Five new species of Ectobiidae (Blattodea) collected in the Reserva Ducke, Amazonas, Brazil

Herein we describe five new species of the Ectobiidae subfamilies Pseudophyllodromiinae (Amazonina spiculata sp. nov., Amazonina spinostylata sp. nov., Cariblatta duckeniana sp. nov., Cariblatta manauensis sp. nov.) and Nyctiborinae (Nyctibora nigra sp. nov.), collected in the Reserva Ducke, Manaus, state of Amazonas. The specimens were collected from litter, fallen logs, branches, and foliage. We illustrate the male genitalia of the new species

Taxonomy, phylogeography and distribution of the genus Monastria (Insects, Blattodea) in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

La forêt atlantique brésilienne est un des points sensibles de biodiversité avec une richesse spécifique et des risques d’extinction élevés. Cette forêt est située le long de la côte atlantique brésilienne, s’étendant jusqu’au Paraguay vers le Sud et à l’Argentine dans l’intérieur des terres. Du fait des gradients longitudinal et altitudinal, de la géologie complexe et de la diversité des sols, cette forêt comprend une diversité exceptionnelle de paysages et d’écosystèmes qui ont permis à cette riche biodiversité de se développer. Cependant, cette dernière encourt des risques extrêmes d’extinction du fait des densités et des tailles de populations humaines locales les plus élevées en Amérique du Sud. La forêt atlantique est ainsi aujourd’hui réduite à moins de 5% de sa surface originelle, répartie dans des fragments épars. En dépit de cette richesse spécifique reconnue, beaucoup reste à comprendre au sujet de plusieurs composantes de la biodiversité et de leur origine. Parmi les groupes encore mal connus figurent en particulier les insectes. Dans le but de combler cette lacune, j’ai étudié dans cette thèse un genre de blatte endémique de la forêt atlantique, Monastria Saussure, 1864 (Blattodea, Blaberinae). Je me suis focalisé sur sa taxonomie, sa phylogéographie et sur la contribution des données de collections d’histoire naturelle à la modélisation de l’aire de distribution. L’étude de la taxonomie a consisté à entreprendre la révision du genre avec la re-description des espèces espèces déjà connues et la description de nouvelles espèces. Les descriptions des espèces connues étaient fort anciennes et la description (et redescription) a donc inclus la définition de nouveaux caractères, ainsi qu’une étude des genitalia. Des problèmes nomenclaturaux anciens ont été également résolus, une clé d’identification des espèces ainsi qu’une clé d’identification des larves des genres de Blaberinae endémiques de la forêt atlantique ont été construites. La deuxième étude concernait l’analyse de la diversification et de la distribution du genre Monastria dans la forêt atlantique brésilienne. Cette analyse a indiqué l’importance des impacts différentiels des changements de température durant le dernier maximum glaciaire entre les parties Nord et Sud de la forêt atlantique, ceci résultant dans le patron de distribution présent. La troisième étude est une évaluation de l’intérêt des données disponibles dans les collections d’histoire naturelle concernant Monastria pour inférer son aire de répartition en se basant sur des modèles de niches écologiques (ENM), et en utilisant les données issues de l’échantillonnage de terrain ciblé sur Monastria pour valider les résultats. Nous montrons ici que le lot de données des collections est biaisé dans l’espace environmental. Le sur-échantillonnage dans une classe de climat conduit à construire des modèles d’aires favorables plus restreints que ceux de la distribution réelle de Monastria. Ces biais augmentent donc la spécificité des modèles et réduisent leur sensibilité. Pour résoudre ce problème, nous avons conçu deux sortes d’analyse de raréfaction et montré que la suppression aléatoire de points dans la classe climatique la plus biaisée augmente de manière très efficace la sensibilité du modèle de niche climatique.The Brazilian Atlantic forest is one of the biodiversity hotspots with the richest species diversity and threat. It is located along the Brazilian Atlantic coast going south til Paraguay and Argentina in the interior of the continent. Due to its longitudinal and altitudinal gradients, complex geology and diversity of soils it harbors an enormous diversity of landscapes and ecosystems that gave rise to its rich biodiversity. However, this biodiversity is extremely threatened because this region is the one with the highest population size and density in south America. So, the Atlantic forest is now limited to less than 5% of its original surface and distributed in scattered fragments. Despite the recognized species richness, much remains to be known about several components of this biodiversity and their origin. Among the groups still poorly known are the insects. In order to contribute to bridge this gap, in this thesis I studied one genus of cockroach endemic from the Atlantic forest, Monastria Saussure, 1864 (Blaberidae, Blaberinae). I focused on the taxonomy, phylogeography and on the contribution of the data existing in natural history collections to model the distribution range. The study of the taxonomy consisted in the revision of the genus with the re-description of already known species and description of new ones. Since the known species were described very early, the description (and re-description) comprised the definition of new characters, and consideration paid to genitalia. In addition to that, old nomenclatural problems were solved, a key to species’ identification was provided, a key to the identification of nymphs of the genera of Blaberinae endemic to the Atlantic forest were provided. The second study was aimed to understand the diversification and distribution of the genus Monastria in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. This analysis indicates the importance of differential impacts of shifts in temperature between the Southern and Northeastern part of the Atlantic forest in the Last Glacial Maximum for explaining the present pattern of distribution. The third study is an evaluation of the data concerning Monastria available in Natural History Collections for estimating its distribution range based on Ecological Niche Models (ENM), and using the data from the field work designed to assess the presence of Monastria to validate the results. Here we showed that the dataset is biased in the environmental space. This oversampling in a climate class leads to models with suitable areas much smaller than that of the real distribution of Monastria. These biases increase model’s specificity and reduced sensitivity. To overcome this problem, we designed two forms of rarefaction and showed deleting points at random in the most biased climate class is very powerful to increase the sensitivity of the ENM

