Renan da Silva Olivier

Potential geographic distribution niche modeling based on bioclimatic variables of three species of Temnomastax Rehn and Rehn, 1942 (Orthoptera: Eumastacidae)

ABSTRACT Predictive modeling of geographic distribution based on ecological niche has become an important tool in ecology. It uses previous information about distribution of species and environmental variations associated with this distribution, restricting to the models the closest prediction of the ecological niche. The eumastacid grasshoppers are distributed mainly in the Neotropical region, and Temnomastacinae is the subfamily with the largest geographic distribution. Little is known about the biology of Eumastacidae, the only data available reporting the association between some grasshopper species and plants of several families. In the Cerrado only Temnomastax is recorded, which has a wide distribution in the central region of Brazil. The aim of this work was to determine the potential geographic distribution of three species of Temnomastax occurring in the Cerrado biome. We used 446 records of occurrence obtained in specialised literature, inventories, museums and photographs, from the following species: Temnomastax hamus, Temnomastax ricardoi and Temnomastax tigris. The niche modeling was generated with the bioclimatic model DOMAIN through DIVA-GIS. The potential geographic distribution of T. hamus is the largest among all Temnomastax species. Temnomastax ricardoi has its potential distribution in the central-north of Mato Grosso do Sul, in regions surrounding the type locality, while T. tigris. exhibits a restricted potential distribution along the carbonate arc of the Corumbá Formation, which outcrops in the region of Serra da Bodoquena and Corumbá, entering the eastern portion of Bolivia.

Preliminary Study of Species-Area, Isolation and Impact of Environmental Heterogeneity on Insect Communities in Natural Patches in The Brazilian Pantanal

ABSTRACT: The Pantanal is the largest floodplain in the word with more than 140,000 km2, and the annual cycles of flood and drought are the most important factors that determine ecological interactions and patterns of diversity. Usually, capões are elongated or rounded arboreal patches of herbaceous vegetation found in flooded fields. This study aimed to determine the effect of size, distance, and heterogeneity of capões on selected components of insect communities in Brazilian Pantanal, testing the hypotheses that (I) larger capões show greater ecological metrics, (II) the closer one is more similar in insect composition, and (III) heterogeneity affects the composition of the insect community. We used Malaise traps to capture insects. There was a positive relationship between richness and abundance and capão size and this influenced insect community composition. The distance between capões also affected insect community composition. The variation in heterogeneity of capões influenced community composition at the family level, and these characteristics are important in determining the components of community.

Temnomastax hamus Rehn & Rehn, 1942 (Orthoptera: Eumastacidae: Temnomastacinae): first record for Brazilian wetland

Two specimens of Temnomastax hamus Rehn & Rehn, 1942 were collected at the Advanced Base of Studies at the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso in Pocone, Mato Grosso, Pantanal. These new records extend the known distribution of the species to include the Brazilian Pantanal.

Are Anatomical Measurements Useful for Interspecific and Sexual Differentiation of Temnomastax (Orthoptera: Eumastacidae) Species?

Species of Temnomastax have wide morphological similarities, and differentiation is usually based on male and female genitalia. In this study, we tested whether morphometric differences contribute to differentiation of species of Temnomastax, proposed an identification key for males, and morphometrically studied the sexual dimorphism of Temnomastax hamus and Temnomastax ricardoi. Analysis was performed using 204 specimens belonging to six species; fifteen morphometric variables were used. We used MANOVA and ANOVA to test the morphometric differences among species and Discriminant Analysis for sexual distinction. Temnomastax sp. nov. 1 had the highest values in ⅓ of all analyzed variables used for morphometric distinction of males, followed by Temnomastax latens, T. ricardoi and Temnomastax sp. nov. 2, and T. hamus and Temnomastax tigris. Two groups were formed by the MANOVA, with length of body, length of hind femur, and length of tegmen as the main variables that distinguished them. Overall, females of T. hamus and T. ricardoi presented higher averages for measurement values used in morphometric distinction between sexes than conspecific males and based on discriminant analysis we found significant differences between sexes. There are significant differences in morphometric variations and the ratio between body length and tegmen length provided reliable evidence for differentiation among species, which can be used as a valid tool that complements the identification of Temnomastax species.

Bucrates lanista Rehn 1918 (Tettigoniidae: Conocephalinae): The First Record from the Brazilian Pantanal, the First Description of the Male, the First Karyotypic Report for the Genus, and the First Telomeric Hybridization of the Subfamily

Bucrates lanista, the most southerly distributed species in the genus Bucrates Burmeister, was originally described from Brazil based on a female collected in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, but the species has not been recorded since 1918. In this work, we report that B. lanista inhabits the Pantanal Wetland in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and, for the first time, describe the male. Individuals of B. lanista are gregarious and present a brown/green color dimorphism; this behavior and color variation are also observed in species of closely related genera. Individuals from the Pantanal vary slightly from those of Rio Grande do Sul. The karyotype was determined to be 2n♂ = 21 = 20 + X0 and 2n♀ = 22 = 20 + XX. The X chromosome is metacentric and the largest of the complement, and all of the autosomes are submetacentrics. All chromosomes solely present telomeric (TTAGG)n repeats at their ends, and some chromosomes present positive and negative DAPI bands.