Isabelle da Rocha Silva Cordeiro

Aquatic Insects from the Caatinga: checklists and diversity assessments of Ubajara (Ceará State) and Sete Cidades (Piauí State) National Parks, Northeastern Brazil

Abstract Background Diversity and distribution of Neotropical aquatic insects is still poorly known, with many species to be recorded and many others to be described, due to the small number of taxonomists and sparse faunistic studies. This knowledge is especially poor in the Caatinga Domain in Northeastern Brazil, even though, this region may have played an important historical role in the spatial evolution of faunas of forested areas in northern South America. New information Aquatic insect checklists of 96 species from Parque Nacional de Ubajara (Ceará State, Brazil) and 112 species from Parque Nacional de Sete Cidades (Piauí State, Brazil) are presented, representing the following taxa: Elmidae, Epimetopidae, Hydrophilidae, and Torridincolidae (Coleoptera), Hemerodromiinae (Diptera: Empididae), Ephemeroptera, Gerromorpha and Nepomorpha (Hemiptera), Odonata, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera. Because of the scarce number of biological inventories in Northeastern Brazil, several new distributional records (of species, genera, and families) for Brazil, Northeastern Brazil, and Ceará and Piauí states are provided. In addition, several undescribed species were detected, being 26 from Ubajara and 20 from Sete Cidades. Results represent a significant increase to the known fauna of these states, ranging from 13%-70% increase for Ceará and 41% to 91% increase for Piauí. Although both parks are relatively close to each other and within the Caatinga domain, their aquatic fauna display a very high complementarity (89% species), possibly due to structural differences of water bodies sampled in each park. Rarefaction curves based on quantitative light trap samples suggest a much higher expected species richness of aquatic insects at Sete Cidades than at Ubajara National Park. Discussion on biogeographical affinities of this sample of the Caatinga fauna is provided.

New distributional data on aquatic and semiaquatic bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha & Nepomorpha) from South America.

Abstract Background Water bugs in general play an important role in freshwater ecosystems, and knowledge about them is essential for the study of water biology and the proper management of aquatic habitats. The Neotropical fauna is relatively well known, but the existence of large under-collected areas makes taxonomic and faunistic studies concerning the aquatic and semiaquatic bugs from tropical America urgent. New information Distributional information is presented for thirty-eight species of Gerromorpha and five Nepomorpha, including first records from the Brazilian states of Bahia (Mesovelia amoena), Ceará (Limnogonus profugus and Rhagovelia whitei), Espírito Santo (R. lucida), Goiás (Halobatopsis platensis and R. zela), Mato Grosso (Rheumatobates bonariensis), Pará (Nerthra terrestris), Paraná (H. spiniventris, Hydrometra fruhstorferi and R. janeira), Piauí (Microvelia ayacuchana, M. pulchella, Neogerris lubricus and Platyvelia brachialis), Rio de Janeiro (Martarega bentoi) and São Paulo (Rheumatobates minutus flavidus); and the Peruvian region of Madre de Dios (Rhagovelia fontanalis).

The water striders (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerridae) of Costa Rica: new species, checklist, and new records

Brachymetra bernaldi Cordeiro, sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerridae) from Heredia, Costa Rica, is herein described, illustrated, and compared with congeners. The new species resembles B. albinervus (Amyot Serville, 1843), but can be separated from it by the weak median carina of the pronotum, male abdominal mediotergite I with weak lateral notches, male abdominal mediotergite VII quadrate, male abdominal segment VIII in natural position almost entirely inserted into the abdominal cavity, and paramere narrow, with acute apex. We also provide the first checklist of the Gerridae of Costa Rica and new records, based on collection material and field sampling. All totaled, 31 species representing 13 genera and six subfamilies are recorded from the country. Five species and the genera Brachymetra Mayr, 1865 and Neogerris Matsumura, 1913 are registered for the first time from Costa Rica, and new provincial records are presented for 15 other species.

List of the type-specimens of Reduviidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) in the Triatomines Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Brazil.

The Triatomines Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (CTIOC) holds 90 holotypes, seven syntypes, and 619 paratypes of the family Reduviidae, distributed in 44 genera and nine subfamilies: Chryxinae, Emesinae, Hammacerinae, Harpactorinae, Peiratinae, Reduviinae, Stenopodainae, Triatominae, and Vesciinae. A detailed list containing nomenclatural, taxonomic, and locality information about all these types is herein presented for the first time.