A new species of the reticulatus species group, C. castelloni Santarém and Felippe-Bauer, is described and illustrated based on female specimens from the state of Amazonas, Brazil. A systematic key, wing photographs and table with numerical characters of females and a synopsis of 24 species of the Culicoides reticulatus group are presented. This paper presents further new records for seven species of the reticulatus group.
Seven new species of the Culicoides reticulatus species group are described and illustrated based on specimens from Colombia, Panama and Brazilian states of northern (Amazonas, Pará and Roraima) and southeast region (Rio de Janeiro). The new species are compared with their similar congener, Culicoides reticulatus Lutz, and a systematic key, table with numerical characters to the females of the species are provided. Redescription of Culicoides reticulatus Lutz is given based on type series deposited in the Ceratopogonidae Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil. The distribution of these species is presented in figure 9.
The genus Culicoides is distributed worldwide and includes nearly 82 species recorded in the Brazilian Amazon. In spite of the sanitary and economic relevance of the genus, few studies have been addressed to its members in this region. This study provides a survey of Culicoides species in a research plot of the Brazilian Biodiversity Research Program (PPBio) in the Amazon region in Caxiuanã National Forest. Collections were carried out with CDC light traps at five terrestrial sampling points from February 9 to February 13 in 2007 on the ground and at the sub-canopy level. After identifying the collected species, the frequency of species in each stratus and the Simpson's diversity index were calculated. A total of 542 specimens were collected, belonging to six species: C. foxi Ortiz, C. fusipalpis Wirth & Blanton, C. glabrior Macfie, C. guerrai Wirth & Blanton, C. hylas Macfie and C. vernoni Wirth & Blanton. The diversity of species was low in both strata (l = 0.91 on the ground; l = 0.89 in the sub-canopy). C. fusipalpis was the most abundant species at all sampling points and in both strata, corresponding to 94.8% of the collected specimens. This species can be found in both floodplain ecosystems and modified areas, such as hydroelectric dams, in the Amazon Region, feeding on humans. In spite of its hematophagic activities, the species is not implicated as a vector of tropical diseases.
The genus Downeshelea was described by Wirth and Grogan based on the diagnostic characters of the Monohelea multilineata species group. The first descriptions of species were based on body coloration, which resulted in confusion and misunderstanding of their identification. The aim of this study was to provide an updated diagnosis and description of Downeshelea, describe 18 new species, and redescribe 10 previously poorly described species. New records of species, a key for identification of all New World species, and a table with important morphometric data to distinguish both males and females of the various species are provided along with distribution maps of the 46 known New World species.
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