Taxonomie, phylogéographie et distribution du genre Monastria Saussure 1864 (Insectes, Blattodea) dans la forêt atlantique brésilienne

The Brazilian Atlantic forest is one of the biodiversity hotspots with the richest species diversity and threat. It is located along the Brazilian Atlantic coast going south til Paraguay and Argentina in the interior of the continent. Due to its longitudinal and altitudinal gradients, complex geology and diversity of soils it harbors an enormous diversity of landscapes and ecosystems that gave rise to its rich biodiversity. However, this biodiversity is extremely threatened because this region is the one with the highest population size and density in south America. So, the Atlantic forest is now limited to less than 5% of its original surface and distributed in scattered fragments. Despite the recognized species richness, much remains to be known about several components of this biodiversity and their origin. Among the groups still poorly known are the insects. In order to contribute to bridge this gap, in this thesis I studied one genus of cockroach endemic from the Atlantic forest, Monastria Saussure, 1864 (Blaberidae, Blaberinae). I focused on the taxonomy, phylogeography and on the contribution of the data existing in natural history collections to model the distribution range. The study of the taxonomy consisted in the revision of the genus with the re-description of already known species and description of new ones. Since the known species were described very early, the description (and re-description) comprised the definition of new characters, and consideration paid to genitalia. In addition to that, old nomenclatural problems were solved, a key to species’ identification was provided, a key to the identification of nymphs of the genera of Blaberinae endemic to the Atlantic forest were provided. The second study was aimed to understand the diversification and distribution of the genus Monastria in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. This analysis indicates the importance of differential impacts of shifts in temperature between the Southern and Northeastern part of the Atlantic forest in the Last Glacial Maximum for explaining the present pattern of distribution. The third study is an evaluation of the data concerning Monastria available in Natural History Collections for estimating its distribution range based on Ecological Niche Models (ENM), and using the data from the field work designed to assess the presence of Monastria to validate the results. Here we showed that the dataset is biased in the environmental space. This oversampling in a climate class leads to models with suitable areas much smaller than that of the real distribution of Monastria. These biases increase model’s specificity and reduced sensitivity. To overcome this problem, we designed two forms of rarefaction and showed deleting points at random in the most biased climate class is very powerful to increase the sensitivity of the ENM.La forêt atlantique brésilienne est un des points sensibles de biodiversité avec une richesse spécifique et des risques d’extinction élevés. Cette forêt est située le long de la côte atlantique brésilienne, s’étendant jusqu’au Paraguay vers le Sud et à l’Argentine dans l’intérieur des terres. Du fait des gradients longitudinal et altitudinal, de la géologie complexe et de la diversité des sols, cette forêt comprend une diversité exceptionnelle de paysages et d’écosystèmes qui ont permis à cette riche biodiversité de se développer. Cependant, cette dernière encourt des risques extrêmes d’extinction du fait des densités et des tailles de populations humaines locales les plus élevées en Amérique du Sud. La forêt atlantique est ainsi aujourd’hui réduite à moins de 5% de sa surface originelle, répartie dans des fragments épars. En dépit de cette richesse spécifique reconnue, beaucoup reste à comprendre au sujet de plusieurs composantes de la biodiversité et de leur origine. Parmi les groupes encore mal connus figurent en particulier les insectes. Dans le but de combler cette lacune, j’ai étudié dans cette thèse un genre de blatte endémique de la forêt atlantique, Monastria Saussure, 1864 (Blattodea, Blaberinae). Je me suis focalisé sur sa taxonomie, sa phylogéographie et sur la contribution des données de collections d’histoire naturelle à la modélisation de l’aire de distribution. L’étude de la taxonomie a consisté à entreprendre la révision du genre avec la re-description des espèces espèces déjà connues et la description de nouvelles espèces. Les descriptions des espèces connues étaient fort anciennes et la description (et redescription) a donc inclus la définition de nouveaux caractères, ainsi qu’une étude des genitalia. Des problèmes nomenclaturaux anciens ont été également résolus, une clé d’identification des espèces ainsi qu’une clé d’identification des larves des genres de Blaberinae endémiques de la forêt atlantique ont été construites. La deuxième étude concernait l’analyse de la diversification et de la distribution du genre Monastria dans la forêt atlantique brésilienne. Cette analyse a indiqué l’importance des impacts différentiels des changements de température durant le dernier maximum glaciaire entre les parties Nord et Sud de la forêt atlantique, ceci résultant dans le patron de distribution présent. La troisième étude est une évaluation de l’intérêt des données disponibles dans les collections d’histoire naturelle concernant Monastria pour inférer son aire de répartition en se basant sur des modèles de niches écologiques (ENM), et en utilisant les données issues de l’échantillonnage de terrain ciblé sur Monastria pour valider les résultats. Nous montrons ici que le lot de données des collections est biaisé dans l’espace environmental. Le sur-échantillonnage dans une classe de climat conduit à construire des modèles d’aires favorables plus restreints que ceux de la distribution réelle de Monastria. Ces biais augmentent donc la spécificité des modèles et réduisent leur sensibilité. Pour résoudre ce problème, nous avons conçu deux sortes d’analyse de raréfaction et montré que la suppression aléatoire de points dans la classe climatique la plus biaisée augmente de manière très efficace la sensibilité du modèle de niche climatique

