Revisão das espécies neotropicais de Empididae (Diptera) descritas por Mario Bezzi. VI. As espécies descritas em Rhamphomyia Meigen e as descrições de Chilerhamphomyia gen. nov. e Bolrhamphomyia gen. nov.

Two new genera are described: Chilerhamphomyia gen. nov. based on Rhamphomyia carenifera Bezzi, 1909 (type-species) from Chile, Valdivia, and Bolrhamphomyia gen. nov. based on R. tympanica Bezzi, 1909 (type-species) from Bolívia, Mapiri. Five species are redescribed and a new synonymy is proposed: Porphyrochroa argyrina (Bezzi, 1909), lectotype (here designated); P. galactodes (Bezzi, 1909); P. micrargyra (Bezzi, 1909), lectotype (here designated), senior synonym of P. monstrosa (Bezzi, 1909) syn. nov.; P. penicillata (Bezzi, 1909) and P. perpulchra (Bezzi, 1909), lectotype (here designated)

A New Species of Zorotypus from Central Amazonia, Brazil (Zoraptera: Zorotypidae)

A new species of zorapteran (Polyneoptera: Zorotypidae: Zorotypus) is described and figured from alates and apterous individuals captured in Central Amazonia, Brazil. Zorotypus amazonensis Rafael and Engel, new species, is distinguished from related neotropical species by the setation of the male vertex, the peculiar development of the male cerci, female metafemoral ornamentation, female sternites, and presence of a true Cu vein in the hind wing base (permitting for the first time an accurate homologization of hind wing veins in Zoraptera). The Brazilian zorapteran fauna is briefly summarized and the homology and phylogenetic implications of cepahlic and wing venational traits are discussed. The Embiodea + Zoraptera clade is dubbed mirorder Mystroptera Engel

Description of two new species of Neoplasta Coquillett (Diptera, Empididae, Hemerodromiinae) from pico da Neblina, Amazonas, Brazil

Two new species of Neoplasta Coquillett are described from Pico da Neblina, Brazil: N. neblina, sp. nov. and N. fregapanii, sp. nov.Duas espécies de Neoplasta Coquillett são descritas do Pico da Neblina, BrasilN. neblina, sp. nov. e N. fregapanii, sp. nov

Revisão das espécies neotropicais de Empididae (Diptera) descritas por Mario Bezzi. VII. As espécies descritas em Hilara Meigen

All five species described by Mario Bezzi in Hilara Meigen are redescribed and illustrated. Currently three species remain in Hilara: H. irritans, H. perplexa and H. perturbans and two species are treated in Hilarigona Collin: H. aberrans and H. abnormis. All primary types were examined and lectotype specimens are being designated for the three Hilara species

Longivena, a new robber-fly genus from Brazil (Diptera, Asilidae, Asilinae)

Longivena gen. n. and five new species are described and illustrated from caatinga and cerrado habitats from Brazil: Longivena digitata sp. n., type–species (Maranhão, Bahia, Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso do Sul states), L. bilobata sp. n. (Maranhão state), L. flava sp. n. (Mato Grosso do Sul state), L. limeiraoliverai sp. n. (Maranhão state), L. spatulata sp. n. (Maranhão state). An illustrated key is also provided. © R. Vieira, J. Albertino Rafael

A catalog of Pipunculidae of Chile (Diptera)

An updated catalog of the Pipunculidae from Chile is provided. We present all valid names and synonyms for the 21 species belonging to six genera and three subfamilies distributed in the country. Information is given on name, author, year of publication, page number, type species, type depository, type locality, Chilean localities, and references. Tomosvaryella Aczél and Eudorylas Aczél are the richest genera in Chile, with eight species each, followed by Protonephrocerus Collin with two species, and Chalarus Walker, Neocephalosphaera De Meyer and Elmohardyia Rafael with one species each. The geographical distribution of the species was compiled from the literature and the retrieval of distributional data from collections

Looking back to look forward: lessons from four birth cohorts for ageing in the 21st Century

