The species Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) (Diptera: Culicidae) is of great importance for human health, as it is responsible for the transmission of viruses that can cause dengue, chikungunya, zika and urban yellow fever. The proposal of this study is to test the efficiency of a new trap model in capturing and trapping Ae. aegypti based on favoring the insect's ecology. This trap model was analyzed regarding the attractiveness for egg-laying, and the trapping of larvae and consequently the adults. The tests were carried out using white traps (original version) and black traps (adapted from the original), both in field and laboratory conditions. In the field, the black traps showed 100% effectiveness compared to white traps, showing more positive results for the attractiveness of Ae. aegypti mosquito and adult imprisonment. According to the results for this trap model, from both test in the field and in the laboratory, it was concluded that this new product is effective in capturing Ae. aegypti and it guarantees mosquito trapping safety, also low-cost production, practicality, logistics and possibility of its use by the local population. After the validation and effectiveness of the trap “drinking-fountain like”, the definitive trap called Mosquitex was developed, which is brand new for this mosquito, with patent registration INPI - BR2020190112226 - 2019, and with the possibility of assisting in the control and monitoring of Ae. aegypti in urban areas.

Harvestmen are nocturnal arachnids, commonly found in humid forests, with omnivorous feeding behavior. There are records of different taxa in the diet of these arthropods, but data is still scarce for many species, especially in Cerrado areas. Thus, the objective of the present work is to report Lepidoptera and Hemiptera in the diet of the harvestman Acutisoma longipes Roewer, 1913, in Mata de Galeria in the Cerrado of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The records occurred randomly in the municipality of Luminárias, Minas Gerais, on October 10th and December 4th, 2023. In the first record, the species A. longipes was feeding on a moth (Lepidoptera: Erebidae). In the second record, the same species fed on a leafhopper, Mahanarva sp. (Hemiptera, Cercopidae). It was not possible to say whether these insects were preyed upon, usurped by other predators or found dead, but any of these hypotheses can be considered. This record contributes to increasing knowledge about the diet of harvestmen, especially in the Cerrado biome, where there is a need for more related studies.

Case reports are extremely valuable in forensic entomology and very rare in Brazil. In this report we describe a case of multiple colonization of a preserved male cadaver found indoors in Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil, by four dipterans species of four different families: Fannia canicularis (Linnaeus, 1761) (Diptera: Fanniidae), Microcerella halli (Engel, 1931) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Muscina stabulans (Fallén, 1817) (Diptera: Muscidae) and Sarconesia chlorogaster (Wiedemann, 1830) (Diptera: Calliphoridae). The development time data of the species were used to estimate the minimum postmortem interval (PMI). Considering the methodology applied in this study and the values calculated for the species development, it was possible to estimate a minimum PMI of 24 days. Besides the diversity of dipteran species colonizing a single human body in an indoor environment, this case report reinforces the importance of these species as forensically indicator to estimate the time of death.

In Colombia have been recorded eight species of the family Caenidae distributed in three states, at the moment do not exist species reported in the Meta state. In this paper, Caenis cuniana Froehlich, 1969 (Caenidae: Ephemeroptera) is registered for the first time from Colombia, in the same way, Brasilocaenis irmleri Puthz, 1975 and Caenis chamie Alba-Tercedor & Mosquera, 1999 expanded your geographical distribution in the Colombian Orinoquia region.

Stored grains are attacked by insect pests, causing various types of damage and potentially generating economic losses for producers. Tribolium castaneum (Herbst, 1797) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), popularly known as the red flour beetle, is one of these secondary pests. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of entomopathogenic fungi from the Brazilian Amazon for the control of T. castaneum. To evaluate the control of T. castaneum, different conidial suspensions (105, 106, 107 and 108 conidia/mL) of Beauveria sp. (4.438) and Paecilomyces sp. (4.658) were used, placing 1 mL of each concentration in the center of Petri dish and keeping the insects for 10 min. After that, they were transferred to another Petri dish, incubated for 7 days at room temperature, and Tween 0.01% and NaCl 0.9% solutions were used as negative controls. T. castaneum mortality was obtained only at the highest dilution, 108 conidia/mL, being 22% for the fungus Beauveria sp. (4.438) and 5% for Paecilomyces sp. (4.658). Susceptibility to exposure to abiotic factors was measured with suspensions of Beauveria sp. (4.438) conidia at a concentration of 106 conidia/mL exposed to ultraviolet light for 0, 30, 60 and 120 seconds, and at temperatures of 20, 26 and 32 ºC for 30, 60 and 90 min. The highest germination rate was at 20 °C for 90 minutes, with 92%. The entomopathogenic fungi from the Amazon showed low potential for controlling T. castaneum, however, they may present a higher mortality rate for other insect pests.

