Pasture areas have been decreasing over the years in Brazil, largely due to the expansion of agricultural areas, mainly in the Southeast region. Natural or planted pastures are subject to attack by insects that can become pests depending on their level of infestation and among them are the Scarabaeidae beetles. The scarce information on the species of this family existing in the region of Bálsamo (São Paulo) makes a study on the occurrence of these species necessary, thus generating data that can contribute to identification and information on possible existing pest species. During September 2018 to August 2019, collections of phytophagous Scarabaeidae species were done in pasture areas with a light trap. A total of 446 adults from the subfamilies Dynastinae, Melolonthinae and Rutelinae were collected. In Dynastinae the genera Bothynus, Coelosis, Cyclocephala, Chalepides and Actinobolus were collected, in Melolonthinae the genera Plectris and Liogenys and in Rutelinae the genera Anomala, Geniates, Leucothyreus, Lobogeniates, Byrsopolis and Trizogeniates were found. Among the species collected, some are described as pests in crops, including pastures, such as Liogenys suturalis Blanchard, which was the species that had the largest number of individuals during the collection period, being indicated as a species worthy of more detailed studies.

Restinga forests are plant formations that occur on plains of quaternary sandy deposits along the Brazilian coast. Despite historical reduction of the Restinga forests, little effort has been made to know the butterfly fauna of these areas. This paper is an important contribution to the butterfly’s knowledge, being the second inventory in the Restinga forest of northeastern Brazil. The survey was conducted in the Restinga de Cabedelo National Forest (FLONA de Cabedelo, following the Portuguese abbreviation) and aimed to provide preliminary information on the butterflies richness in this region. A total of 89 butterfly species and 1,503 individuals were recorded at FLONA de Cabedelo. Hesperiidae was the richest family (34 species), followed by Nymphalidae (33) Pieridae (eight), Lycaenidae (seven), Riodinidae (five), and Papilionidae (two). In general, the butterfly fauna of the FLONA de Cabedelo is dominated by species widely distributed and commonly found in open or forested areas in Brazil. Five species are new records in Paraíba state: Calydna sturnula (Geyer), Theope foliorum (Bates), Cogia hassan (Butler), Vehilius inca (Scudder), and Chiothion asychis (Stoll). We suggest carrying out monthly samplings which will certainly increase the list of species herein presented.

Radish is a short cycle horticultural product from family Brassicaceae. Between the insects found on radish leaves, potato green aphid (Myzus persicae Sulzer) is one of the main pests of this culture, causing economic damage. Synthetic fertilizers used in conventional crops can promote changes in the pattern of amino acids in plants, leading to a higher insect damage. The source of fertilization is one of the factors that could influence in the incidence of pests. The objective of the study was to evaluate the incidence of potato green aphid and other pests on radish plants grown with different doses of organic fertilizer. The experiment was carried under semi-field conditions, in Fortaleza (Ceará State). A completely randomized design was used, with six replicates. The treatments consisted of five doses of organic compost (0; 45; 60; 75; 90 t.ha-1). For the population survey of pests and natural enemies, counts were made in three evaluations (7, 14 and 21 days after sowing). The counting data were subjected to deviance analysis using a generalized linear model (GLM). It was observed significant differences in the number of adults M. persicae in the treatments of 75 and 90 t.ha-1. Presence of leafminer (Lyriomiza sp.) was observed on plants without and with the lower doses of organic fertilizer. Even using organic fertilizers that promote a slower liberation of nutrients, high incidence of pests (Mainly M. persicae) was observed on radish plants.

Insects are important ecosystem agents, however, in general, a decline in the composition and abundance of these animals around the globe has been observed. In the urban environment, this characteristic has been more critical, due to the lack of diversity and quality of habitats in these environments, which feature fragmentation of habitats. Thus, processes that naturally affect the composition of animals in the environment can be observed, shaping the abundance of species in their environments, processes such as seasonality, especially in tropical regions, with well-defined rain and dry seasons. Thus, the aim of this work was to evaluate the seasonality and abundance of insects in urban fragments in the Cerrado, for this purpose four urban fragments were sampled in Campo Grande MS, during the months of January to December 2012 using Malaise traps. 26,890 individuals of 19 orders were collected, where the abundance of insect orders stands out Diptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hemipetera and Trichoptera. A peak in general insect abundance was found in November, and there were significant differences over the months between different orders. However, no difference was found between the fragments, however, there was a trend towards changes in the diversity of orders related to the size of the fragments. The different strategies to deal with water stress well marked for the Cerrado is an important factor for the composition of the insect fauna of the domain and variations in the habitat, such as area size and phytosocionomic composition directly affect the orders found.