A catalogue of the type specimens of Isoptera, Mantodea, Mecoptera, Orthoptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, and Zoraptera deposited in the Invertebrate Collection of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Brazil, is presented and updated to December, 2007. A total of eight holotypes and seven lots of paratypes of nine species of Isoptera; three holotypes and one paratype of three species of Mantodea; five holotypes and five lots of paratypes of five species of Mecoptera; eight holotypes and five lots of paratypes of eleven species of Orthoptera; three holotypes, three neotypes and two lots of paratypes of seven species of Plecoptera; six holotypes and seven lots of paratypes of ten species of Trichoptera; and two holotypes and three lots of paratypes of three species of Zoraptera, are listed. Specific names are listed alphabetically within the family, followed by bibliographic citation, original genus name, status of type, collection number, locality data and remarks when appropriate.É apresentado o catálogo dos espécimes-tipo de Isoptera, Mantodea, Orthoptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera e Zoraptera depositados na Coleção de Invertebrados do Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Brasil, atualizado até dezembro de 2007. É relacionado um total de sete holótipos e sete lotes de parátipos de nove espécies de Isoptera; três holótipos e um parátipo de três espécies de Mantodea; cinco holótipos e cinco lotes de parátipos de cinco espécies de Mecoptera; oito holótipos e cinco lotes de parátipos de 11 espécies de Orthoptera; três holótipos, três neótipos e dois lotes de parátipos de sete espécies de Plecoptera; seis holótipos e sete lotes de parátipos de dez espécies de Trichoptera; e dois holótipos e três lotes de parátipos de três espécies de Zoraptera. São listados alfabeticamente em cada família os nomes das espécies, seguidos da citação bibliográfica, nome original do gênero, categoria do tipo, número de registro na coleção, dados de localidade e comentários quando pertinentes

Robust surface modelling of visual hull from multiple silhouettes

Reconstructing depth information from images is one of the actively researched themes in computer vision and its application involves most vision research areas from object recognition to realistic visualisation. Amongst other useful vision-based reconstruction techniques, this thesis extensively investigates the visual hull (VH) concept for volume approximation and its robust surface modelling when various views of an object are available. Assuming that multiple images are captured from a circular motion, projection matrices are generally parameterised in terms of a rotation angle from a reference position in order to facilitate the multi-camera calibration. However, this assumption is often violated in practice, i.e., a pure rotation in a planar motion with accurate rotation angle is hardly realisable. To address this problem, at first, this thesis proposes a calibration method associated with the approximate circular motion. With these modified projection matrices, a resulting VH is represented by a hierarchical tree structure of voxels from which surfaces are extracted by the Marching cubes (MC) algorithm. However, the surfaces may have unexpected artefacts caused by a coarser volume reconstruction, the topological ambiguity of the MC algorithm, and imperfect image processing or calibration result. To avoid this sensitivity, this thesis proposes a robust surface construction algorithm which initially classifies local convex regions from imperfect MC vertices and then aggregates local surfaces constructed by the 3D convex hull algorithm. Furthermore, this thesis also explores the use of wide baseline images to refine a coarse VH using an affine invariant region descriptor. This improves the quality of VH when a small number of initial views is given. In conclusion, the proposed methods achieve a 3D model with enhanced accuracy. Also, robust surface modelling is retained when silhouette images are degraded by practical noise

Neurostigma xanthopterum New, 1980 (Psocodea: Psocoptera: Epipsocidae): updated diagnosis, description of a female specimen, morphological variations and a checklist of all known species of the genus

The holotype of the Neurostigma xanthopterum New, 1980 is here illustrated based on photographs. We also describe and illustrate a previously unknown female individual that is assigned to this species. New records for five localities in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, one in the Brazilian state of Acre and another in the Brazilian state of Amapá, are presented. The mouthparts of both sexes are here describe and illustrate. Thirteen types of variation and anomalies in the fore-hindwing veins were found. We found unique patterns in the number and shape of transverse veins in the pterostigma between individuals. We also identified a large variation in the denticles present in the lacinia. Therefore, we suggest these variable characteristics (fore-hindwing veins and lacinia denticles) are not to be used for the diagnosis of species of this genus. A revised diagnosis of N. Xanthopterum is also presented

Review of paraphotina (Mantodea: Photinaidae)

The number of studies on Neotropical mantises has been growing in recent years, and the systematics of Mantodea is now a dynamic field with noteworthy contributions. Several taxonomic revisions have been published recently. The taxonomy of Paraphotina Giglio-Tos, 1915 is reviewed as part of current studies on systematics of Neotropical Mantodea. Currently, Paraphotina contains four species from South America: P. caatingaensis (Menezes & Bravo, 2013) comb. nov., P. insolita (Rehn, 1941), P. occidentalis Lombardo, 1998 and P. reticulata (Saussure, 1871). Paraphotina venezuelana Beier, 1963 is a new junior synonym of P. insolita. Keys for the Paraphotina species are proposed. The distribution of Paraphotina species is apparently correlates with areas of endemism in the Amazonian and Cerrado regions. © 2016, Zoologia. All rights reserved