María Cecilia Melo

Redescription of Manicocoris rufipes (Fabricius 1787), including nymphs I, II, III, and V (Reduviidae: Harpactorinae: Apiomerini), and its association with Clusia fruits

The genus Manicocoris and its only species, M. rufipes, are described and illustrated, including nymphal instars I, II, III, and V. Descriptions include morphological and morphometrical characters. This article also provides a new record of an association between M. rufipes and the fruits of Clusia grandiflora Splitg. In French Guiana, adult specimens and nymphal instars II and III of M. rufipes were collected within fallen C. grandiflora fruits, where they awaited prey with their raptorial forelegs coated with a sticky fruit-derived substance.

Geographical distribution modelling of the bronze bug: a worldwide invasion.

The present study investigated the environmental variables that define a suitable climate for the bronze bug, Thaumastocoris peregrinus Carpintero & Dellapé, using presence‐only data, with the aim of identifying areas that have a suitable climate (and thus high probability) for future colonization and generating a spatially explicit predictive map of environmental suitability. An occurrence database (293 records) was compiled mainly from the literature. The environmental data were obtained from the WorldClim 1.3 dataset, and the models were performed using maxent, version 3.3.3k. Model performance was evaluated through cross‐validation. We used the null models approach to test our models. For model calibration, two datasets were defined (a non conservative dataset and a conservative one) by comparing the bioclimatic variables between native and introduced range using boxplots. According to both models, the range for T. peregrinus will continue to expand. In South America and Africa, the distribution of the bronze bug may expand mainly to the north‐east and central areas. Special attention should be given to the regions of southern U.S.A., Central America, and southern China and nearby countries, where conditions are highly suitable but the bronze bug has not yet been recorded and could only arrive by human means. Because Eucalyptus species, many of which are highly susceptible to infestation by the bronze bug, are increasingly being planted around the world, and because the bronze bug has spread so rapidly over the past 8 years, the bronze bug may be expected to appear in many areas where it has not yet been recorded.

Description of immature stages of Ectemnostega (Ectemnostega) quadrata (Signoret, 1885) (Heteroptera: Corixidae), with notes on ecological requirements of the species

The family Corixidae comprises a small group of true bugs that live in aquatic environments with abundant macrophytes. The genus Ectemnostega Enderlein includes two subgenera: Ectemnostega and Ectemnostegella, both known from South America, ranging from Ecuador to Tierra del Fuego. Ectemnostega (Ectemnostega) quadrata (Signoret, 1885) is distinguished by the widened posterior half of hemelytra, and the protibia of males prolonged over the base of pala. This species is distributed in Argentina and Chile along the Andes mountain range, from high altitudes in San Juan to sea level in Cabo Hornos, Tierra del Fuego. Adults and larvae were collected in association with Cladophora sp. and Chara sp. in northwestern Mendoza, from Los Horcones Lagoon (2891 m a.s.l.) and from ponds on southwestern slopes of Mendoza (Las Loicas locality, 1772 m a.s.l.). Larval stadia of Ectemnostega are described for the first time. Distributional and life habitats data of this species are provided.

Terrestrial Heteroptera (Hemiptera) from Moconá Provincial Park (Misiones, Argentina)

Mocona Provincial Park was created to protect the Paranaense forest including the Mocona Falls Natural National Monument. Knowledge of the insect fauna in the park is scarce and the Heteroptera have never been studied. In this work, 134 species from 17 families of Heteroptera collected in Mocona Provincial Park and surrounding areas included in the Yaboti Biosphere Reserve, are listed. The reduviids Arilus gallus (Stal, 1872), Repipta taurus (Fabricius, 1803), and Zelus nugax Stal, 1862; the tingids Leptodictya (Hanuala) paspalii Drake & Hambleton, 1934, and Leptopharsa vittipennis (Stal, 1873); the coreids Camptischium niger (Stal, 1870), Leptoglossus ingens (Mayr, 1865), Chariesterus cuspidatus Distant, 1892 and Cebrenis supina Brailovsky, 1995; the pentatomids Alveostethus pseudopolitus (Ruckes, 1957) and Dryptocephala integra Walker, 1867; and the blissid Xenoblissus lutzi Barber, 1954 are first records from Argentina.

Predicting the potential invasion suitability of regions to cassava lacebug pests (Heteroptera: Tingidae: Vatiga spp.).

