Bionomics of a gall midge that emerged from nodulelike structures of herbaceous sage, Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt., was studied as a part of a larger investigation on possible nitrogen fixation by this plant. Infested plants collected from the field were regularly examined in the laboratory where some of them were grown in a liquid nutrient medium. In the laboratory, adult midges were reared from the pupae and induction of infestation was attempted. Apparent nodulation on these plants is caused by the subterranean bud galls of a previously unknown gall midge species, Rhopalomyia subhumilis Gagne. The life history of this midge is reported. This midge has one generation per year in the study areas and overwinters as larvae. There were no indications of paedogenesis. These midge larvae are parasitised by a species of Platygasteridae.

The population dynamics of Tanypus stellatus in Goshen Bay of Utah Lake was investigated from July 18, 1973, to August 5, 1974. Samples were collected from three stations with an Ekman grab and a K-B corer. The samples were washed in a 110 micron nitex screen and then floated in a sucrose solution. The K-B core was used to determine the vertical distribution of Tanypus stellatus. Ninety-six percent of the Tanypus stellatus larvae are located in the top five centimeters; 99 percent are less than ten centimeters deep. The Ekman grab was used to study the population dynamics of the larvae. The population trends observed are likely true for the entire bay and possibly the lake also. Early instar larvae tend to be contagiously distributed and later instars are more randomly distributed. Two emergence periods occurred. One in July and one in August. Larvae overwintered in the first and second instar. Possible temperature relationships are also discussed.

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The presented master thesis describes the changes of insects communities on carcases of small mammals in course of the decay. We focused both on aspects of (temporal) succession as well on season dependent differences in carrion insect community. The study was carried out during the seasons 2014 and 2015; in each of the years we used a different carrion type (2014: mice (Mus musculus) +/- 20g, 2015: brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) 400-500g). Because we wanted to record the actual successional stage, we used a "walk-through" type of traps instead of commonly used pitfall traps. The general succession pattern was similar in both seasons; however the succession course of brown rat carcasses was slightly delayed. The succession was strongly influenced by the first species colonizing the carrion and morover, most of the carcasses were dominated or monopolized by a single species (or species group). Only the carcasses of mice were buried by the burying beetles (Silphinae: Nicrophorus). Bow flies (Calliphoridae) have been identified as the most common members of carrion insect communities. The other important members were the flesh flies (Sarcophagidae), and beetle families Silphidae and Staphylinidae. The highest abundance of insect was observed in summer, lowest abundance either in spring or fall depending on the...

Amostras, de oito espécies de moscas-das-frutas do gênero Anastrepha e de seis espécies de vespas (Braconidae) parasitóides à elas associadas, coletadas em diferentes localidades do Brasil, foram estudadas para uma detecção e caracterização das linhagens da bactéria endossimbionte Wolbachia. A detecção e identificação de Wolbachia foram feitas pela amplificação e seqüenciamento de um fragmento do gene wsp (Wolbachia “surface protein"). As seqüências obtidas foram comparadas com seqüências depositadas no GenBank mostrando que todos os fragmentos amplificados e seqüenciados eram realmente provenientes de Wolbachia. Das espécies de Anastrepha, infecção pela Wolbachia foi encontrada em A. amita, A. obliqua, A. macrura, A. montei, A. picklei, A. sp.1 aff. fraterculus e