Influência de fatores ambientais sobre a composição de espécies de baratas (Insecta: Blattaria) na Reserva Ducke, Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil

Cockroaches (Hexapoda; Blattaria) are abundant and well adaptable to the environment, cause a significant impact on the distribution of the nutrients, and are components of the diet of invertebrates and small vertebrates. In a gradient of 5 x 5 km in an ombrophilous dense terra firme forest, we evaluated the morphospecies richness and abundance of cockroaches and the role of environmental variables (clay content, slope, concentration of aluminum in the soil, litter height and number of trees) on the assembly of morphospecies. Aiming at reducing the effort of collecting and sorting we also verified if the ecological relationships captured with the total community of morphospecies of cockroaches could be captured with the reduced community, after the exclusion of very common and very rare morphospecies. The gradient studied has 30 plots of 250 m, installed in contour line and are evenly distributed. We sampled in two periods: November/December 2010 and May 2011. From 18:30 an active sampling with one hour of effort was undertaken in each plot, totaling 30 hours of effort per amostral period. Each plot was sampled by two collectors, distant 30 meters from each other and inspecting one meter at each side of the plot. A total of 979 specimens was recorded, identified in 19 genera and 40 morphospecies. The 40 morphospecies are within the estimated number of morphospecies provided and we suppose that the meso-spatial scale of 5 X 5 km of sampling effort positively influenced this number. Redundancy Analysis (RDA) showed that the litter height, clay content, and soil aluminum were the variables that contributed most to capture the pattern of cockroaches distribution in the forest at both total and reduced community to ten morphospecies levels. This pattern was most clearly shown for species presence-absence data. The total variation explained in all cases was less than 20% for data abundance and presence/absence. This may be due to the high mobility of the cockroaches, making it difficult to establish the boundaries of their territories. Multiple linear regression analyzes indicated that these variables were also important in explaining the distribution of 10 selected morphospecies. The relathionship of soil aluminum in with cockroaches can be indirect, because herbivorous cockroaches may be feeding on leaves of plants with higher concentrations of this element in their leaves. Both the concentration of aluminum and the clay percentage in the soil exerted the same effect on the assembly of cockroaches since these variables are highly correlated. The reduced community, comprising 10 morphospecies can be selected to elaborate a research protocol that will result in the reduction of the time of sampling, sorting, and identification. The economy can be used to expand the collection at other sites and in the monitoring of biodiversity and environmental impacts.As baratas (Hexapoda; Blattaria), são abundantes e adaptáveis ao ambiente, causam um impacto significativo na repartição do volume de nutrientes, além de serem componentes da dieta de invertebrados e pequenos vertebrados. Em um gradiente de 5 X 5 km numa floresta ombrófila densa de terra firme (Reserva Ducke), foi avaliada a riqueza e abundância das morfoespécies de baratas e o papel das variáveis ambientais (porcentagem de argila do solo, inclinação do terreno, concentração de alumínio no solo, altura da serrapilheira e número de árvores) sobre a assembléia de morfoespécies. Visando a diminuição do esforço de coleta e triagem, também foi verificado se as relações ecológicas capturadas com a comunidade total de morfoespécies de baratas poderiam ser capturadas com a comunidade reduzida, após a exclusão das