Morphological and genetic evidence supports the separation of two tapinoma ants (Formicidae, dolichoderinae) from the atlantic forest biome

The taxonomic boundaries of many Neotropical ant species of the genus Tapinoma are still unclear. Tapinoma atriceps and T. atriceps breviscapum are two morphologically similar taxa which occur sympatrically in the southern Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Some characters such as the scape length and head shape suggest that these taxa may be different species. We used DNA analysis and morphological evidence, including scanning electron microscopy, to evaluate the taxonomic validity of these taxa. We found distinct morphological characteristics that allow separating them as two different species, Tapinoma atriceps and Tapinoma breviscapum status novo, and this decision is supported by the DNA results, where Tapinoma atriceps was recovered as a lineage independent of T. breviscapum

Daily Foraging Activity of Acromyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Leaf-cutting ants

Leaf-cutting ants are well-known insects due to their remarkable activity as herbivores and the considerable economic damage they cause to many crops. The identification of season and time of day when leaf-cutting ants are most active is an important tool, not just to understand the foraging ecology of these ants, but also to optimize their control in plantation areas where they were pests. Thus, the aims of this study are to evaluate the daily foraging activity of leaf-cutting ant species of the genus Acromyrmex, which occur in forest plantations in Southern Brazil. Foraging activity of Acromyrmex crassispinus (Forel) and Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus (Forel) were correlated with weather conditions, and it was more intense during spring and summer. Workers that forage at night are significantly heavier than workers that forage during the day. This study showed that A. crassispinus and A. subterraneus subterraneus did not forage at temperatures below 10-11°C. Then, the use of granulated baits to control these leaf-cutting ants species where they were pests should be done just under favorable conditions of temperature for Acromyrmex foraging activity (over 12°C), to ensure maximum collection of baits by ants and the least left-over baits

Area of occupancy of Brachycephalus coloratus Ribeiro, Blackburn, Stanley, Pie & Bornschein, 2017 (Anura, Brachycephalidae), endemic to the Serra da Baitaca, Brazil, and its implications for the conservation and Green Status of the species

Brachycephalus coloratus was known only from its type locality in the Serra da Baitaca of Paraná, Brazil. Its extent of occurrence was estimated at 0.37 km2, and its conservation status was proposed as Vulnerable. Here, we provide a second record for B. coloratus at Pão de Ló, Paraná, at 1,230 m of altitude. We estimate its current area of occupancy at 1.17 km2 and propose its conservation status as Endangered. The assessment of the Green Status suggests that it is Depleted; the prevention of deforestation and fires could lead to high conservation returns

Anais e resumos do XXXII Congresso Brasileiro de Zoologia: Desafios e Perspectivas para a zoologia na América Latina

Annals, meeting reports, symposia and abstracts of the 32rd Brazilian Congress of Zoology.Anais, resumos de reuniões, simpósios e resumos apresentados no XXXII Congresso Brasileiro de Zoologia.O Congresso Brasileiro de Zoologia é um evento bienal que visa congregar pessoas interessadas em estudos zoológicos (profissionais, estudantes, professores e pesquisadores); promover, incentivar e divulgar os avanços nos estudos da fauna neotropical; incrementar a formação e o reconhecimento do zoólogo como elemento indispensável no inventário e estudo do patrimônio natural dos países, especialmente na América Latina, região com maior diversidade de espécies no mundo. Esta 32ª. edição foi realizada entre os dias 26 de fevereiro a 02 de março de 2018 em Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, pelo Programa de Pós-raduação em Biodiversidade Neotropical da Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana. Teve por tema “Desafios e perspectivas para a Zoologia na América Latina”, visando promover uma discussão prolífica sobre a integração de pessoas de diferentes países para o avanço da pesquisa e conservação da diversidade animal da Região Neotropical. O tema é considerado essencial para uma região de tríplice fronteira, como Foz do Iguaçu, de grande diversidade natural e cultural e, em uma escala mais ampla, considerado importante para toda a América Latina. A programação científica contou com oito palestras plenárias de pesquisadores internacionalmente renomados e 17 simpósios de temas específicos, cobrindo temas de grande interesse para a Zoologia brasileira. Participaram do evento 1441 congressistas e foram apresentados 1235 trabalhos, sendo 219 em sessões orais. Destaca-se que a maioria dos participantes foi de graduandos (641) e pós-graduandos (292) e maioria de mulheres (61%). Tivemos congressistas de 12 países além do Brasil. Esta edição do CBZ refletiu claramente o quanto a zoologia no Brasil é realizada por colaborações e o quão diversa é nossa comunidade. Agradecemos a participação de todos os congressistas, convidados, monitores, patrocinadores e equipe de apoio, que contribuíram para que esta edição do evento fosse um sucesso.Itaipu Binacional, Petrobras, Eletrobras Furnas, Ministério de Minas e Energia, Governo Federal. Apoio: CNPq, CAPES, Parque das Aves, Parque Tecnológico Itaipu, Iguassu Convention & Visitors Bureau

