Cassava crops hold high agricultural importance in Paraná State, Brazil. However, cassava root production is adversely impacted by pests. Aleyrodids, in particular, cause great damage to cassava fields, necessitating better knowledge of predators found in these agroecosystems and novel biological control strategies for integrated pest management. This study reports the first occurrence of the predatory lady beetle Delphastus argentinicus Nunenmacher, preying on all life stages of whiteflies in cassava fields. Given the economic and social importance of cassava crops in Brazil and the deleterious potential of aleyrodid species, it is recommended to conduct behavioral and bioecological studies assessing the application of D. argentinicus as a biocontrol agent in integrated pest management programs.

Various host compounds have been investigated to produce an alternative attractant for monitoring and controlling pest insects. Several studies evidenced that volatile molecules released by coffee and mangoes attracted both male and female Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), a significant pest in fruit crops. In this study, we tested the effectiveness of the commercial glycolic extract of coffee (Coffea arabica L.) and a commercial mango essence (Mangifera indica L.) to attract C. capitata. We identified the main volatile compounds (VOCs) emitted from such products. The experiments were conducted in field cages and showed that the glycolic extract of coffee attracts both sexes of C. capitata, while the mango essence attracts only males. After seven days, the pH of the coffee extract and mango essence did not change. These results indicate that attractants based on commercial fruit extracts and essences can be an option for integrated pest management of the Mediterranean fruit fly in orchards.

This paper provided a list of all new Brazilian Hexapoda species described in 2020. Furthermore, based on the information extracted by this list, we tackled additional questions regarding the taxa, the specialists involved in the species descriptions as well as the journals in which those papers have been published. We recorded a total of 680 new Brazilian species of Hexapoda described in 2020, classified in 245 genera, 112 families and 18 orders. These 680 species were published in a total of 2019 articles comprising 423 different authors residing in 27 countries. Only 30% of these authors are women, which demonstrates an inequality regarding sexes. In relation to the number of authors by species, the majority of the new species had two authors and the maximum of authors by species was five. We also found inequalities in the production of described species regarding the regions of Brazil, with Southeast and South leading. The top 10 institutions regarding productions of new species have four in the Southeast, two at South and with one at North Region being the outlier of this pattern. Out of the total 219 published articles, Zootaxa dominated with 322 described species in 95 articles. The average impact factor was of 1.4 with only seven articles being published in Impact Factors above 3, indicating a hardship on publishing taxonomic articles in high-impact journals. The highlight of this paper is that it is unprecedent, as no annual record of Hexapoda species described was ever made in previous years to Brazil.

Hymenopteran parasitoids are insects that play a fundamental role in ecosystems as they reduce the population density of insects that are considered pests in monocultures. However, little is known about the fauna in association to the eucalyptus trees in comparison to adjacent native vegetations. Therefore, this study was aimed to determine the fauna of parasitoid wasps that occur in a commercial plantation of Eucalyptus urophylla S.T. Blake, as well as in native forest and capoeira environments in the plateau of Conquista, Bahia, a semiarid region of Bahia. The study was conducted for two consecutive years with monthly monitoring using five Malaise traps. The collected insects were sorted and identified at the family level. The faunal indices referring to the families of each area were studied by evaluating the frequency, species richness, shannon diversity and equitability. In total, 5,899 individuals were collected, which were distributed in 24 families and eight superfamilies. The most abundant families were Braconidae, Ichneumonidae and Bethylidae. Capoeira and eucalyptus trees showed greater similarity and equitability when compared to the rest of the forest. Given the diversity of Hymenopteran parasitoid families found in the area, it was concluded that the maintenance of native vegetation environments is important, even at the initial stage of succession.

The Brazilian legal Amazon occupies approximately 61% of its territory, covering a large part of Brazil's biodiversity. This large territorial dimension generates huge gaps in the animal diversity understanding, for example, the poor knowledge regarding the Odonata order. Worldwide, Odonata has almost 6,500 described species, with approximately 1,800 being recorded for the Neotropical region. Data on the Odonata order in the legal Amazon is still scarce, mainly due to its particularities, and little is known about the diversity of dragonflies in some of Brazilian states. Thus, the objective of this study is to present a list of species occurring in the states that make up the Brazilian legal Amazon. The list was made from the analysis of approximately 165 scientific papers, in addition to occurrence records contained in the SiBBr and GBIF databases. 641 species were found, which is equivalent to approximately 69% of the odonatofauna in Brazil. The states with the greatest diversity were Amazonas (n=364), Pará (n=310) and Mato Grosso (n=285). The study also indicated a low level of knowledge of the Odonata order in the states of Tocantins and Maranhão, in addition to the area of ​​the Guianas shields, especially in the states of Amapá and Roraima. Carrying out new inventories and building catalogs is essential for understanding the biodiversity in this region, especially in areas with greater need.

In this study, we use geometric morphometry to discriminate thrips of the species Gynaikothrips uzeli (Zimmerman) and Gynaikothrips ficorum (Marchal) and also to detect sexual dimorphism in these species. Two hundred individuals, one hundred females and one hundred males, from G. uzeli and G. ficorum, were used to verify sexual dimorphism. For interspecific differentiation, two hundred females were used, one hundred individuals of each species. It was possible to observe differences in the shape of the wing between sexes in both species. In G. uzeli, the first two main components explain 92.5% of the total variation of individuals. The first main component explains 87% and the second 5.5 of the total variation of individuals. For G. ficorum, the first two main components explain 78.2% of the total variation of individuals. The first principal component contributed with 62% and the second principal component with 16.2% of the variation of the shape of the wing. Besides, significant interspecific differences were observed in the shape of the wing, where the first two main components were sufficient to explain 86% of the total variation of the individuals. The first principal component explained 76.2% and the second 9.8% of the total variation of the individuals, being possible to verify differences in the shape of the wing of these two species. Geometric morphometry is a viable technique for assessing sexual dimorphism, as well as interspecific differences in the shape of the wings of these species, which are morphologically very similar.