The ecology of the beetles of the subfamily Cetoniinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) is relatively poorly known worldwide. In the neotropics in particular, there are far less studies than in other biogeographic regions. In part due to this lack of knowledge, cetoniines are not considered indicators of habitat quality in the Neotropical region. In this study, we compare the abundance, diversity, and species composition of cetoniines in three different habitats in Brazil: two exotic (Brachiaria pasturelands and eucalyptus plantation) and one native (Brazilian Atlantic Forest). We also provide diagnostic images of both sexes and of the genitalia of males of all species to facilitate species identification in further studies. The beetles were collected weekly from September to December 2012 with traps baited with fermented fruit, in five eucalyptus plantations (Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden), five exotic pasturelands (Brachiaria spp.), and five patches of Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The abundance and diversity of cetoniines was found to be lower in the eucalyptus plantations and about the same in the forest and pasturelands. The low diversity found and the little information available on the ecology of Neotropical Cetoniinae is insufficient to propose these beetles as candidates for the habitat evaluation in Brazil.
SummaryIn several stingless bee species many males aggregate in the vicinity of a nest when a virgin queen is present in the colony and is preparing for the nuptial flight. We report such male assemblage for Tetragonisca angustula. The departure of a virgin queen from the colony and the subsequent mating could be video-recorded, because the queen and the males that had mounted her fell to the ground. Since at least two males had lost their genitalia, multiple mating seems to have occurred. This is in contrast with the prevailing view found in literature concerning the mating biology of stingless bees.In many species of stingless bees mating involves drone aggregations in front of the nests where queen supersedure or swarm settlement has taken place and where, consequently, a young queen will leave for her nuptial flight (Engels and Engels, 1988;Roubik, 1990). In the genus Melipona, such drone aggregation is reported for M. favosa (Sommeijer and de Bruijn, 1995), and M. fasciata (Veen et al., 1997) and here too the aggregation appeared to be linked to one or more colonies nearby.Direct observations of natural matings do not exist, and therefore, our understanding of the process is only of an indirect nature. It is based on comparisons of the amount of sperm produced by a drone compared to the amount present in the spermatheca of a mated queen (Kerr and Krause, 1950;
Proteins recovered were obtained from Whitemouth Croaker (Micropogonias furnieri) byproducts and their physicochemical and functional properties were evaluated. The proximate composition, presented 8.64% ± 0.10% of moisture, 85.33% ± 0.12% of protein, 2.69% ± 0.09% of ashes and 2.16% ± 0.12% of lipids, in dry basis. The highest solubility was obtained in pH 11 (93.24%), the maximum water holding capacity was presented at pH 11 (25.71 mL H 2 O/gprotein), the oil holding capacity was 13.71 mL/gprotein and the digestibility in vitro was 91.32% ± 0.15%. The electrophoretic profile was observed typical of the myofibrillar proteins, with the appearance of the heavy chain of myosin (220 kDa) and actin (50 kDa). The results show that the products of low commercial value of fish that are usually used for the production of animal feed or simply discarded, contributing to environmental pollution, may be used to produce products with a greater added value.
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