Species list of ground-dwelling ants (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) in the nhecolândia, pantanal, mato grosso do sul, brazil

This study provides a list of the ground-dwelling ant species in Nhecolândia, Pantanal, Mato Grosso Sul, Brazil. The Pantanal is the largest tropical wetland in the world and is currently under strong anthropic pressure. Ground-dwelling ants were collected in three sites: (1) a forest regeneration area; (2) a pasture area; and (3) an area of secondary native vegetation. In each site, 120 samples were collected using pitfall traps in the dry and rainy seasons of 2016. Additional samplings were performed with Winkler extractors (30 leaf-litter samples) and manually, also in dry and rainy seasons of 2016. In total, we collected 172 species, which, summed with the additional records from literature, raise the number of ant species recorded in Nhecolândia to 184 in 42 genera and nine subfamilies. Eleven species were recorded for the first time in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Also, the survey adds two new species records to Brazil. Besides contributing to the inventory of the ant species present in the Pantanal biome, the present study provides an important resource for future conservation plans for this threatened ecoregion

O uso de áreas de grande altitude por Tapirus terrestris (Mammalia: Perissodactyla) na floresta atlântica meridional, Paraná, Brasil

The Lowland Tapir (Tapirus terrestris), out of the four living tapir species, has the broadest distribution. Although it naturally occurs in a variety of habitats in the Neotropics, including rainforest lowlands, gallery forests, dry chaco forests, and open grassy habitats it is currently classified as vulnerable to extinction. The Lowland Tapir is usually found near water, but there have been a few occurrence records in highland habitats. Here we report on seven records of the Lowland Tapir using highland habitats in four localities in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil. Records included tracks and feces in cloud forests (1,150-1,800 m a.s.l.) and tracks in grasslands (“campos de altitude”; 1,515-1,760 m a.s.l.). Six records were obtained between spring and summer, and one during winter. Although the use of high altitude locations by the Lowland Tapir offers an additional area for population maintenance, the occurrence of the species in these areas could have been driven by increased anthropic pressures in the Atlantic Forest lowlands.Key words: Campos de altitude, cloud forest, conservation, Serra do Mar.Dentre as quatro espécies atuais de antas, Tapirus terrestris tem a mais ampla distribuição. Embora ocorra em uma variedade de ambientes no neotrópico, incluindo florestas de baixada, florestas de galeria, florestas secas do Chaco e ambientes não florestais, é atualmente classificada como vulnerável à extinção. Tapirus terrestris é encontrado geralmente perto da água, mas há poucos registros em ambientes de montanha. No presente trabalho, relatamos sete registros da espécie utilizando ambientes de altitude em quatro localidades no Estado do Paraná, sul do Brasil. Os registros baseiam-se em pegadas e fezes na floresta altomontana (1150-1800 m s.n.m.) e em pegadas em campo de altitude (1515-1760 m s.n.m.). Seis registros foram obtidos entre a primavera e o verão, e um durante o inverno. Embora o uso de locais de grande altitude pela espécie ofereça uma área adicional para a manutenção de sua população regional, a sua ocorrência nestas áreas pode ter sido impulsionada pelo aumento de pressões antrópicas nas baixas altitudes da Floresta Atlântica.Palavras-chave: Campos de altitude, floresta altomontana, conservação, Serra do Ma

Monitoring fish communities through environmental DNA metabarcoding in the fish pass system of the second largest hydropower plant in the world

The Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant is the second largest in the world in power generation. The artificial barrier created by its dam imposes an obstacle for fish migration. Thus, in 2002, a fish pass system, named Piracema Channel, was built to allow fish to access areas upstream of the reservoir. We tested the potential of environmental DNA metabarcoding to monitor the impact of both the dam and associated fish pass system in the Paraná River fish communities and to compare it with traditional monitoring methods. Using a fragment of the 12S gene, we characterized richness and community composition based on amplicon sequence variants, operational taxonomic units, and zero-radius OTUs. We combined GenBank and in-house data for taxonomic assignment. We found that different bioinformatics approaches showed similar results. Also, we found a decrease in fish diversity from 2019 to 2020 probably due to the recent extreme drought experienced in southeastern Brazil. The highest alpha diversity was recorded in the mouth of the fish pass system, located in a protected valley with the highest environmental heterogeneity. Despite the clear indication that the reference databases need to be continuously improved, our results demonstrate the analytical efficiency of the metabarcoding to monitor fish species

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016