José Albertino Rafael

Attraction of Chagas disease vectors (Triatominae) to artificial light sources in the canopy of primary Amazon rainforest

Adult triatomines occasionally fly into artificially lit premises in Amazonia. This can result in Trypanosoma cruzi transmission to humans either by direct contact or via foodstuff contamination, but the frequency of such behaviour has not been quantified. To address this issue, a light-trap was set 45 m above ground in primary rainforest near Manaus, state of Amazonas, Brazil and operated monthly for three consecutive nights over the course of one year (432 trap-hours). The most commonly caught reduviids were triatomines, including 38 Panstrongylus geniculatus, nine Panstrongylus lignarius, three Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus, five Rhodnius robustus, two Rhodnius pictipes, one Rhodnius amazonicus and 17 Eratyrus mucronatus. Males were collected more frequently than females. The only month without any catches was May. Attraction of most of the known local T. cruzi vectors to artificial light sources is common and year-round in the Amazon rainforest, implying that they may often invade premises built near forest edges and thus become involved in disease transmission. Consequently, effective Chagas disease prevention in Amazonia will require integrating entomological surveillance with the currently used epidemiological surveillance.

Arthropods obtained from the Amazonian tree species "Cupiuba" (Goupia glabra) by repeated canopy fogging with natural Pyrethrum

Two canopies of a widely distributed Amazonian tree species, Goupia glabra Aubl. (Celastraceae, height 38 and 45m) were fogged several times with 1% natural pyrethrum during the rainy and dry seasons (1991-1994) in the Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve near Manaus/Brazil. Between 50 and 158 ind./m2 of arthropods were obtained per tree and fogging event. Hymenoptera, mostly Formicidae, and Diptcra dominated. A total of 95 ant species occurred on a single tree. Most ants were permanently foraging in the canopy and their recolonization after fogging seems to follow stochastic pathways. Data indicated an interaction between - 1) predating Formicidae and gall building Cecidomyiidae and - 2) Cecidomyiidae and the parasitic Hymenoptera.

Ectoparasitos de cães e gatos da cidade de Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil

Ectoparasites from different neighborhood of Manaus were collected from august 2001 to May 2002. On dogs it was found: Ctenocephalides f. felis (Bouche, 1835) (Siphonaptera, Pulicidae), Heterodoxus spiniger (Enderlein, 1909)(Phthiraptera, Boopidae), Trichodetes canis (De Geer, 1778) (Phthiraptera, Trichodectidae) and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille,1806) (Acari, Ixodidae). On cats: C. f. felis. The prevalence of ectoparasites was 80.8% to dogs and 72.7% to cats. For the flea C. f. felis was 28.7% to dogs and 72.7% to cats. For the lice H. spiniger was 12.3% for dogs. For the lice T. canis was 0.1% for dogs and for the tick R. sanguineus was 63% for dogs. The infestation index for fleas was 1.26 to dogs and 1.27 to cats. The sexual ratio obtained was 1.96:1 to dogs and 3.66:1 to cats. The flea C. canis (Curtis, 1826) registered in 1922 was not found.

Seasonality and diurnal activity of Tabanidae (Diptera: Insecta) of canopy in the Adolpho Ducke Forested Reserve, Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil

The seasonality and diurnal flight activity of tabanids from canopy was studied at Ducke Reserve, in the county of Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil, using a suspended trap installed at 20 m above the soil, connected to the carbon dioxide gas cylinder. During one day, twice monthly collects of Tabanidae were taken from April 2000 to June 2001. The material was collected from the trap in intervals of 2h and placed in plastic tubes. A total of 955 individuals, corresponding to thirty species were collected. Philipotabanus stigmaticalis (Kröber) (37.9%) was caught all over the year and showed higher flight activity between 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Acanthocera marginalis Walker (16.3%) was more abundant in the less rainy months (July to November) with a higher activity period between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Acanthocera gorayebi Henriques Rafael (9.0%) was more abundant in July with more activity between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Dichelacera damicornis (Fabricius) (10.9%) was more abundant in the months of heavier rainfall (January, February and April) and showed higher diurnal activity between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Diachlorus podagricus (Fabricius) (6.6%) was caught throughout the year except in February and showed higher activity between 10:00 a.m. and 14:00 p.m. The climatic factors when correlated to the tabanids richness just showed significant correlation with precipitation, while the specimens abundance was correlated to humidity and precipitation.

Knowledge of insect diversity in Brazil: challenges and advances

Insects will soon reach one million known species worldwide. Brazil, with about 9% of this total, and possibly another 400 thousand species yet to be discovered, harbors the highest insect diversity in the world. The country has a complement of about 140 active taxonomists, which means a quota of 3,600 insect species per professional. Each Brazilian taxonomist publishes, on average, about 100 species during a professional life span, so it would take 2-3 thousand years to only know the countrys insect diversity. Some of the problems hindering the development of insect taxonomy in Brazil are: difficulties with international loans; difficulties with permission for dissecting loaned type specimens; low scientific esteem of taxonomic journals as assessed by the Impact Factor index; academic low esteem of taxonomy knowledge; legal restrictions to field work and disregard of the Brazilian legislation that regulates the final destination of biological material. If truly responsible actions towards preserving biological diversity are to be undertaken nationwide, key problems must be addressed and solved: creation of a national center of information on entomological diversity; investment in a core of institutions that would act as an axis for the development of taxonomic knowledge; investment in the formation of a new generation of taxonomists; elimination of bureaucratic obstacles currently hampering the accomplishment of the constitutional mandate for developing knowledge on biological diversity and developing organized actions to control the deforestation of highly biodiverse areas.

