Diversidade de besouros coprófagos (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) coletados com armadilha de interceptação de voo no Pantanal Sul-Mato-Grossense, Brasil

Os besouros coprófagos desempenham grande importância ecológica dentro dos ecossistemas, porém, escassos são os estudos de diversidade desses insetos em diferentes biomas. Assim, desenvolveu-se o presente estudo com o objetivo de identificar as espécies de Scarabaeidae coprófagos que ocorrem no Pantanal de Mato Grosso do Sul. O trabalho foi desenvolvido na fazenda Nhumirim (Embrapa Pantanal), sub-região da Nhecolândia, no período de junho de 1992 a maio de 1993. Para a coleta dos insetos foram instaladas mensalmente duas armadilhas luminosas do tipo "janela" (1 × 1 m), por um período consecutivo de dois a quatro dias. As armadilhas foram alocadas em área de campo (pastagem nativa) e de cerradão (vegetação densa), sendo acionadas às 19:00 horas e desligadas às 07:00 horas do dia seguinte, quando os insetos capturados eram retirados e acondicionados em frascos etiquetados contendo álcool 70%. Foram coletados 19587 exemplares de Scarabaeidae, pertencentes a duas subfamílias (Aphodiinae e Scarabaeinae), 11 gêneros e 21 espécies. As espécies encontradas no Pantanal Sul-Mato-Grossense pertencem aos gêneros Ataenius, Aphodius, Ateuchus, Canthidium, Dichotomius, Labarrus, Nialaphodius, Ontherus, Trichillum, Trichiopsammobius e Uroxys. Dentre os Aphodiinae, Ataenius sp.2 (96,17%) foi a mais abundante. Canthidium sp.1 (0,39%), Dichotomius sp. (0,28%) e D. bos (Blanchard, 1843) (0,16%) foram as mais abundantes dentre os Scarabaeinae. Com relação ao comportamento reprodutivo de nidificação, 42,86% das espécies coletadas apresentaram hábito paracoprídeo (escavadores) e 57,14% endocoprídeo (residentes).</jats:p

Coleoptera of Brazil: what we knew then and what we know now. Insights from the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil

ABSTRACT In 2000, Cleide Costa published a paper presenting the state of knowledge of the Neotropical Coleopte ra, with a focus on the Brazilian fauna. Twenty-four years later, thanks to the development of the Coleoptera section of the Taxonomic Catalog of the Brazilian Fauna (CTFB - Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil) through the collaboration of 100 coleopterists from all over the globe, we can build on Costa’s work and present an updated overview of the state of knowledge of the beetles from Brazil. There are currently 35,699 species in 4,958 genera and 116 families known to occur in the country, including representatives of all extant suborders and superfamilies. Our data show that the Brazilian beetle fauna is the richest on the planet, concentrating 9% of the world species diversity, with some estimates accounting to up to 15% of the global total. The most diverse family in numbers of genera is Cerambycidae (1,056 genera), while in number of species it is Chrysomelidae (6,079 species). Conotrachelus Dejean, 1835 (Curculionidae) is the most species-rich genus, with 570 species. The French entomologist Maurice Pic is the author who has contributed the most to the naming of species recorded from Brazil, with 1,794 valid names in 36 families, whereas the Brazilians Ubirajara R. Martins and Maria Helena M. Galileo are the only ones among the top-ten authors to have named species in the 21st century. Currently, approximately 144 new species of Brazilian beetles are described each year, and this average is projected to increase in the next decade to 180 species per year, or about one new Brazilian beetle every two days

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

Multiplex PCR for detection of pathogens of Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera, Apidae) in honey