A. sp.2 aff. fraterculus, exceto na amostra de A. serpentina. Dentre as seis espécies e braconídeos estudados, apenas as duas amostras de Asobara Anastrephae e uma amostra de Opius bellus, não apresentaram infecção. Já as oito amostras de Doryctobracon areolatus, duas de D. brasiliensis, uma de D. fluminensis, três de Opius bellus e cinco de Utetes Anastrephae apresentaram-se infectadas por essas bactérias. Foram identificadas 21 linhagens distintas de Wolbachia, sendo oito mais divegentes e as demais apresentando pequenas variações. Duas amostras de A. obliquaestavam infectadas com mais de uma linhagem de Wolbachia, enquanto que as demais espécies de Anastrepha abrigavam apenas uma linhagem da bactéria. Entre os braconídeos, quatro amostras populacionais de U. Anastrephae e uma de D. brasiliensis apresentaram múltipla infecção, enquanto que as demais espécies exibiram apenas uma única linhagem de Wolbachia associada. Foram detectadas linhagens distintas da bactéria entre diferentes amostras de uma mesma espécie, assim como, uma mesma linhagem bacteriana está presente em populações de mais de uma espécie do himenóptero. U. Anastrephae foi detectada parasitando quatro diferente espécies de Anastrepha, tendo sido observado que a mesma linhagem de Wolbachia que infectava as moscas-das-frutas também infectava o parasitóide. Além disso, a análise filogenética indicou que as bactérias Wolbachia que infectam os braconídeos aqui estudados exibem uma alta similaridade com linhagens presentes em insetos não relacionados taxonomicamente mas que, em alguns casos, habitam regiões neotropicais. O conjunto de resultados sugere que eventos de transferência horizontal das bactérias entre esses insetos possam ter ocorrido. / Detection and characterization of infection by the bacteria Wolbachia were done in samples of eight species of the fruit fly Anastrepha and six species of their parasitoid wasps (Braconidae), collected in several localities in Brazil. The presence and identification of the Wolbachia strains were performed by amplificaton and sequencing of a fragment of the Wolbachia wsp gene. Comparisions of the sequences with the data on the GenBank confirmed that the amplified fragment were from Wolbachia. The endosymbiont was found in Anastrepha amita, A. obliqua, A. macrura, A. montei, A. picklei, A. sp.1 aff. fraterculus e A. sp.2 aff. fraterculus, but not in the sample of A. serpentina. Among the six species of braconids only samples of Asobara Anastrephae and one sample of Opius bellus were not infected. The eight samples of Doryctobracon areolatus, two of D. brasiliensis, one of D. fluminensis, three of Opius bellus and five of Utetes Anastrephae were infected by these bacteria. Twenty one distinct strains of Wolbachia were detected, eight of which having a higher level of distinctiveness than the others, which showed slight variation. Two out of the four samples of Anastrepha obliqua were infected by more than one strain of Wolbachia, while a single strain of bacteria was found in the other Anastrepha species. Among the braconids, four samples of U. Anastrephae and one sample of D. brasiliensis showed multiple infection, and single strains of Wolbachia were found in the other species of parasitoids. It was found that a same strain of Wolbachia may be present in different host species, either fruit fly or the parasitoids, as well as, that the same host species may present different strains of bacteria. The braconid U. Anastrephae was found parasiting four different species of Anastrepha, and in every case and samples, the same Wolbachia strain was found in both, the fruit fly and its parasitoid. Moreover, a phylogenetic analysis indicated that the Wolbachia strains infecting the fruit flies and the parasitoid wasps here studied showed a high similarity to strains present in other phylogentic non-related insects, some of which inhabiting neotropic regions. The data suggest that horizontal transfer of Wolbachia might have occurred in these two groups of insects.