New continental record and new species of Austromerope (Mecoptera, Meropeidae) from Brazil

Abstract A new species of Meropeidae (Mecoptera) from Brazil, Austromerope brasiliensis sp. n., is described, representing only the 3rd extant species described in this family and the 1st record of the family from the Neotropical region. The distribution and biogeography of the family are discussed and we propose that Meropeidae originated before continental drift and then divided into two branches, northern and southern, with the breakup of Pangea. Identification keys for the Neotropical families of Mecoptera and for the species of Meropeidae are provided.

The Neotropical genera Macrostomus Wiedemann and Porphyrochroa Melander (Diptera, Empididae, Empidinae)

Macrostomus ferrugineus (Fabricius, 1805), the type-species of Macrostomus Wiedemann, 1817 and Porphyrochroa palliata (Coquillett, 1902), the type-species of Porphyrochroa Melander, 1927 are redescribed and figured from the types. Both Neotropical genera are considered sistergroups and their synapomorphies are presented. The species belonging to both genera, and those Neotropical species remaining in the heterogeneous group Rhamphomyia Meigen, 1822 are listed. A key to genera is provided, 25 species are transferred to Porphyrochroa: P. abdominalis (Bezzi, 1905) comb. nov., P. argyrina (Bezzi, 1909) comb. nov., P. barueri (Smith, 1962) comb. nov., P. carrerai (Smith, 1962) comb. nov., P. catarinae (Smith, 1962) comb. nov., P. cyanogaster (Wheeler & Melander, 1901) comb. nov., P. digitata (Smith, 1962) comb. nov., P. distinctipennis (Smith, 1962) comb. nov., P. divisa (Smith, 1962) comb. nov., P. dolichocera (Bezzi, 1905) comb. nov., P. fasciventris (Curran, 1931), P. furcifer (Wheeler & Melander, 1901) comb. nov., P. galactodes (Bezzi, 1909) comb. nov., P. juri (Smith, 1962) comb. nov., P. micrargyra (Bezzi, 1909) comb. nov., P. monstrosa (Bezzi, 1909) comb. nov., P. mundurucu (Smith, 1962) comb. nov., P. mura (Smith, 1962) comb. nov., P. orthoneura (Bezzi, 1905) comb. nov., P. palliata (Coquillett, 1902), P. penicillata (Bezzi, 1909) comb. nov., P. perpulchra (Bezzi, 1909) comb. nov., P. pulchriventris (Bezzi, 1905) comb. nov., P. rotundipennis (Bezzi, 1905) comb. nov., P. seticauda (Smith, 1963) comb. nov., P. variseta (Smith, 1962) comb. nov. and P. wiedemanni (Smith, 1962) comb. nov. A lectotype is designated for P. palliata (Coquillett, 1902).

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.

Bionomia dos estágios imaturos de duas espécies de Peckia (Diptera, Sarcophagidae) em suíno em decomposição em área de floresta no norte do Brasil

Bionomics of the immature stages of two species of Peckia (Diptera, Sarcophagidae) in decomposed pig, in a forested area in northern Brazil. It was described the duration of larval instars of Peckia (Pattonella) smarti (Lopes 1941) and Peckia (Pattonella) pallidipilosa (Curran & Walley 1934) obtained in pigs in natural environment during the rainy and dry seasons in the Forest Reserve Adolpho Ducke, Manaus, Amazonas. The larvae were put in containers with humid sawdust and pig meat with 12 hours of decomposition to pupate. The containers with the larvae were maintained in rearer close to the collection place. The identification was based on the adults and later they were correlated with the immatures. During the rainy season, the development period between the larval phase and the emergency were of 17.93 days to P. smarti and 15.87 days for P. pallidipilosa; in the dry season, 16.05 days for P. smarti and 15.96 days for P. pallidipilosa. Peckia smarti and P. pallidipilosa are being registered for the first time for the State of Amazonas and for Brazil, respectively.

Activities of tabanids (Diptera, Tabanidae) attacking domestic duck-Cairina moschata (Linnaeus) (Aves, Anatidae), introduced in a forest area in the Central Amazon, Manaus, Brazil

Presented here are the feeding habits, attack behavior, daily and annual activity of adult of Phorcotabanus cinereus (Wiedeman, 1821), Chrysops laetus (Fabricius, 1805) and Phaeotabanus cajennensis (Fabricius, 1787), while biting a domestic duck, Cairina moschata (Linnaeus, 1758). The last two species were recorded for the first time attacking birds. This study comprehended monthly observations of two consecutive days from April/97 to March/98 between 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. at the Army Instructional Base ((BI-2/CIGS) near Manaus. Annual occurrence of P. cinereus was from July to September, with a daily occurrence between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and highest activity at 12:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. C. laetus ocurred from June to October; with a daily occurrence between 8:00 a.m. and 3 p.m. and highest activity at 11:00 and 12:00 a.m. Occurrence of P. cajennensis with one specimen only, was in July between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m.