Although the research on myrmecophilous insects is dated back to the 19th century, certain aspects of fascinating relationship between hosts and their social parasites are not satisfactorily understood. The latest studies focus mostly on the systematics of myrmecophilous taxa, and bionomy remains neglected. Most of the myrmecophilous insect can be found among beetles (Coleoptera). These myrmecophiles reveal a broad spectrum of adaptations that allow them to live in close association with their host ants. These adaptations significantly differ among the well-integrated species on one hand and poorly integrated or non-integrated species of myrmecophilous beetles on the other. This study focuses at the comparison of behaviour in two species of myrmecophilous beetles, Claviger testaceus (Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) as the member of integrated myrmecophiles, and Pella spp. (Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae) as poorly integrated or non-integrated beetle. My work shows significant differences in behaviour taking place after encounter of a beetle and an ant. Ants are more aggressive towards the non-integrated species, and at the same time, these beetles are well-adapted for aggressive behaviour from the ants. On the other hand, the integrated beetles do not possess many behavioural adaptations for the...

There is very low tolerance for blueberry maggot (Rhagoletis mendax Curran) in blueberries making it a serious pest in eastern North America. Control is focused on eliminating flies with insecticides before oviposition in fruit. Organic mulches may improve highbush blueberry production, but their effects on this pest are largely unknown. The research in this thesis evaluated compost and pine needle mulches on blueberry maggot (mature maggots, pupae, emerging flies) and predatory beetles that may consume these stages. Mulches affected fly emergence and maggot pupation. Fly emergence was reduced by 80-100% and delayed ~8 days from pupae covered with 20 cm of pine needles compared to 1 cm of soil. Emergence from 20 cm of compost was lower in wet conditions, and 5 cm of mulch did not limit emergence in the field. Pupation at increased depth reduced emergence because flies did not eclose or, if eclosed, were unable to crawl to the surface. The delay was likely due to lower temperatures at depth. No flies emerged from 1 cm in pine needles in the field probably due to high temperatures. In the laboratory, maggots pupated more deeply in pine needles than other substrates, but ~30% did not pupate in dry pine needles. Saturated soil caused ~50% of maggots to pupate on the surface. Mulching altered beetle diversity and activity/density and affected beetle predation on maggots and pupae. Compost plots in a highbush blueberry field attracted predatory carabids and staphylinids, although some staphylinids were frequent in pine needles and phytophagous carabids preferred unweeded compost plots. Attraction to compost, particularly for Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger), was due primarily to higher prey densities - earthworms and millipedes - than other treatments. This beetle consumed some maggots or pupae in soil or compost, but predation rates decreased when alternative prey was abundant. Blueberry bushes in weedy compost plots attracted many flies, but infestation rates were higher in composted bushes only in the year mulch was applied. Overall, thick mulching with pine needles contributes most significantly to blueberry maggot management. Future research should explore integration of mulch with other tactics for R. mendax control.

Angl. resumé

Submitted by EZEQUIAS CORREIA (ezequiaslca@gmail.com) on 2017-08-08T17:31:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese _Ezequias_Teófilo_Correia.pdf: 3210175 bytes, checksum: 872ea328869cb654d0fccdfa2518b7a9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by LUIZA DE MENEZES ROMANETTO (luizamenezes@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2017-08-09T12:44:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 correia_et_dr_jabo.pdf: 3210175 bytes, checksum: 872ea328869cb654d0fccdfa2518b7a9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-09T12:44:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 correia_et_dr_jabo.pdf: 3210175 bytes, checksum: 872ea328869cb654d0fccdfa2518b7a9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-05 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A redução da biodiversidade nos agroecossistemas afeta populações de insetos predadores devido à limitação de recursos para o seu desenvolvimento. O controle biológico conservativo diversifica o agroecossistema e aumenta à presença de inimigos naturais, incrementando o controle de pragas. As plantas herbáceas além de aumentar a biodiversidade do hábitat, exercem influência na composição das comunidades de insetos no campo incrementando o controle biológico conservativo. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a diversidade, distribuição e sazonalidade de besouros associados ao solo em plantio de soja (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) com faixas de plantas herbáceas nas bordas. O estudo ocorreu entre novembro de 2014 e setembro de 2016 em Jaboticabal-SP. As amostragens foram realizadas com armadilhas tipo alçapão, em dois hectares de área cultivada. Foram analisados os índices de diversidade, abundância, distribuição espacial e sazonalidade de besouros associados ao solo. Resultados evidenciaram maior ocorrência de besouros carabídeos nas faixas de plantas herbáceas. Scarabaeidae e Staphylinidae, por sua vez, não obtiveram crescimento populacional nas áreas de maior diversidade vegetal. A distribuição de espécies de Carabidae e Scarabaeidae foi apresentada de forma agregada sendo que a ocorrência dos insetos dessa família foi influenciada principalmente pela temperatura e umidade relativa. / The reduction of plant diversity in agroecosystems can affect predator insect populations due to the restriction of shelter and food resources. Studies about the role of herbaceous plants have shown the increase of biodiversity and the influence of composition and distribution on predator insects communities in the field. These dates may assist in the elaboration of the conservative biological control management programs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diversity and abundance of ground beetles in the agroecosystem with soybean crop (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) and evaluate the dispersion of these insects in the habitat. The study was performed between 2014 November and 2016 September in Jaboticabal- SP. The essay was made in the field with 2 ha of soybean crop and herbaceous plant in two edges and the sample was performed with pitfall traps. The dates were analyzed and the diversity, abundance, seasonality indexes and spatial distribution of insects were calculated. The results pointed out that herbaceous plants affect positively the carabid beetle occurrence, but not affect Scarabaeidae and Staphylinidae. The distribution of insects was aggregate in the agroecosystem and the meteorological factors affect the occurrence of Carabidae and Staphylinidae beetles.

Necrophilous insects, if correctly identified, can provide useful forensic information. Research in this area has focussed on flies and beetles remain comparatively under-studied, partly because some adult carrion beetles are difficult to identify morphologically, as are their juvenile stages, often requiring specialist expertise in both cases. Molecular taxonomy has been proposed as a solution to these problems. DNA “barcodes" are short fragments of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) DNA that are anticipated to delineate species. This approach is becoming increasingly popular, but has been met with varying enthusiasm from taxonomists. This thesis examines their use in identifying forensically significant beetles.The DNA barcodes of 234 specimens of 25 forensically significant southern African beetle species from seven families (Cleridae, Dermestidae, Silphidae, Staphylinidae, Scarabaeidae, Trogidae and Histeridae) were obtained. Thirty-three initial barcode amplification failures were overcome by using primers other than the standard Folmer pair, undermining the barcode concept’s hope of universal primers that would allow even non-specialists to produce barcodes. Another 150 specimens (64%) entirely failed to yield barcodes, including 18 fresh specimens of three species of Trogidae, implying another lack of universality of the barcoding protocol. The majority of the beetles clustered with confamilials on neighbour-joining and maximum likelihood trees, but 1.3% of the barcodes failed to cluster with their respective families, raising questions concerning the associating power of barcodes. The identification tools of the GenBank and BOLD on-line DNA sequence databases identified 21% of the specimens to the species level, 6% of them correctly. There was evidence of a paralogous sequence in the Cleridae that, while supporting identification now that it has been associated with a morphological identification, would hamper attempts at identification by clustering or phylogenetic analysis.Distance and haplotype network analyses of the barcodes of six widespread species showed that they are not geographically structured. Barcodes are thus unlikely to be indicators of the region of origin of a species and will not determine whether a corpse has been relocated after death. To assess whether a different mitochondrial DNA fragment might address (some of) these problems, a 2.2 kb fragment extending from the 5’ end of the COI gene to the 3’ end of the Cytochrome Oxidase II (COII) gene was analysed for nine species. It was found that, for Dermestidae, Scarabaeidae and Histeridae, higher degrees of diversity occurred downstreamof the barcode region, but the region of highest diversity in the Cleridae was in the barcode region. Thus, finding a more reliable fragment along the COI-COII region for each family may make robust and guaranteed DNA-based identification of these beetles more likely. The possibility of a forensic specimen being incorrectly or not identified based on its barcode alone exists in about 40% of cases, even with the new barcodes reported here. Forensic science sets a very high bar in assessing the performance of its techniques, and it is concluded that barcodes currently have unsettling failure rates as court-worthy evidence.

Biodiversity of epigeic beetles in urban and suburban areas was studied in the area of Český Krumlov (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Study confirmed the influence of urban-suburban gradient on the epigeic beetles. Every level of that gradient was characterized by indicator species.

The tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is a crop of major importance to Rio Grande do Sul and Brazil, but there are few studies on biodiversity associated with cultivation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to survey the families of Coleoptera associated with organic cultivation of tobacco, analyzing richness and abundance, as well as the temporal and spatial distribution of these insects. Furthermore, it also aims to perform a comparative analysis between organic and conventional cultivation of tobacco. The study was conducted on a crop with organic management in harvest 2009/2010 and 2010/2011, in Santa Cruz do Sul, RS. In the 2009/2010 harvest was also assessed a crop managed conventionally, for comparative analysis. In organic cultivation, three sampling lines were defined in order "inside-out" of crop, corresponding to: (1) line whose edge shows the adjacent vegetation abundant, mainly composed of trees and shrubs of medium and large; (2) line whose adjacent vegetation consisted of native shrub and tree species with size smaller; and (3) line with the adjacent vegetation composed of forage plants. On the other hand, in conventional cultivation, a line sample single was delimited, towards out within the crop, for comparison purposes with the line "2" of organic crop. In each line were determined three sampling points ("outside, border and inside"); and a single point within the sampling, called "middle" point. At sampling points were installed four pit-fall traps and one Malaise. In organic cultivation, the samplings were conducted, weekly, from November 20th, 2009 to March 19th, 2010 and from November 3th, 2010 to January 21th, 2011. In conventional cultivation, was from November 23th, to December 28th, 2009. In organic cultivation, were collected 49.269 coleopterans, distributed into two suborders, 13 superfamilies and 32 families. Six families accounted for about 90% of the total collected, namely: Staphylinidae (37.28%), Chrysomelidae (33.40%), Nitidulidae (7.50%), Curculionidae (5.25%), Carabidae (3.10%) and Elateridae (3.09%). The temporal distribution of Coleopterans is related, primarily, to the cycle of culture, and a reduction in the number of insects collected occurs due the subsequent harvests of tobacco leaves. On points "inside" and "middle" and on sampling lines "1" and "2", the community of coleopterans was numerically larger. The chrysomelids, being phytophagous insects, were distributed in places where there was greater food availability. However, the landscape composition of vegetation adjacent to cultivation was instrumental in the spatial distribution of predator insects belonging to Staphylinidae, considering that the highest abundance was observed in areas with greater plant diversity. The management adopted in conventional cultivation had an impact on the community of Coleoptera, especially when considering the decrease in abundance of the insects of the families Chrysomelidae and Staphylinidae. / O tabaco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) é uma cultura de reconhecida importância para o Rio Grande do Sul e para o Brasil, porém existem poucos estudos a respeito da biodiversidade associada ao cultivo. Portanto, o objetivo do presente estudo foi realizar um levantamento das famílias de Coleoptera associadas a cultivo orgânico de tabaco, analisando a riqueza e a abundância, assim como a distribuição temporal e espacial desses insetos. Ainda, realizar uma análise comparativa entre cultivos orgânico e convencional de tabaco. O estudo foi conduzido em uma lavoura com manejo orgânico, nas safras 2009/2010 e 2010/2011, no município de Santa Cruz do Sul, RS. Na safra 2009/2010 foi avaliada, também, uma lavoura manejada convencionalmente, para análise comparativa. No cultivo orgânico, foram definidas três linhas de amostragem, no sentido fora-dentro da lavoura, correspondendo a: (1) linha cuja borda apresenta a vegetação adjacente abundante, composta principalmente por árvores e arbustos de médio e grande porte; (2) linha cuja vegetação adjacente foi constituída por espécies arbustivas e arbóreas nativas de menor porte; e (3) linha com a vegetação adjacente composta por plantas forrageiras. Já em cultivo convencional, foi delimitada uma única linha amostral, no sentido fora-dentro da lavoura, para fins de comparação com a linha 2 do cultivo orgânico. Em cada linha foram determinados três pontos de coleta ( fora, borda e dentro ); e um ponto único no interior da lavoura, denominado ponto meio . Nos pontos de coleta, foram instaladas quatro armadilhas tipo pit-fall e uma Malaise. No cultivo orgânico, as coletas foram realizadas, semanalmente, de 20 de novembro de 2009 a 19 de março de 2010; e de 3 de novembro de 2010 a 21 de janeiro de 2011. Já no cultivo convencional foi de 23 de novembro a 28 de dezembro de 2009. No cultivo orgânico, foram coletados 49.269 coleópteros, distribuídos em duas subordens, 13 superfamílias e 32 famílias. Seis famílias corresponderam a cerca de 90% do total coletado, sendo elas: Staphylinidae (37,28%), Chrysomelidae (33,40%), Nitidulidae (7,50%), Curculionidae (5,25%), Carabidae (3,10%) e Elateridae (3,09%). A distribuição temporal dos coleópteros está relacionada, sobretudo, ao ciclo da cultura em campo, sendo que ocorre uma redução no número de insetos coletados devido às colheitas sucessivas das folhas do tabaco. Nos pontos dentro e meio e nas linhas 1 e 2 de amostragem a comunidade de coleópteros foi numericamente maior. Os crisomelídeos, por serem insetos fitófagos, distribuíram-se em locais onde havia maior disponibilidade de alimento. Entretanto, a composição paisagística da vegetação adjacente à lavoura foi determinante na distribuição espacial dos insetos predadores pertencentes à Staphylinidae, tendo em vista que a maior abundância foi verificada nas áreas com maior diversidade vegetal. O manejo adotado em cultivo convencional teve impacto sobre a comunidade de Coleoptera, principalmente, ao se considerar a diminuição da abundância dos insetos das famílias Chrysomelidae e Staphylinidae.