Mesembrinellidae é um grupo de dípteros de distribuição exclusivamente Neotropical, habitantes de florestas úmidas do Sul do México ao Norte da Argentina. Atualmente são conhecidas 36 espécies e seu posicionamento dentro da superfamília Oestroidea, bem como sua classificação interna, vem gerando frequentes discussões na literatura, com propostas bastante divergentes. Tradicionalmente, Mesembrinellidae é considerado uma subfamília de Calliphoridae s.l. No entanto, devido a características morfológicas e biológicas peculiares desse grupo, diversos autores propuseram a elevação para o status de família, como considerado no presente trabalho. Os objetivos desse trabalho eram: testar a monofilia de Mesembrinellidae; testar a monofilia dos gêneros subordinados; encontrar uma hipótese de agrupamento entre as espécies do grupo e realizar um estudo biogeográfico de Mesembrinellidae, a partir da filogenia gerada. Para tanto, foram construídos 120 caracteres morfológicos e foram realizadas análises cladísticas, sob pesagem igual e implícita dos caracteres. Para a análise de pesagem igual foram obtidas 392 árvores igualmente parcimoniosas (L=671; IC=21; RI=67), porém o consenso estrito mostrou diversas politomias. A análise de pesagem implícita resultou em uma árvore mais parcimoniosa (L=679; CI=21; RI=67; κ=9,6875), muito mais resolvida que a análise anterior. A maioria dos gêneros foram recuperados como monfiléticos, no entanto foram mal suportados, tanto pela ausência de sinapomorfias, na maioria deles, quanto pelo baixo suporte de ramos. As análises biogeográficas mostraram que Mesembrinellidae tem uma origem mais ao sul da região Neotropical, tendo sua distribuição expandida para Norte. Além disso, a área de interseção das Américas do Sul e Central parece ter papel fundamental na evolução biogeográfica do grupo, sendo área ancestral de dois grandes clados. O relacionamento entre as áreas mostrou que o norte da Amazônia é mais proximamente relacionado ao Chaco do que as demais regiões neotropicais florestadas, o que refuta a hipótese de que a diagonal seca do continente sul americano teria uma história isolada das regiões florestadas. De acordo com os resultados obtidos no presente estudo e pelos gêneros de Mesembrinellidae serem pouco suportados pelos nossos dados, nós concluímos que todos os gêneros sejam sinonimizados a Mesembrinella / Mesembrinellidae is an exclusive Neotropical group of Diptera, which includes 36 described species. Members of this group are restricted to tropical rainforests and found from Southern Mexico to Northern Argentina. The placement of this family within Oestroidea has generated frequent discussions in the literature. Traditionally, the group has been placed within the Calliphoridae s.l., but some authors have suggested the subfamily merits full species status. In addition, the interspecific relationships of this group remained unclear and some genera appeared not to be monophyletic. In this study, the main goals were: to test Mesembrinellidae monophyly; to test genera monophyly; to infer the relationships of Mesembrinellidae species and to perform a biogeographic analysis, based on the phylogenetic hypothesis. One hundred twenty (120) characters were constructed and cladistics analyses were performed, under equal and implied weighting schemes. Under the equal weighting analysis, 392 equally parsimonious trees were obtained (L=671; IC=21; RI=67), with the strict consensus showing many polytomies in the cladogram. On the other hand, the implied weighting analysis resulted in only one most parsimonious tree (L=679; CI=21; RI=67; κ=9,6875), much more structured and with few politomies, in comparison to the previous analysis. The results indicated most of genera were recovered as monophyletic. However, they were poorly supported, because of the absence of synapomorphies and a low branch support. The biogeographic analyses showed Mesembrinellidae´s origin was probably in South America and the southernmost part of Central America, having dispersed lateron to Central America. Moreover, the area (Pacific Dominion) that connects Central and South America seems to play an important role in Mesembrinellidae biogeographic evolution, being the ancestral area for two major clades inside the group, in different times. Furthermore, the area relationships indicated the northern part of the Amazon is more closely related to the dry central areas of South America than to jungle regions of this continent, which contradicts the theories about the dry areas being disconnected and having an isolated history in the Neotropical region. Given the results of this study of mesembrinellid genera, and the fact that the genera were weakly supported by our data, we conclude that for now, all species should be placed in a single genus, Mesembrinella