The butterfly inventories carried out in urban landscapes in Bahia are still scarce. Urban areas with remnants of native vegetation in association with ornamental plants can provide several resources that are favorable for the development and shelter of various animal species, including insects, even with the high anthropization that occurs in these environments. In this work, we aim to investigate the urban fauna of butterflies at the Campus of the Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (UEFS), an area of ​​Caatinga-Atlantic Forest ecotone located in the municipality of Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil. Monthly samplings were carried out with entomological net and standardized traps with different attractive baits, between May 2019 and January 2020, in addition to review of the material previously deposited at the Entomological Collection Prof. Johan Becker located at the Zoology Museum of the UEFS (MZFS). In total, 114 species of Papilionoidea were recorded, with Nymphalidae being the richest family (45 species), followed by Hesperiidae (32), Lycaenidae (21), Pieridae (10), Papilionidae (3) and Riodinidae (3). Thirteen species are new records for Bahia and eight species are new records for Northeast Brazil. The results demonstrate the extreme relevance of the conservation and preservation of urban green areas for the maintenance of butterflies species and, consequently, the associated insect fauna.

Bees are the main pollinators of native and agricultural plants. Identifying and knowing these insects responsible for the environmental service of pollination is essential for the maintenance and management of pollination in agricultural systems, especially in a high diversity biome as the Amazon rainforest. Some crops in this region are dependent of benefited by wild pollinators, especially native plants like guarana. To address methodological aspects of monitoring bee diversity, samplings were carried out in an agricultural environment (guarana crop, Paullinia cupana) surrounded by Amazon natural habitat at Manaus, Amazonas State. We used three combined methods (two passive traps: Malaise and yellow pan-traps, and one active: hand nets) in different periods, with the same number of samplings (12 each). In total, 4,143 native bees belonging to 171 species were sampled; 117 species (1,926 individuals) were collected with Malaise trap, 15 (91 individuals) with pan-traps, and 114 (2,126 individuals) through active sampling. Only seven species were common to all methods, 60 species on two methods and 104 species were unique to one sampling method (50 with Malaise, two with pan-traps, and 52 with hand nets). We reinforce the need for complementary sampling to known bee diversity as the best strategy here was the joint use of active samples and Malaise traps. Recently the concern with Amazon preservation has aroused worldwide interest, a fact that shreds of evidence the need for studies of biodiversity and taxonomy in several areas, since very little is known of this vast region.

A new species of Euplocania belonging in the Marginata species group, collected in an area of the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazilian states of Bahia is described and illustrated. It differs from all the other species in the Marginata species group in details of the hypandrium and phallosome. This is the first record of a species in the Marginata species group for the Atlantic Rainforest biome and the first record of a Euplocania species for Brazilian states of Bahia.

Adult females of most black flies species (Diptera, Simuliidae) exhibit a blood-sucking habit. Immature stages develop in water courses and are important in the ecology of lotic environments. We aim to understand the distribution of immature simuliids in the hydrographic sub-basin of the Comandaí river, in Northwest of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. For that purpose, simuliids were sampled in three stretches (source, intermediate and mouth) of nine streams, distributed along the three main regions of the sub-basin. Evaluations of the influence of abiotic factors in different spatial and temporal scales were made. Sampling was carried out in two seasons: between September and November 2016 (spring), and between April and July 2017 (autumn). In total, 17,146 individuals were sampled (larvae of last instars and pupae), which resulted in the identification of eleven Simuliidae species. The most abundant species were Simulium pertinax Kollar (77.55%), followed by Simulium incrustatum Lutz (14.56%) and Simulium subpallidum Lutz (2.35%). Regarding the identification of indicator species, S. pertinax, Simulium jujuyense Paterson & Shannon, S. subpallidum and Simulium orbitale Lutz stood out in mouth stretches, and Simulium rubrithorax Lutz in source stretches. Environmental variables such as conductivity, altitude, canopy cover and stream width were interpreted as important conditioning factors for the distribution of simuliid immature stages. In general, we concluded that Simuliidae are more abundant during spring in the study area, mainly downstream. This information may contribute to the implementation of efficient measures to control species of health importance in southern Brazil.

Sarcophagidae is a family of Diptera with medical-veterinary importance, which have species with sarcosaprophagous, necrophagous or causing-myiasis larvae, among others. The Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro has 92 municipalities, but only 26 have sarcophagid records and the municipality of Rio das Ostras is one of the least registered, with only nine species recorded. This works aimed to increase the knowledge of flesh fly diversity in a conservation unit of this municipality, the “Área de Relevante Interesse Ecológico de Itapebussus”. The study was conducted in restinga and semideciduous forest. We used modified Van Someren-Rydon traps baited with decayed fish, and the samples were taken in dry and rainy seasons. A total of 446 male sarcophagines of 18 species of the genera Oxysarcodexia, Peckia, Ravinia, Sarcofahrtiopsis, and Titanogrypa were collected. We found 13 new records for the sampled municipality. The forest presented higher richness than the restinga and the most abundant species was Oxysarcodexia amorosa (Schiner). Diversity and equitability showed similar values in the two areas (H'f=2.193, H'r=2.027, J'f=0.7908 and J'r=0.7682) and the cluster analysis suggest high similarity. PERMANOVA did not present significant results for any source of variation. The presence of synanthropic and asynanthropic species in the fragment demonstrates that it is already a somewhat human-impacted environment. Marked increase in the number of sarcophagid records obtained in this small sample in the studied municipality (from nine to 22 species) shows the importance of taxonomic surveys in poorly studied areas.