morfoespécies muito frequentes e raras. O gradiente estudado possui 30 parcelas de 250 m, instaladas em curva de nível e distribuídas uniformemente. Foram efetuados dois períodos amostrais: novembro/dezembro de 2010 e maio de 2011. A partir das 18:30, foi feita uma amostragem ativa com um esforço de 1 hora em cada parcela, totalizando 30 horas de esforço por período amostral. Cada parcela foi percorrida por dois coletores, distantes por 30 metros e vistoriando um metro a cada um dos lados da parcela. Foram coletados 979 espécimes, identificados em 19 gêneros e 40 morfoespécies. As 40 morfoespécies estão dentro da estimativa do número de morfoespécies previsto e supomos que a meso-escala espacial de 5 X 5 km de esforço de coleta influenciou positivamente esse número. Análises de redundância (RDA) mostraram que a altura da serrapilheira, porcentagem de argila e concentração de alumínio foram as variáveis que mais contribuíram para capturar o padrão de distribuição das baratas na floresta, tanto ao nível de comunidade total quanto ao nível de comunidade reduzida para 10 morfoespécies. Este padrão foi mais claramente mostrado para dados de presença-ausência de espécies. A variação total explicada em todos os casos foi menor que 20% para dados de abundância e de presençaausência. Isto pode ser devido à grande mobilidade das baratas, tornando difícil estabelecer os limites dos seus territórios. Análises de regressões múltiplas lineares indicaram que estas variáveis também foram importantes para explicar a distribuição de 10 morfoespécies selecionadas. A relação do alumínio no solo com as baratas pode ser indireta, uma vez que baratas herbívoras podem estar se alimentando de folhas de plantas com maiores concentrações de alumínio. Tanto a concentração de alumínio quanto a porcentagem de argila do solo exerceram o mesmo efeito sobre a assembléia de baratas uma vez que essas variáveis são altamente correlacionadas. A comunidade reduzida, composta por 10 morfoespécies, pode ser selecionada para a elaboração de um protocolo de pesquisa que vai resultar na redução do tempo de coleta, triagem, identificação. A economia poderá ser usada para expandir a coleta em outros locais e em monitoramentos da biodiversidade e de impactos ambientais

The informative value of museum collections for ecology and conservation: A comparison with target sampling in the Brazilian Atlantic forest.

Since two decades the richness and potential of natural history collections (NHC) were rediscovered and emphasized, promoting a revolution in the access on data of species occurrence, and fostering the development of several disciplines. Nevertheless, due to their inherent erratic nature, NHC data are plagued by several biases. Understanding these biases is a major issue, particularly because ecological niche models (ENMs) are based on the assumption that data are not biased. Based on it, a recent body of research have focused on searching adequate methods for dealing with biased data and proposed the use of filters in geographical and environmental space. Although the strength of filtering in environmental space has been shown with virtual species, nothing has yet been tested with a real dataset including field validation. In order to contribute to this task, we explore this issue by comparing a dataset from NHC to a recent targeted sampling of the cockroach genus Monastria Saussure, 1864 in the Brazilian Atlantic forest. We showed that, despite strong similarities, the area modeled with NHC data was much smaller. These differences were due to strong climate biases, which increased model's specificity and reduced sensitivity. By applying two forms of rarefaction in the environmental space, we showed that deleting points at random in the most biased climate class is a powerful way for increasing model's sensitivity, so making predictions more suitable to the reality

