Diversity of sarcosaprophagous dipterans (Insecta: Diptera) associated with street markets in the semiarid of northeastern Brazil

Diptera have high capacity to adapt to anthropized environments and they present high medical and sanitary relevance, since they are related to pathogens transmission and myiasis causing. In this context, it is known that anthropic environments (e.g., street markets) with high human circulation and food supply can directly influence the composition and structure of muscoid dipterans assemblages. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of street markets on the composition and structure of assemblages of flies with sanitary importance in an urban environment of Toritama city, Pernambuco state, Brazil. The flies were captured using adhesive mousetrap “Cola Rato” before and after the occurrence of free markets. A total of 7,780 specimens belonging to six families and 14 species were collected. Muscidae was the most representative and diverse family, with 96.98% of all flies captured and four species. We observed that the assemblages were more abundant after the occurrence of the street markets (H = 6.56; df = 1; P < 0.01). Regarding the composition of the assemblies, 50% of the species were common to both treatments, with emphasis on the dominant species Musca domestica and Megaselia scalaris. This study reveals that free markets can modulate the structure and composition of flies’ assemblages in urban environments, including being able to offer health risks, considering that species of medical importance are related to this environment

Dípteros sarcosaprófagos associados a substratos diferencialmente decompostos em ambientes de Mata Atlântica

Sarcosaprophagous flies may show temporal variations in terms of their location and colonization in ephemeral resources, in addition to their richness and abundance changing according to the substrate age. The present study examined the influence of decomposition time on the: (i) composition of the sarcosaprophagous dipterofauna; (ii) sexual proportion of the collected specimens; and (iii) the stage of sexual maturity of female flies (Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae). For this, we used chicken liver with different decomposition times (0h, 24h, 48h, and 76h) for the collection of adult flies. The results showed that: i) the assemblages were most diverse and abundant in more decomposed baits; ii) Calliphoridae was the most abundant taxa in all treatments; iii) the reproductive stage varied according to the age of the substrate, with high rates of mature or pregnant females in the older substrates; and iv) the number of males blowflies was higher in older baits, but it did not vary for flesh flies. Thus, this work demonstrates experimentally that the substrate age is an influencing factor in the composition of sarcosaprophagous flies’ assemblage, and it indication of the dipterans potential as primary or secondary colonizers throughout colonization of ephemeral resources.As moscas sarcosaprófagas podem apresentar variações temporais quanto à sua localização e colonização em recursos efêmeros, além de sua riqueza e abundância variarem de acordo com a idade do substrato. O presente estudo examinou a influência do tempo de decomposição na composição da dipterofauna sarcosaprofauna, proporção sexual dos espécimes coletados e no estágio de maturidade sexual das moscas fêmeas (Calliphoridae e Sarcophagidae). Para isso, utilizou-se fígado de galinha com diferentes tempos de decomposição (0h, 24h, 48h e 76h) para a coleta de moscas adultas. As variáveis analisadas foram: as abundâncias absoluta e relativa, o número de espécies, a proporção sexual e maturidade sexual de moscas fêmeas em cada tempo de composição testado. As assembleias foram mais diversas e abundantes nas iscas mais decompostas, sendo Calliphoridae o táxon mais abundante em todos os tratamentos. O estado reprodutivo variou de acordo com a idade do substrato, com altas taxas de fêmeas maduras ou grávidas nos substratos mais velhos. Em relação a proporção sexual, o número de califorídeos machos foi maior nas iscas mais velhas, mas não variou para sarcofagídeos. Assim, a idade do substrato é um fator que influencia na composição da assembleia de moscas sarcosaprófagas, e indica o potencial dos dípteros como colonizadores primários ou secundários ao longo da colonização de recursos efêmeros

Usability Evaluation of BioTax in Remote Medical Entomology Teaching

Como a compreensão da biodiversidade é fundamental no estudo da Biologia, o pensamento biológico requer conhecer e praticar a identificação taxonômica. Chaves de identificação são instrumentos típicos utilizados para orientar a identificação de exemplares de seres vivos. Elas podem ser em papel ou serem softwares. Apesar de existirem investigações sobre o uso de software de chaves de identificação como recurso pedagógico, pouco se investigou sobre sua qualidade de uso. Este trabalho relata uma avaliação de usabilidade do software BioTax em duas turmas remotas de graduação de Entomologia Médica na UFRN em 2020. Os estudantes realizaram 2 exercícios de identificação taxonômica e 1 exercício de criação de chave de identificação com o BioTax. Depois, 15 estudantes responderam um questionário online sobre suas opiniões a respeito da experiência de uso do BioTax e perguntas da System Usability Scale (SUS). A média dos resultados gerais no SUS foi de 81,3, que indica uma excelente usabilidade do BioTax. Seus principais diferenciais relatados pelos participantes foram a facilidade de uso, a praticidade e o layout simples e limpo. Também foram relatados problemas na facilidade de aprendizado e na eficiência, erros funcionais e feitas sugestões de novas funcionalidades.As the understanding of biodiversity is fundamental in Biology study, biological thinking requires knowing and practicing taxonomic identification. Identification keys are typical instruments used to guide the identification of specimens of living beings. They can be on paper or be software. Although there are investigations on the use of identification key software as a pedagogical resource, little has been investigated about its quality of use. This paper reports a usability evaluation of the BioTax software in two remote classes of Medical Entomology in undergraduate courses at UFRN in 2020. The students performed 2 taxonomic identification exercises and 1 exercise to create an identification key with BioTax. Then, 15 students answered an online questionnaire about their opinions regarding the experience of using BioTax and questions from the System Usability Scale (SUS). The average of the general results in SUS was 81.3, which indicates an excellent usability of BioTax. The participants highlighted ease of use, practicality and simple and clean layout as good characteristics of BioTax. They also reported problems with learnability and efficiency, functional errors and suggestions for new features.Facultad de Informátic

Patent literature on mosquito repellent inventions which contain plant essential oils - A review

Bites of mosquitoes belonging to the genera Anopheles Meigen, Aedes Meigen, Culex L. and Haemagogus L. are a general nuisance and are responsible for the transmission of important tropical diseases such as malaria, hemorrhagic dengue and yellow fevers and filariasis (elephantiasis). Plants are traditional sources of mosquito repelling essential oils (EOs), glyceridic oils and repellent and synergistic chemicals. A Chemical Abstracts search on mosquito repellent inventions containing plant-derived EOs revealed 144 active patents mostly from Asia. Chinese, Japanese and Korean language patents and those of India (in English) accounted for roughly 3/4 of all patents. Since 1998 patents on EO-containing mosquito repellent inventions have almost doubled about every 4 years. In general, these patents describe repellent compositions for use in topical agents, cosmetic products, incense, fumigants, indoor and outdoor sprays, fibers, textiles among other applications. 67 EOs and 9 glyceridic oils were individually cited in at least 2 patents. Over 1/2 of all patents named just one EO. Citronella [Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle, C.winterianus Jowitt ex Bor] and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus L'Hér. spp.) EOs were each cited in approximately 1/3 of all patents. Camphor [Cinnamomum camphora (L.) J. Presl], cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume), clove [Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. & L. M. Perry], geranium (Pelargonium graveolens L'Hér.), lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.), lemon [Citrus × limon (L.) Osbeck], lemongrass [Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf] and peppermint (Mentha × piperita L.) EOs were each cited in > 10 % of patents. Repellent chemicals present in EO compositions or added as pure natural ingredients such as geraniol, limonene, p-menthane-3,8-diol, nepetalactone and vanillin were described in approximately 40 % of all patents. About 25 % of EO-containing inventions included or were made to be used with synthetic insect control agents having mosquito repellent properties such as pyrethroids, N,N-diethyl-m- toluamide (DEET), (±)-p-menthane-3,8-diol (PMD) and dialkyl phthalates. Synergistic effects involving one or more EOs and synthetic and/or natural components were claimed in about 10 % of all patents. Scientific literature sources provide evidence for the mosquito repellency of many of the EOs and individual chemical components found in EOs used in patented repellent inventions. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart New York

Culicidae (Diptera: Culicomorpha) in the southern Brazilian collection "Ana Leuch Lozovei" with notes on distribution and diversity

Biological collections are of extreme importance in acquiring knowledge of the biodiversity of a specific environment. In this article, we organise, list and catalogue the adult specimens belonging to the family Culicidae housed in the Parasitology Collection of the Basic Pathology Department at the Federal University of Paraná, southern Brazil. To this end, a data bank was created, containing information on the taxonomy and collecting of each sample. The culicids were collected using different methodologies in 18 municipalities in the state of Paraná, between 1967 and 1999. There are 5,739 catalogued specimens of which 4,704 (81.96%) are identified at a specific level, with a diversity of 205 species. Of these, 18 are new recorded samples for the state of Paraná and 3 for Brazil. This being the case, we propose, in honour of the 30 years dedicated to the study of culicids in the state of Paraná, the creation of the Ana Leuch Lozovei Entomological Collection, which is composed of insect vectors or potential vectors, of agents that cause diseases in humans.&nbsp

Periodicidade de hematofagia de Anopheles darlingi, em Porto Velho (RO), e modificação da armadilha BGSentinel® para a captura de anofelinos, visando à substituição da atração humana

Exportado OPUSMade available in DSpace on 2019-08-14T05:15:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 resumo_renata.pdf: 50312 bytes, checksum: e5e39f661744cf116ce12ebd48f50633 (MD5) Previous issue date: 13Na busca de método satisfatório para a amostragem Anopheles darlingi substituindo a atração humana, a armadilha BG-Sentinel (BGS) foi avaliada em Porto Velho, RO. Após a confirmação da prevalência de A. darlingi nas localidades, observação da periodicidade de hematofagia e da preferência por peri ou extradomicilio, padronizou-se a avaliação das armadilhas em extra-domicilio no período de 18:00 às 20:00 h e foiadotado o delineamento do Quadrado-Latino. Durante os experimentos, além dos anofelinos, foram coletados oito gêneros de culicíneos (Coquillettidia, Culex, Mansonia, Psorophora, Aedes, Aedeomyia, Uranotaenia e Wyeomyia) e foi feito o primeiro registro de Mansonia (M.) flaveola no Estado de Rondônia. Modificações físicas da armadilha BGS (cor, fluxo de ar e de fonte de luz) e a adição de cairomônios naturais (expiração e odor humano) e sintéticos (CO2, ácido láctico, amônia e ácido hexanóico) foram avaliadas. Os resultados demonstraram que a BGS com fluxo de sucção invertido (de baixo para cima) e com coloração branca se mostraram mais eficazes na captura de A. darlingi (p0,05). A BGS mostrou-se capaz de substituir a atração humana. No entanto, uma parte dos Anopheles danificadosdurante a captura na BGS impossibilitou a identificação das espécies, necessitando modificações internas na armadilha