The present research aimed to study the functional groups of ants in organic and conventional cropping areas and assess their influence on the abundance of other insects in agroecosystems. Sampling was carried out in eight rural properties with organic, and eight with conventional crops in Paraíba do Sul, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Fifteen pitfall soil traps were installed to collect ants in each property, in April and May 2016. The ants collected were dry-mounted and identified. The insect abundances of the orders Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Orthoptera were also obtained. Ants were classified into seven functional groups. The functional group with the largest number of species was “omnivores that inhabit the soil and the leaf litter,” followed by “omnivores that inhabit the soil, the leaf litter, and the plants.” The group “omnivores that inhabit the soil and the leaf litter” showed the highest abundance of ants in both types of crops. The mean richness of functional groups was significantly higher in organic than in conventional crops. We only observed the effect of the abundance of ants of the group “omnivores that inhabit the soil, the leaf litter, and the plants” on the abundance of coleopterans in conventional crops. Hence, areas with organic crops are more favorable for maintaining an ant fauna with higher functional diversity than areas using the conventional cropping system.

Galls are small structures induced mostly by insects in different plant organs, and have different shapes and colorations. Knowledge on galls is still sparse in the semiarid region of Bahia. Therefore, the goal of this study was to characterize galls in fragments of seasonal deciduous forest. Sampling was performed in the Bahia municipalities of Boa Nova, Jequié, Poções and Vitória da Conquista. In each site, one fragment was chosen, and in each fragment, plots were established to survey galls on vegetation. We sampled 158 gall morphotypes, representing 49 (morpho) species distributed across 15 families of host plants. Myrtaceae and Malphigiaceae had the highest numbers of gall morphotypes. Most galls were collected from leaves, whereas the most common gall morphotypes were globoid and fusiform.

The study of relationships between living beings is essential for understanding the functioning of the ecosystem for the management and conservation of biota, especially in rich and threatened biomes such as the Brazilian Cerrado. Therefore, this study aims to report the occupation of abandoned social wasp’s nests by termites in this biome. In this study, the occupation of two abandoned nests of Synoeca surinama (L.) by the termite Nasutitermes obscurus (Holmgren), recorded by chance, in April 2023 in a gallery forest with the same vegetation type of the Cerrado, located in the Grande Sertão Veredas National Park in southeastern Brazil. Both social wasp nests had their cells occupied by termites, which may have been used as a satellite nest for N. obscurus. This is the first record of a termite species occupying a social wasp’s nests; however, further studies are needed to better elucidate this relationship.

Polletomyia Curler, 2020 is a Neotropical genus of Psychodidae that was established based on Polletomyia subulata Curler, 2020 from French Guiana. In this paper, we describe a second species of the genus from the Brazilian Amazon. The specimens were collected by the late Larry Quate, a psychodid expert, and are deposited at the Museu de Zoologia of Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana. We provide illustrations and descriptions of both males and females of the new species.

Chrysotus capellarii Soares & Carvalho-Filho sp. nov. is described and illustrated based on a single specimen collected in the department of Córdoba, Colombia, representing the first record of the longipalpus species group from the country (a photographic record is known from Costa Rica). The new species is easily recognized by the long palpus (about 2x longer than eye height) with a wide and oval apical lamella.

Delia Robineau-Desvoidy, composed of flies popularly known as root maggot flies, is a diverse genus with unclear delimitation. It comprises polyphagous species and some important agricultural pests. Delia sanctijacobi (Bigot) is native to South America, occurring in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay; the larvae are commonly known as “potato worms” and have been misidentified as Delia platura (Meigen) in Brazil. Delia sanctijacobi attacks the seeds and seedlings of several plants of commercial importance. We present new geographic records of D. sanctijacobi in Brazil and describe the damage caused by their larvae on commercial bean and onion in Paraná and Santa Catarina between 2019-2022. Delia Robineau-Desvoidy, composed of flies popularly known as root maggot flies, is a diverse genus with unclear delimitation. It comprises polyphagous species and some important agricultural pests. Delia sanctijacobi (Bigot) is native to South America, occurring in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay; the larvae are commonly known as “potato worms” and have been misidentified as Delia platura (Meigen) in Brazil. Delia sanctijacobi attacks the seeds and seedlings of several plants of commercial importance. We present new geographic records of D. sanctijacobi in Brazil and describe the damage caused by their larvae on commercial bean and onion in Paraná and Santa Catarina between 2019-2022.

Two new species of the small carpenter bee genus Ceratina (Calloceratina) Cockerell, 1924 are described and illustrated. Ceratina (Calloceratina) mourei new species, and Ceratina (Calloceratina) silveirai new species, form the silveirai species-group, a very distinct set within the subgenus C. (Calloceratina). The taxonomy of South American species was approached, being redescribed and illustrated the species Ceratina (Calloceratina) chloris (Fabricius, 1804) and Ceratina (Calloceratina) triangulifera Cockerell, 1914, proposing the chloris species-group for them. The diagnosis for the subgenus Calloceratina is presented and an identification key for the South American species is also proposed.

Ants have been extensively used as bioindicators, however ants from different nest stratum and habitat affinity groups could distinctly respond to a same ecological process and environmental impact. In this study, we evaluated if nest stratum and habitat affinity matter in the response of ant assemblages to forest-pasture shifting. We tested the response of number of species in entire ant assemblages (soil surface and subterranean) and in each ant fauna stratum (only soil surface and only subterranean). In both cases, we also tested the response of number of ant species of each habitat affinity groups (forest specialist, open-habitat specialist and generalist). Ants were sampled in three plots for each habitat type in Southwestern Brazilian Amazon. We sampled 124 ant species. Only for soil surface ant assemblages, the number of species was different between the two habitats types, among habitat affinity ant groups and their number of species also changed with habitat shifting. Therefore, we corroborate the inclusion of samplings in different nest stratum and recommend the classification of ants according to their habitat affinity in monitoring programs that use ants as bioindicator. However, efforts must be done to improve the information availability on habitat affinity of ant species.

The occurrence of the genera Aspidoglossa Putzeys, 1846, Paraclivina Kult, 1947, Oxydrepanus Putzeys, 1867, Pyramoides Bousquet, 2002, Semiardistomis Kult, 1950, Semiclivina Kult, 1947, Stratiotes Putzeys, 1846, and Whiteheadiana Perrault, 1994 is recorded for the first time for Brazilian caves. The specimens are deposited at the zoological collection of the Laboratório de Estudos Subterrâneos at Universidade Federal de São Carlos (LES) and are stored dipped in ethanol. A map and photographs of specimens of the genera are provided, as well as the specific records of their geographical distribution in caves.

Lonomia Walker, 1855 is a genus of Lepidoptera belonging to the Saturniidae whose caterpillars have a defense system based on scoli connected to venom glands, which can cause medical accidents of envenomation, thereby making this genus medically important. In this work, Lonomia camox Lemaire, 1971, is recorded for the first time in Brazil, more specifically in the state of Amazonas. Photographs of male and female genitalia and an updated map with new occurrence records are presented.