fortunei.

This is the first report of an ongoing study on arthropofauna of forensic importance in Callao, Peru using a baby pig (Sus scrofa Linneaus, 1758) on land as a model to determine the arthropofauna over 84 days of weekly survey between 17 July and 02 October 2 000. A total of 4,405 specimens were collected belonging to five orders and eight families: Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius, 1775) (Diptera, Calliphoridae) (81.62%); Dermestes maculatus (De Geer, 1774) (Coleoptera, Dermestidae) (16.35%); Fannia canicularis (Linnaeus, 1761) (Diptera, Muscidae) (0.04%); Saprinus aeneus (Fabricius, 1775) (Coleoptera, Histeridae) (1.48%); Necrobia rufipes (De Geer, 1775) (Coleoptera, Cleridae) (0.45%); Linepithema humile (Mayr, 1868) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) (0.02%); Porcellio laevis Latreille, 1804 (Isopoda, Porcellionidae) (0.02%) and Hadruroides lunatus (L. Koch, 1867) (Scorpionida, Iuridae) (0.02%). Larvae accounted for 76%, pupae 14% and adults 10% of the total collected. The arthropods were into three: necrophages (98.01%), predators (1.95%) and omnivorous (0.04%). C. macellaria were significantly higher during the decayed stage; by contrast D. maculatus was much higher in dry remains stage. The highest diversity with the Shannon-Weaver (H') and Pielou (J) index were found during the advanced decayed stage. The absence of species of genus Chrysomyia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 is discussed.

The influence of abundance and distribution of fruits and gums resources in home range size and pattern of range use were investigated in Callithrix jacchus. From October 1996 to January 1998 two groups (QT and PB) that lived in a National Forest/IBAMA-RN in northeastern Brazil (6º5'S, 35º12'W), were observed once a week by instantaneous scan sampling. The frequency of quadrant's visit in the home range was recorded at five minute intervals. Trees used for feeding on fruits and/or gum by the study groups were marked with flagging tape and numbered. Samples of the food items were collected for identification. Data on the temporal variation in fruits abundance was based on the monthly phenological observations of the marked trees. Study groups showed small home range size (QT: 2.4 ha and PB: 0.7 ha). No significant differences in home range size between dry and wet months were found, but groups showed a tendency to broadened the range use in the wet months. This revealed a behavioral strategy which marmosets exploited more gums face to decreased in fruits abundance. The abundance and distribution in clusters of fruits and gums resources influenced the pattern of range use and home range size.