Recentemente, o declínio global dos polinizadores, especialmente das abelhas Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), tem acometido a atividade apícola e agrícola de alguns países causando prejuízos econômicos e ambientais, notadamente para os ecossistemas, ainda não efetivamente contabilizados. Dentre as causas elencadas para esse inexplicável fenômeno os patógenos estão entre os principais possíveis responsáveis. Vários são os patógenos que acometem as abelhas A. mellifera pelo mundo, entre eles a bactéria Paenibacillus larvae (White), e os fungos Ascosphaera apis (Maassen ex Claussen) Olive e Spiltoir, Nosema apis Zander e Nosema ceranae Fries et al. Suas distribuições em algumas partes do mundo, como o Brasil, são pouco conhecidas, não apenas pela dificuldade de coleta de amostras em um país com tamanha dimensão, mas também em virtude da morosidade e custo dos diagnósticos envolvidos. Diante disso, torna-se importante a padronização de técnicas para o diagnóstico rápido e seguro que facilite a realização de levantamentos epidemiológicos e que, consequentemente, auxilie no controle da disseminação desses micro-organismos. O objetivo desse trabalho foi padronizar uma técnica de PCR multiplex para detecção simultânea da presença de A. apis, N. ceranae e P. larvae em mel, bem como empregá-la na análise de amostras de mel provenientes de algumas regiões brasileiras. A PCR multiplex foi padronizada com primers específicos e DNA dos micro-organismos obtidos de amostras de mel positivas para cada um dos patógenos. Utilizou-se as recomendações da legislação nacional vigente para o preparo das soluções de mel a serem submetidas à técnica desenvolvida. A técnica padronizada neste estudo foi eficiente para diagnosticar simultaneamente três patógenos de A. mellifera em mel: A. apis, N. ceranae e P. larvae. O limiar de detecção da PCR monoespecífica foi 10 UFC/mL de mel para P. larvae e de 10 e 100 esporos/mL de mel para A. apis e N. ceranae, respectivamente. A sensibilidade de detecção da PCR multiplex foi de 10 UFC/mL de mel para P. larvae e 100 esporos/mL de mel para A. apis e N. ceranae. Não foram encontrados nenhum dos referidos patógenos nas 120 amostras de mel que foram analisadas com a PCR multiplex padronizada. A PCR multiplex foi adequada para detecção simultânea de patógenos de A. mellifera em mel, mas, provavelmente, poderá ser utilizada em outros produtos apícolas com pequenas modificações.Recently, a decline of pollinators, especially the bees Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), has affected beekeeping and consequently agricultural harvests in some countries, although the damage to ecosystems has not been effectively accounted. Among the causes listed for this unexplained phenomenon, pathogens are among the possible factors responsible. There are several pathogens that attack the bees A. mellifera around the world, as bacteria Paenibacillus larvae (White) and the fungi Ascosphaera apis (Maassen ex Claussen) Olive & Spiltoir, Nosema apis Zander and Nosema ceranae Fries et al. Their distributions in some parts of the world, such as Brazil, are not exactly known, not only because of the difficulty of collecting samples in such a large country, and also because of the time and cost of diagnoses involved. At this point, it is important to standardize techniques for rapid diagnosis and to facilitate the safe conduct of epidemiological surveys, and therefore assist in controlling the spread of these microorganisms. The aim of this work was standardize a multiplex PCR for simultaneous detection of the spores of A. apis, N. ceranae and P. larvae present in honey and use it in the analysis of honey samples from some regions. The multiplex PCR was standardized using specific primers and DNA was extracted from honey samples positive for each of the pathogens. The recommendations of existing national legislation were used for the preparation of the solutions of honey to be submitted to the technique developed. The standard technique in this study was effective for diagnosing three pathogens to A. mellifera in honey, A. apis, N. ceranae and P. larvae. The detection threshold of monospecific PCR was of 10 CFU/mL of honey, and of 10 and 100 spores/mL of honey for A. apis and N. ceranae, respectively. The detection sensitivity of multiplex PCR was of 10 CFU/mL of honey for P. larvae, and of 100 spores/mL of honey for A. apis and for N. ceranae. Did not match any of those pathogens in 120 honey samples analyzed with standardized multiplex PCR. Thus this method was suitable for simultaneous detection of pathogens to A. mellifera in honey, but can probably be used in other bee products with minor modifications.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superio

Species of Geotrupidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) in Aquidauana, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Coleoptera of the family Geotrupidae play an important ecological role in the decomposition of animal and plant organic matter. In Brazil there is little information on the diversity and distribution of this group, thus, this work had a purpose to study Geotrupidae species, occurring in Aquidauana, MS. A survey for geotrupids was conducted in Aquidauana, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Beetles were captured using a light trap over a period of two years, from January 2006 to December 2007. A total of 907 specimens were collected and identified to eight species. From the subfamily Bolboceratinae, the species identified were Bolbapium minutum (Luederwaldt, 1929) and Pereirabolbus castaneus (Klug, 1845). In the subfamily Athyreinae the species identified were Athyreus bilobus Howden &amp; Martínez, 1978, Parathyreus aff. bahiae, Neoathyreus aff. julietae, N. sexdentatus Laporte, 1840, N. centromaculatus (Felsche, 1909) and N. goyasensis (Boucomont, 1902). Four species (A. bilobus, N. centromaculatus, N. goyasensis and P. castaneus) are reported for the first time in Aquidauana, MS, Brazil. The most abundant species, representing 85.9% of the total capture, was B. minutum. The greatest numbers of specimens was caught from October to December of both years of the study