Taxonomic revision of the genus Monastria Saussure, 1864 (Blattodea: Blaberidae Blaberinae) from the South American Atlantic forest, with the descriptions of five new species

Tarli, Vitor Dias, Grandcolas, Philippe, Pellens, Roseli (2018): Taxonomic revision of the genus Monastria Saussure, 1864 (Blattodea: Blaberidae Blaberinae) from the South American Atlantic forest, with the descriptions of five new species. Zootaxa 4524 (3): 359-391, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4524.3.

Five new species of Ectobiidae (Blattodea) collected in the Reserva Ducke, Amazonas, Brazil

Herein we describe five new species of the Ectobiidae subfamilies Pseudophyllodromiinae (Amazonina spiculata sp. nov., Amazonina spinostylata sp. nov., Cariblatta duckeniana sp. nov., Cariblatta manauensis sp. nov.) and Nyctiborinae (Nyctibora nigra sp. nov.), collected in the Reserva Ducke, Manaus, state of Amazonas. The specimens were collected from litter, fallen logs, branches, and foliage. We illustrate the male genitalia of the new species

New species of Blaberidae and Ectobiidae (Blattaria) from Brazil

We describe three new species collected from the Reserva Ducke (02°55'-03°01'S, 59°53'-59°59'W), near Manaus, state of Amazonas: one new species was included in Blaberidae (Epilamprinae): Epilampra manauara sp. nov: , which is similar to E. sagitta Rocha e Silva & Aguiar, 1978. It differs from that species in the generally darker coloration and the internal genitalia, which has the right phallomere hooked, developed, wide medially and distended apically, bearing an apical spine-like structure and a median sclerite with a larger prepucium, rounded and with apex more sclerotized and with better-defined apical crests. Two new species were included in Ectobiidae (Blattellinae): Chromatonotus amazoninus sp. nov: , which is similar to Chromatonotus caruaruensis Lopes & Khouri, 2009 in the parallel brown marks on the pronotum, but differs in the shape of the subgenital plate, the median sclerite with a more-sclerotized tip, left phallomere with angulate apex (90 degrees) and apex curved, right phallomere with basal stem more slender and with apical arms dilated; and Dasyblatta spiculata sp. nov: , which has an asymmetrical genital plate and the median sclerite shaped as a spine apically, differing from other species of the genus. The specimens were collected in the evening, in leaf litter, from fallen logs, or on branches and foliage. The male genitalia are illustrated and the material studied is deposited in the collection of the Department of Entomology of the Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ)

Multiple environmental controls on cockroach assemblage structure in a tropical rain forest

Arthropod abundance and diversity are remarkable in tropical forests, but are also spatially patchy. This has been attributed either to resources, predators, abiotic conditions or disturbances, but whether such factors may simultaneously shape arthropod assemblage structure is little known. We used cockroaches to test for multiple environmental controls on assemblage structure in 25 km2 of Amazonian forest. We performed nocturnal, direct searches for cockroaches in 30 plots (250 m × 2 m) during two seasons, and gathered data on biotic and abiotic factors from previous studies. Cockroach abundance increased with dry litter mass, a measure of resource amount, while species richness increased with litter phosphorus content, a measure of resource availability. Cockroach abundance and species richness decreased with ant relative abundance. Cockroach species composition changed along the gradient of: (1) soil clay content, which correlates with a broad differentiation between flood-prone and non-flooded forest; (2) soil relative moisture, consistent with known interspecific variation in desiccation tolerance; and (3) according to the abundance of ants, a potential predator. Turnover in species composition was correlated with abiotic conditions-sorting species according to physiological requirements and to disturbance-related life history traits-and to ants' selective pressure. Cockroach abundance, diversity, and composition seem to be controlled by distinct sets of environmental factors, but predators which were represented by ants, emerged as a common factor underlying cockroach distribution. Such patterns of community structure may have been previously overlooked by undue focus on single or a few factors, and may be common to tropical forest arthropods. © 2014 The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation