Faunistic analysis of Gyponini (Cicadellidae: Iassinae: Gyponini), collected in plum orchards located in the municipality of Videira, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Gyponini has a wide distribution in the Americas and high abundance in plum orchards in southern Brazil. However, there is not much information regarding the economic importance and potential as vectors of microorganisms for the culture of plum. The purpose of this study was to perform the faunistic analysis of Gyponini in two plum orchards, variety ?Letícia?. The orchards are located in the municipality of Videira, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil (orchard #1 - 27º03?18??S; 51º08?46??O, orchard #2 - 27º02?05??S; 51º08?57??O). Each area contains 1 hectare and plants aged 10 years. Sampling was carried out from December 2010 to December 2012 using yellow sticky cards (8.5 x 11.5 cm), installed in 10 equidistant points (35 x 35 m). At each point, two traps were installed and replaced monthly; low (B) at 0.5 m above the ground and high (A) at 1.7 m above the ground. Eleven species belonging to Gyponini were identified: Curtara sp. (13), C. samera (3), Gypona sp. (14), G. acuta (9), G. parvula (5), G. sellata (2), G. stalina (1), G. validana (1), Polana sp. (3), Reticana lineata (1) and Sordana sordida (1). A total of 53 individuals were collected in the orchards. The highest rate of capture has occurred in the trap B, totaling 31 specimens, and only 22 individuals on the trap A. The dominant species were Curtara sp., Gypona sp., G. acuta and G. parvula with respective frequencies of 24.53%, 26.43%, 17% and 9.43%. There was no occurrence of constant species, only accessory and accidental species. Curtara sp. and G. acuta were caught predominantly in the lower traps. G. parvula showed higher capture rate in traps located in the upper part of plant canopy and Gypona sp. showed a similar distribution among the different heights. It is emphasized that this collecting method allowed identifying the most active species in relation to the stratum of the culture, as well as the abundance of the group in the orchards

Comparative analysis of the capture of leafhoppers (Cicadellidae: Cicadellinae), for different strata in plum orchards in the municipality of Videira, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Leafhoppers, belonging to Cicadellinae, are known as insect vectors of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, which is the cause of Plum Leaf Scald (PLS) disease. Within Cicadellinae, the tribes Cicadellini and Proconiini show conspicuous morphological features and different behavioral patterns. This study aimed to analyze the capture rate of Cicadellinae at higher and lower portion of the vegetative strata in two plum orchards variety ?Letícia?. The orchards (1 ha each, containing 10 years old plants) were located in the municipality of Videira, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Sampling was carried out from December 2010 to December 2012 using yellow sticky cards (8.5 x 11.5 cm), installed in 10 equidistant points (35 x 35 m). At each point, two traps were installed and replaced monthly; low (B) at 0.5 m above the ground and high (A) at 1.7 m above the ground. During the survey, 25 species were identified, included in 18 genera: Cicadellini - Bucephalogonia sp.; B. xanthophis; Caragonalia carminata; Diedrocephala sp.; D. variegata; Dilobopterus costalimai; D. dispar; Erythrogonia dorsalis; Hortensia similis; Macugonalia sp.; M. cavifrons; M. leucomelas; Pawiloma victima; Parathona gratiosa; Sibovia sagata; Spinagonalia rubrovittata; Tettisama quinquemaculata and Torresabela fairmairei; Proconiini - Aulacizes sp.; A. obsoleta; Homalodisca ignorata; Molomea personata; Oncometopia facialis; O. fusca and Phera carbonaria. Cicadellini had a capture rate of 86.48% in low traps, which were located in the lower stratum of the vegetation; this corresponds to the behavior observed in other studies. However, Proconiini had a capture rate equal to 73.48% in low traps and only 26.52% on traps located on the tree stratum of the orchard; this is different from what was found in other cultures already evaluated. The development of wild vegetation present in the orchards possibly plays a part in the occurrence of leafhoppers in the lower stratum

Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to spectral signatures of hadronic PeVatrons with application to Galactic Supernova Remnants