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.

Inventories provide important information about species, both from a biogeographic perspective and in terms of their conservation status. Among insects, dragonflies are extensively surveyed in Brazil; however, significant knowledge gaps still exist regarding the distribution of these organisms in the country, particularly in threatened biomes such as the Atlantic Forest. In this study, we present data on an Odonata community collected in the Serra do Papagaio State Park between 2015 and 2016. We recorded 64 species, including six new records for the state of Minas Gerais, along with ten species with problematic conservation status, either due to a lack of distribution data or some degree of extinction risk. Our results highlight the importance of inventories in expanding our knowledge of species distribution and providing data that can aid in the assessment of their conservation status.

Prosierola is characterized by having a pair of conspicuous anteromedial metapostnotal foveae on the metapectal-propodeal disc. Little is known about this genus because it is rarely sampled in collections. Therefore, the main goal of this contribution is to expand the knowledge of intraspecific morphological variations and geographical distribution of its species that occur in Brazil. We sorted material from the main collections and obtained 69 specimens of Prosierola nasalis (Westwood) recorded for the first time from Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Pará, Rio Grande do Norte and Rio Grande do Sul; one of Prosierola obliqua Evans recorded for the first time from Distrito Federal; five of Prosierola rotunda Schiffler & Azevedo recorded for the first time from Pará; and 13 of Prosierola rufescens Evans recorded for the first time from Brazil (Amazonas, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais). The mesoscuto-scutellar foveae placed on the dorsal surface of the mesoscutellum shown to be highly variable in size, distance, and shape at both the intra- and interspecific levels.

Although Pantophthalmidae are widespread in the Neotropical Region, only three of 20 species of the family are known in the Northeast region of Brazil: Pantophthalmus planiventris (Wiedemann, 1821), Pantophthalmus tabaninus Thunberg, 1819, and Pantophthalmus vittatus (Wiedemann, 1828). In this paper, we record, for the first time, Pantophthalmus comptus Enderlein, 1912 from the state of Maranhão, in area of state covered by Amazon Forest biome, and Pantophthalmus pictus (Wiedemann, 1821) from the state of Pernambuco, near the coast, within the Atlantic Forest biome. These two species have been reported elsewhere from Brazil and now their distribution has expanded to the Northeast. Also, we provide images of a female specimen of P. planiventris, known, in the Northeast region of Brazil, from the state of Maranhão only, and of the male terminalia of P. comptus. This paper increases the number of known species of Pantophthalmidae from the Northeast Brazil to five species.

Social wasps are commonly considered generalists in their feeding habits, but there are genera with little information regarding their diet, such as Mischocyttarus de Saussure, 1853 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), the most species-rich wasp genus in the world. The objective of this study is to report Mischocyttarus rotundicollis (Cameron, 1912) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) feeding on a spider in the southeastern region of Brazil, aiming to expand information about its feeding behavior. The record occurred occasionally on September 23, 2023, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in the ecotone region between the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado. The feeding of a species from the Araneidae family occurred in its web, and the individual of M. rotundicollis used the tarsi of its legs to cling to the silk threads of the web, which could suggest a specialization for the exploitation of this food resource. Our record provides further information on the feeding behavior and diet of M. rotundicollis and presents the first information on spider feeding by this species. Further studies are suggested to evaluate this possible hypothesis of specialization of the genus for foraging in spider webs.