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is one of the most important staple crops for small farmers in the tropics, feeding about 800 million people worldwide. It is currently cultivated in South and Central America, Africa and Asia. The genus Vatiga is widespread throughout the Neotropical region. Its species are sympatric and feed exclusively on cassava. The main objectives of this paper are: (1) to assess the potential distribution of Vatiga, one of the most relevant pests of cassava; (2) to project the resulting models onto the world; (3) to recognize areas with suitable and optimal climates (and thus, high probability) for future colonization, and (4) to compare this model with the harvested area of cassava analyzing the climatic variables required by both the host and the pest species. Species distribution models were built using Maxent (v3.3.3k) with bioclimatic variables from the WorldClim database in 2.5 arc min resolution across the globe. Our model shows that Vatiga has the potential to expand its current distribution into other suitable areas, and could invade other regions where cassava is already cultivated, e.g., Central Africa and Asia. Considering the results and the high host specificity of Vatiga, its recent appearance in Réunion Island (Africa) poses a serious threat, as nearby areas are potentially suitable for invasion and could serve as dispersal routes enabling Vatiga to reach the continent. The present work may help prevention or early detection of Vatiga spp. in areas where cassava is grown.

Theraneis vittata Spinola, 1837 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Largidae): First record from Argentina

The present note reports the first record of the genus and species Theraneis vitatta Spinola, 1837 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Largidae: Larginae) from Mocona, Misiones province, Argentina. This record brings the number of reported genera from Argentina to five, with a total of 12 species.

On the taxonomic placement of the genus Sinnamarynus (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae), and a new record of S. rasahusoides from Peru

The genus Sinnamarynus Maldonado Capriles and Berenger, 1996 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae), originally placed into the subfamily Reduviinae, is transferred to the subfamily Peiratinae. Dorsal habitus and the male genitalia of the type species, S. rasahusoides Maldonado Capriles and Berenger, 1996 are illustrated. The genus and species are recorded for the first time from Peru.

The fate of endemic insects of the Andean region under the effect of global warming

Three independent but complementary lines of research have provided evidence for the recognition of refugia: paleontology, phylogeography and species distributional modelling (SDM). SDM assesses the ecological requirements of a species based on its known occurrences and enables its distribution to be projected on past climatological reconstructions. One advantage over the other two approaches is that it provides an explicit link to environment and geography, thereby enabling the analysis of a large number of taxa in the search for more general refugia patterns. We propose a methodology for using SDM to recognize biogeographical patterns of endemic insects from Southern South America. We built species distributional models for 59 insect species using Maxent. The species analyzed in the study have narrow niche breadth and were classified into four assemblages according to the ecoregion they inhabit. Models were built for the Late Pleistocene, Mid-Holocene and Present. Through the procedure developed for this study we used the models to recognize: Late Pleistocene refugia; areas with high species richness during all three periods; climatically constant areas (in situ refugia); consistent patterns among in situ refugia, Pleistocene refugia and current distribution of endemic species. We recognized two adjacent Pleistocene refugia with distinct climates; four in situ refugia, some of which are undergoing a process of fragmentation and retraction or enlargement. Interestingly, we found a congruent pattern among in situ refugia, Pleistocene refugia and endemic species. Our results seem to be consistent with the idea that long-term climate stability is known to have a key role in promoting persistence of biodiversity in an area. Our Pleistocene and in situ refugia are consistent with refugia identified in studies focusing on different taxa and applying other methodologies, showing that the method developed can be used to identify such areas and prove their importance for conservation.

Biodiversity of Coreoidea and Pentatomidae (Heteroptera) from Atlantic forest protected areas. Insights into their conservation.

Although the majority of threatened species are likely to be tropical insects, knowledge of the diversity, ecological role and impact of insect biodiversity loss on ecosystem processes is very limited. Specimens belonging to four families of Heteroptera: Pentatomidae, Coreidae, Alydidae and Rhopalidae, were collected from a protected area in the Paraná Forest, the largest ecoregion of the Atlantic Forest, in Argentina. The assemblages were characterized and the biodiversity estimated, and they were compared with the assemblages found in five other protected areas in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. In our study area, Pentatomidae had the greatest richness and diversity; Coreidae was the second most diverse family, with highest sampling deficit, highest percentage of singletons, and lowest inventory completeness; and Rhopalidae was the best sampled family with asymptotic rarefaction curves. We explored the application of the Species Conservation Importance index, following four criteria, to evaluate the relative importance of the pentatomid species studied and its usefulness for assigning conservation values to areas. We found similar Site Conservation Values among the six areas and noted that the use of criteria was limited by the lack of information, being crucial to increase the knowledge of most of the species.

Two new species of Harmostes (Harmostes) Burmeister (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Rhopalidae) from Argentina

The family Rhopalidae has been poorly studied in Argentina. Thirty-three species have been recorded, among them 15 species belonging to the genus Harmostes Burmeister. This genus was revised by Göllner-Scheiding (1978) who divided it into two subgenera, H. (Harmostes) and H. (Neoharmostes), based mainly on characteristics of the hemelytra. Here we describe two new species of H. (Harmostes) from Argentina: H. (H.) bilobatus sp. n. and H. (H.) rubrum sp. n. Illustrations of the diagnostic characters and a key to the Argentinean species of the subgenus Harmostes are presented.