The aim of the work was to study the communities of epigeic beetles in plantations of energetic plants (Dactylis glomerata, Arrhenatherum elatius, Phalaris arundinacea, Helianthus tuberosus) and in surrounding lawn biotope. The method of pitfall trapping was used for beetle sampling from 2008 to 2010 during the growing season. Carabid beetles (Carabidae) and rove beetles (Staphylinidae) were used as bioindicators. In total 69 species and 1789 individuals were captured and evaluated. Eurytopic species were more common than stenotopic in all habitats, also the value of the index of beetle communities was low in all plots. RDA analysis proved the influence of surrounding biotope on beetle communities. It was concluded that communities of epigeic beetles might be also affected by the climatic factors, long termed population fluctuations of individual species, edge effect and microclimate inside the vegetation.

Submitted by Reginaldo Soares de Freitas (reginaldo.freitas@ufv.br) on 2016-06-13T15:27:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 1251703 bytes, checksum: 1ac16eeaad777f6c06732b0fbfd80efb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-13T15:27:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 1251703 bytes, checksum: 1ac16eeaad777f6c06732b0fbfd80efb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-24 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Por vários anos, ecólogos de comunidades concentram-se em desenvolver métodos adequados para a detecção de padrões em conjuntos de espécies e identificar processos capazes de gerar tais padrões. Entre estes processos, a presença do predador parece afetar a diversidade em várias comunidades. Além da predação, outras interações e as características intrínsecas das espécies envolvidas também são processos importantes na estruturaçã de comunidades, principalmente naquelas comunidades associadas a ninhos de insetos sociais. Sendo assim, o objetivo desta tese foi testar o efeito do predador sobre a diversidade de invasores, bem como algumas características intríınsecas que permitem a coexistência de espécies em ninhos de cupins. Para tanto, testamos as seguintes hipóteses: (i) a presença do predador afeta a diversidade de invasores em ninhos de cupins; (ii) existe um tamanho crítico de ninhos de cupins, acima do qual os coabitantes são mais prováveis de ocorrer; (iii) algumas espécies que co-habitam ninhos de cupins possuem e mimetismo químico. Dentre os co-habitantes de ninhos de cupins parece ter uma certa especificidade e os Staphylinidae são os mais comumente encotrados. Nossos resultados sugerem que o predador é importante fator regulador e da riqueza de espécies invasoras em ninhos de cupins, mas para a abundância de invasores o predador não é importante e sim o volume dos ninhos que regula esta abundância. Entre os invasores, os Staphylinidae obrigatórios parecem conseguir invadir ninhos menores que 3 l, por outro lado os inquilinos obrigatórios parecem conseguir se estabelecer após os ninhos atingirem um volume maior que 13 l. Dentre os invasores Staphylinidae, algumas espécies possuem hidrocarbonetos cuticulares similares aos de seus e hospedeiros, o que pode facilitar a sua permanência dentro dos ninhos sem e serem perturbados. Assim, o presente trabalho auxilia na compreensão dos fatores que podem afetar a coabitação em ninhos de cupins, mostrando a importância do predador e de mecanismos intrínsecas das espécies, como volume do ninho e capacidade de mimetizar os hidrocarbonetos dos seus hospedeiros, sobre a co-existência de espécies nesses ninhos. / For several years, community ecologists have focused on developing adequate methods of detecting patterns in species sets and to identify processes that might generate certain patterns. Among these processes, the presence of predator seems to affect the diversity in many communities. But, in addition to predation and other interactions the intrinsic characteristics of the species involved are also important, especially in communities associated with nests of social insects. Thus, this thesis aims to test the effect of the predator, as well as some inherent characteristics that allow the species coexistence inside termite nests. Therefore, we tested the following hypotheses: (i) the presence of predators affects the diversity of invaders in termite nests; (ii) there is a critical nest size above which cohabitants are more likely to occur, (iii) some species that cohabit inside termite nests have chemical mimicry. Among cohabitants species of termite nests seem to exist a termitophiles specificity. Staphylinidae family are the most common. Our results showed that in termite nests where predators are found inside have higher termi- tophile richness, but the abundance is not affected by predator but the nest’s volume is determinant. We have seen that obligatory Staphylinidae seems to be able to invade small nests, on the other hand, termite inquiline seems to be able to invade nest bigger than 16 l. In this family some species have cuticular hydrocarbons similar to those of their hosts, which can help those individual stay undisturbed inside the nests. Thus, this work contributes to understanding the role of predators on prey behavior and the effect on the diversity and also help to understand the mechanisms involved in the invasion and coexistence in termite nests.

No description available.