Oidardis e um genero neotropical de pequenas moscas predadoras, distribuido em areas florestais da Costa Rica a Argentina. Ele inclui, ate agora: O. aenescens, O. aveledoi, O. curopaoensis, O. gibba, O. gibbosa, O. nigra, O. triangularis. Este estudo teve como objetivos: redescrever todas as especies conhecidas de Oidardis; descrever novas especies; elaborar uma chave de identificacao para todas as especies do genero; testar a monofilia de Oidardis; testar a validade das sinonimias assumido pelos autores antigos e recuperar as relacoes filogeneticas entre especies conhecidas de Oidardis. Um total de seis especies foram redescritas e ilustradas seis especies novas descritas e ilustradas. O. nigra e proposto como um novo sinonimo de O. triangularis.A analise de parcimonia foi realizada com 14 taxons internos (seis especies validas; seis especies ainda nao descritas; Eumecosoma tarsalis e E. shropshirei), quatro taxons como grupos externos (Ommatius orenoquensis Bigot, Perasis sp., Dissmeryngodes sp. e Strombocodia sp.). Considerou 79 caracteres morfologicos, incluindo de genitalia masculina. O material examinado foi obtido a partir de importantes museus e colecoes do mundo. A analise retornou uma hipotese mais parcimoniosa (L = 299, CI = 0,38, Ri = 0,42). A monofilia de Oidardis foi recuperada, com base na suave curvatura da margem lateral do olho, entre outras apomorfias. Os resultados preliminares mostram Eumecosoma como parafiletico em relacao a Oidardis, mas uma melhor amostragem do grupo e necessaria, antes de quaisquer mudancas nomenclaturais sejam realizadas. As sinoni mias previamente propostas no genero aparentemente estao corretas, com base na reconstrucao filogenetica. Dentro de Oidardis, alguns grupos bem apoiados foram recuperados com destaque para: O. sp. n. 6 como grupo- irmao de O. sp.n.2, devido a sua morfologia distinta de gibosidade facial e cerdas do mystax. Sua estreita relacao com O. aenescens, com base nas cerdas escutelares marginais muito curtas, alem de outros caracteres.As duas especies venezuelanas O. aveledoi e O. curopaoensis recuperadas como especies-irmas. O. sp. n. 1 e sp O.. n. 4 formou um grupo devido ao seu padrao de coloracao do torax semelhante. Cor, em geral, foi um atributo muito importante para a hipotese como um todo. Uma analise desconsiderando esses caracteres retornou uma hipotese pouco informativa para o genero, mantendo-se basicamente o grupo (O. sp. n. 6, O. sp. n. 2). / Oidardis is a neotropical genus of small robber flies, distributed in forest areas from Costa Rica to Argentina. It included, so far: O. gibbosa, O. aenescens, O. triangularis, O. gibba, O. nigra, O. aveledoi and O. curopaoensis. In this study, we attempted to: redescribe all known species of Oidardis, describe new species and elaborate an identification key for all the species of the genus; test the monophyly of Oidardis; test the validity of the synonymies assumed by former authors; and recover the phylogenetic relationship between known species of Oidardis. A total of six species were redescribed and illustrated and six new species described and illustrated. O. nigra is proposed as a new synonim for O. triangularis. A parsimony analysis was performed with 14 ingroup taxa (six valid species; six undescribed species; Eumecosoma tarsalis and E. shropshirei), four outgroup taxa (Ommatius orenoquensis Bigot, Perasis sp., Dissmeryngodes sp. and Strombocodia sp.) and 79 morphological characters, including male genitalia. Examined material was obtained from museums and collections worldwide. The analysis returned one most parsimonious hypothesis (L=299, Ci=0,38, Ri=0,42). Monophyly of Oidardis was recovered, based on lateral eye margin smoothly curved, in lateral view and other apomorphies. Preliminary results shows Eumecosoma as being paraphyletic in relation to Oidardis, but a better sampling of it is necessary before any nomenclatural changes are made. Synonimies proposed by former authors seem to be accurate. Within Oidardis, some well supported groups were recovered with remarks to: O. sp. n. 6 as sister-group of O. sp. n. 2, due to their distinct morphology of facial swelling and macrosetae of the mystax. Their close relation to O. aenescens, based on the very short marginal scutellar setae, plus other characters. The two Venezuelan species O. aveledoi and O. curopaoensis, recovered as sister-taxa. O. sp. n. 1 and O. sp. n. 4 formed a group due to their similar color pattern of the thorax. Color, in general, was a very important attribute to the whole hypothesis. An analysis disconsidering these characters returned an unresolved hypothesis for the genus, retaining basically the (O. sp. n. 6, O. sp. n. 2) group.