Submitted by Jorge Silva (jorgelmsilva@ufrrj.br) on 2018-09-27T18:16:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2017 - Claudete Martins da Silva Pereira.pdf: 1419427 bytes, checksum: e45ce15f8c49fe9280e4eb8f4f21ca53 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-27T18:16:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2017 - Claudete Martins da Silva Pereira.pdf: 1419427 bytes, checksum: e45ce15f8c49fe9280e4eb8f4f21ca53 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-30 / The soil?s fertility and nutrient cycling are essential for agricultural production. Many organisms play a key role in the decomposition of organic matter present in nature. Among these organisms, more attention and research should be directed to the coprophagous insects. They transform agricultural residues in material rich in nutrients. Coleoptera families act in the fragmentation of decomposing organic matter (vegetal remains, rotten wood, straw, manure, among others), participating in the cycling of nutrients, but little is known about the humus produced by other species of the fauna of the soil beyond the earthworms. The objective of this work was to study compost from rabbit manure processed by beetle larvae under controlled conditions, and to analyze the potential of usage of this compost as substrate for lettuce seedlings production. To reach this goal, the study was accomplished in Embrapa Agrobiologia, Serop?dica (RJ), and it was divided in two phases. In the first chapter, the rabbit manure by beetle larvae and earthworms were incubated, aiming the compost production. During the course of the composting process, samples were taken at 0, 30, 60 and 90 days of incubation. In these samples the variables analyzed were: electrical conductivity (EC); pH; contents of N, P, K, Ca and Mg; and humic substances. In the second chapter the rabbit manure compost produced were evaluated as substrates for lettuce seedlings production. The following characteristics were evaluated: germination percentage, aerial part's height, number of leaves, production of fresh mass of aerial part and of the root, root volume and clod stability. The results indicated that the substrate of the cuniculture residue compost processed by cetoniinae larvae was as efficient as the substrate from vermicomposting, and the substrate commonly used in the experimental research site (Fazendinha km 47) for production of lettuce seedlings. / A fertilidade do solo e a ciclagem de nutrientes s?o fundamentais para a produ??o agr?cola. Muitos organismos exercem papel fundamental na decomposi??o da mat?ria org?nica presente na natureza. Dentre esses organismos, maior aten??o e pesquisa devem ser direcionadas aos insetos copr?fagos, por tamb?m transformarem res?duos da agropecu?ria, em material rico em nutrientes. As fam?lias de cole?pteros atuam na fragmenta??o da mat?ria org?nica em decomposi??o (restos vegetais, madeira podre, palha, estercos, entre outros), participando da ciclagem de nutrientes, por?m, pouco se conhece sobre o h?mus produzido por outras esp?cies da fauna do solo que n?o sejam as minhocas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar a compostagem de esterco de coelho por larvas de besouro em condi??es controladas e analisar o potencial de uso do composto produzido como substrato para produ??o de mudas de alface. Visando alcan?ar este objetivo, este trabalho foi realizado na Embrapa Agrobiologia em Serop?dica, RJ, sendo dividido em duas etapas. No cap?tulo I, foi realizada a incuba??o de esterco de coelho por larvas de besouro e por minhocas, visando a produ??o do composto. Durante o decorrer do processo de compostagem, amostras foram coletadas aos 0, 30, 60 e 90 dias de incuba??o. Nessas amostras foram analisadas as seguintes vari?veis, condutividade el?trica (CE), pH, teores de N, P, K, Ca e Mg e subst?ncias h?micas. No cap?tulo 2, os compostos de esterco de coelho produzidos foram avaliados como substratos para a produ??o de mudas de alface. As seguintes caracter?sticas foram avaliadas: porcentagem de germina??o, altura da parte a?rea, n?mero de folhas, produ??o de massa fresca da parte a?rea e da raiz, volume de raiz e estabilidade do torr?o. Os resultados obtidos indicam que o substrato oriundo da compostagem de res?duos da cunicultura, realizada por larvas de cetoniinae, ? t?o eficiente quanto o substrato obtido atrav?s da vermicompostagem e o substrato comumente utilizado na Fazendinha km 47 para a produ??o de mudas de alface.

1 Abstract Currently there are almost 4000 described species of rose chafers (Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) but larvae of less than 200 species are described. In this work we studied larval morphology of 86 species belonging to 58 genera with focus on the tribe Goliathini. The larvae of 21 genera were studied for the first time. 77 morphological characters on head, mouth parts, legs and thoracal and abdominal segments were studied. This resulted into large matrix of morphological characters, which were further tested in separate phylogenetical analyses. A checklist of studied characters and their states and also large databasis of photographs of the characters are also amongst the results of the thesis. Five independent datasets were tested, three were based singly on morphology, one on molecular sequences and one on a combined dataset. The phylogenetic analysis was made by three methods, maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and bayesian interference. Eleven different phylogenetic trees were obtained as a result, based on which we tried to reconstruct the relationships between the inner groups of Cetoniinae with focus on relationship of subtribes of tribe Goliathini. Monophyly of the tribe Goliathini as well as some other groups could not be confirmed, as well as the alleged basal position of the genus...

6 Abstract Due to its effect on fitness and many biological processes is body size one of the most important attribute of organisms. Body size is positively correlated with fecundity in insects and other ectotherms. Growth, which determine body size, is therefore crucial feature of animals. Study of growth can elucidate some aspects of body size evolution. Unfortunatelly, many insects life-history studies do not consider its complexity, especially the existence of distinct larval instars. Inaccurate record of growth trajectory may result also in biased differences in growth between sexually dimorphic sexes. Aim of this thesis is to record growth trajectories of two flower beetle species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae). These growth trajectories enable to define proximate mechanisms of growth with regard to individual instars. Determination of developmental mechanisms of sexual size dimorphism is another goal of this study. The growth is clearly divided in three distinct periods. In each individual period (i.e. instar) is described by asymptotic curve. The instars are not independent on each other - the growth in following instar is influenced by growth in previous. There are no differences in growth characteristics between sexes. Sexual size dimorphism is caused by differences in growth rate between...

Eleven species are distinguished in the genus Oxythyrea Mulsant, 1842 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) nowadays. They are not divided into subspecies. Diversity of the genus is concentrated in the Mediterranean and Oxythyrea funesta (Poda, 1761) inhabit a wide area in the western Palearctic Region. It was observed in last decades, that O. funesta retreated from central Europe to south and then recolonized it back including new areas in northern regions. Master thesis is focused on resolving population structure of O. funesta and partial phylogeny of the genus Oxythyrea using molecular genetic methods. 145 individuals of O. funesta and 15 individuals of five other species of the genus Oxythyrea appear in analysis. We acquired sequences of mitochondrial genes cytochrome oxidase I (807 bp), cytochrome b (381 bp) and nuclear gene internal transcribed spacer 1 (946 bp) from these specimens. The results of phylogenetic analysis confirmed so far the only one existing interpretation of relationships within the genus Oxythyrea based on morphological data. We also confirmed complicated relationships between O. funesta and O. pantherina, which also appear in the historical development of their taxonomy. We detected different genetic lineage in Sicily, southern Italy and Tunisia using phylogenetic trees and haplotype...