We present new information on the poorly known genus of stick insects, Canuleius Stål, 1875, with redescriptions of two Brazilian species, Canuleius grandis Toledo Piza, 1936 and Canuleius sanguinolentus (Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1907) comb. nov., the latter herein transferred from Bacteria Berthold, 1827. Type material of both species was examined, as well as additional specimens recently collected and deposited at the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZUSP). The types of two other species in the genus, Canuleius affinis Toledo Piza, 1936 and Canuleius brevipes Toledo Piza, 1936, were also examined and both species are herein synonymised under C. grandis (syn. nov.). The study includes the first descriptions of the male of C. grandis, the female of C. sanguinolentus and the eggs of both species, which are the first descriptions of eggs of Canuleius. Some notes are presented on the biology of both species, including the first observations of mating and oviposition in Heteronemiidae. Taxonomic aspects of Canuleius are discussed.

Hawkmoths are an important component of tropical ecosystems, with significant roles as herbivores and pollinators. These moths can be used as indicators in biodiversity assessments because they can be easily sampled and identified. However, hawkmoths have seldom been surveyed over the long term for this purpose, especially in the Neotropical region. Considering that long-term datasets are of indisputable importance for understanding and monitoring temporal changes in biodiversity, this study assessed long-term changes in the hawkmoth fauna in a protected Atlantic Rain Forest area over a period of 64 years. We used historical and recent empirical datasets to ask whether faunal-diversity patterns and species composition have changed over time. We used individual-and sample-based rarefaction and extrapolation curves based on Hill number (diversity order of q = 0) to compare species richness, and the probability version of the abundance-based Chao-Jaccard index to assess beta diversity over time. To assess changes in faunal composition, we conducted a nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis and performed an analysis of similarities to test whether the community composition has changed. Our results clearly showed long-term stability of the hawkmoth community over the 64 years, despite the growing humaninduced landscape changes that occurred in the region surrounding the study area during the last 6 decades. This study emphasizes the importance of large remnants of Atlantic Forest for long-term maintenance of both functional diversity and ecosystem functioning.

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The stick insect Pseudophasma cambridgei Kirby, 1904 was described from a single male collected in the region of Santarém, state of Pará, Brazil. Based on specimens recently collected near the type locality, the species is redescribed here, including the first description of the female and egg. In addition, Pseudophasma septemtrionalis Toledo Piza, 1977 is synonymised with P. cambridgei, and morphological features of the genus Pseudophasma are discussed.

The internal male genitalia have been poorly investigated in Phasmatodea, remaining virtually unexplored in phylogenetic studies. Here we describe and illustrate the main phallic elements in several Neotropical stick insects, with emphasis on Paraphasma (Pseudophasmatidae), and present a phylogenetic analysis of this genus. The analysis included ten terminals in the ingroup and 18 in the outgroup, and was based on 32 characters of the phallic organ and 48 of external morphology. In order to compare these datasets in terms of phylogenetic signal and level of homoplasy, the consistency and retention indices of the cladogram were calculated separately for each of them, and partial analyses were also conducted using each dataset alone. The phylogenetic reconstruction revealed Paraphasma as polyphyletic and led us to propose a new, monotypic genus, Ecuadoriphasma gen. nov., three new combinations (Ecuadoriphasma cognatum, Paraphasma trianguliferum and Tithonophasma cancellatum) and place Oestrophora as a synonym of Paraphasma. Additionally, Olcyphides hopii and Paraphasma dentatum are synonymized with Paraphasma laterale. Both external and phallic characters were determinant for the topology obtained, and the latter were less homoplastic in the phylogenetic tree. Our results highlight the usefulness of phallic morphology for inferring phylogenetic relationships in Phasmatodea, especially among closely related genera and species.