The local Cosmic Ray (CR) energy spectrum exhibits a spectral softening at energies around 3~PeV. Sources which are capable of accelerating hadrons to such energies are called hadronic PeVatrons. However, hadronic PeVatrons have not yet been firmly identified within the Galaxy. Several source classes, including Galactic Supernova Remnants (SNRs), have been proposed as PeVatron candidates. The potential to search for hadronic PeVatrons with the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is assessed. The focus is on the usage of very high energy $\gamma$-ray spectral signatures for the identification of PeVatrons. Assuming that SNRs can accelerate CRs up to knee energies, the number of Galactic SNRs which can be identified as PeVatrons with CTA is estimated within a model for the evolution of SNRs. Additionally, the potential of a follow-up observation strategy under moonlight conditions for PeVatron searches is investigated. Statistical methods for the identification of PeVatrons are introduced, and realistic Monte--Carlo simulations of the response of the CTA observatory to the emission spectra from hadronic PeVatrons are performed. Based on simulations of a simplified model for the evolution for SNRs, the detection of a $\gamma$-ray signal from in average 9 Galactic PeVatron SNRs is expected to result from the scan of the Galactic plane with CTA after 10 hours of exposure. CTA is also shown to have excellent potential to confirm these sources as PeVatrons in deep observations with $\mathcal{O}(100)$ hours of exposure per source.Comment: 34 pages, 16 figures, Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Southern African Large Telescope Spectroscopy of BL Lacs for the CTA project

In the last two decades, very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy has reached maturity: over 200 sources have been detected, both Galactic and extragalactic, by ground-based experiments. At present, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) make up about 40% of the more than 200 sources detected at very high energies with ground-based telescopes, the majority of which are blazars, i.e. their jets are closely aligned with the line of sight to Earth and three quarters of which are classified as high-frequency peaked BL Lac objects. One challenge to studies of the cosmological evolution of BL Lacs is the difficulty of obtaining redshifts from their nearly featureless, continuum-dominated spectra. It is expected that a significant fraction of the AGN to be detected with the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory will have no spectroscopic redshifts, compromising the reliability of BL Lac population studies, particularly of their cosmic evolution. We started an effort in 2019 to measure the redshifts of a large fraction of the AGN that are likely to be detected with CTA, using the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). In this contribution, we present two results from an on-going SALT program focused on the determination of BL Lac object redshifts that will be relevant for the CTA observatory

Tolerancia a la salinidad de dos cladóceros halófilos autóctonos: <i>Daphnia menucoensis</i> y <i>Moina eugeniae</i> (Artropoda, crustacea)

The zooplankton of the saline lakes of central Argentina includes several native species of crustaceans. Among cladocerans, Daphnia menucoensis Paggi, 1996 and Moina eugeniae Olivier, 1954 are two of the most frequent species in these environments. However, there is no information on their ecophysiological aspects, such as tolerance to different salinities, which may contribute to a better understanding of their geographic and temporal distribution. The aim of this study was to determine the survival of neonates of both species by means of 48-h acute tests (without food or renewal of the medium) at 16 and 18 different salt concentrations. The concentration of total dissolved solids at which the most abundant populations of these species were detected under natural conditions was considered as the “control” or “optimal concentration”. M. eugeniae was more tolerant to increased salinity than D. menucoensis, since 62% of the neonates of the former survived up to 31 g.l-1, whereas more than 50% of the individuals of the latter survived up to 24 g.l-1. In salinities below the “control” concentration, the tolerance limit was different to that recorded in the field, since both species survived at concentrations below 1 g.l-1, whereas in natural conditions they were recorded only as from 7 g.l-1 (M . eugeniae) and 5 g.l-1 (D. menucoensis).Instituto de Limnología "Raúl A. Ringuelet

Tolerancia a la salinidad de dos cladóceros halófilos autóctonos: <i>Daphnia menucoensis</i> y <i>Moina eugeniae</i> (Artropoda, crustacea)

The zooplankton of the saline lakes of central Argentina includes several native species of crustaceans. Among cladocerans, Daphnia menucoensis Paggi, 1996 and Moina eugeniae Olivier, 1954 are two of the most frequent species in these environments. However, there is no information on their ecophysiological aspects, such as tolerance to different salinities, which may contribute to a better understanding of their geographic and temporal distribution. The aim of this study was to determine the survival of neonates of both species by means of 48-h acute tests (without food or renewal of the medium) at 16 and 18 different salt concentrations. The concentration of total dissolved solids at which the most abundant populations of these species were detected under natural conditions was considered as the “control” or “optimal concentration”. M. eugeniae was more tolerant to increased salinity than D. menucoensis, since 62% of the neonates of the former survived up to 31 g.l-1, whereas more than 50% of the individuals of the latter survived up to 24 g.l-1. In salinities below the “control” concentration, the tolerance limit was different to that recorded in the field, since both species survived at concentrations below 1 g.l-1, whereas in natural conditions they were recorded only as from 7 g.l-1 (M . eugeniae) and 5 g.l-1 (D. menucoensis).Instituto de Limnología "Raúl A. Ringuelet