2 Programa de P os-Graduac ßão em Entomologia, INPA, CP 2223, CEP 69080-971, Manaus, AM, Brazil 3 Programa de P os-Graduac ßão em Ecologia, INPA, CP 2223, CEP 69080-971, ABSTRACTArthropod abundance and diversity are remarkable in tropical forests, but are also spatially patchy. This has been attributed either to resources, predators, abiotic conditions or disturbances, but whether such factors may simultaneously shape arthropod assemblage structure is little known. We used cockroaches to test for multiple environmental controls on assemblage structure in 25 km 2 of Amazonian forest. We performed nocturnal, direct searches for cockroaches in 30 plots (250 m 9 2 m) during two seasons, and gathered data on biotic and abiotic factors from previous studies. Cockroach abundance increased with dry litter mass, a measure of resource amount, while species richness increased with litter phosphorus content, a measure of resource availability. Cockroach abundance and species richness decreased with ant relative abundance. Cockroach species composition changed along the gradient of: (1) soil clay content, which correlates with a broad differentiation between flood-prone and non-flooded forest; (2) soil relative moisture, consistent with known interspecific variation in desiccation tolerance; and (3) according to the abundance of ants, a potential predator. Turnover in species composition was correlated with abiotic conditions-sorting species according to physiological requirements and to disturbancerelated life history traits-and to ants' selective pressure. Cockroach abundance, diversity, and composition seem to be controlled by distinct sets of environmental factors, but predators which were represented by ants, emerged as a common factor underlying cockroach distribution. Such patterns of community structure may have been previously overlooked by undue focus on single or a few factors, and may be common to tropical forest arthropods.Abstract in Portuguese is available in the online version of this article.

Since two decades the richness and potential of natural history collections (NHC) were rediscovered and emphasized, promoting a revolution in the access on data of species occurrence, and fostering the development of several disciplines. Nevertheless, due to their inherent erratic nature, NHC data are plagued by several biases. Understanding these biases is a major issue, particularly because ecological niche models (ENMs) are based on the assumption that data are not biased. Based on it, a recent body of research have focused on searching adequate methods for dealing with biased data and proposed the use of filters in geographical and environmental space. Although the strength of filtering in environmental space has been shown with virtual species, nothing has yet been tested with a real dataset including field validation. In order to contribute to this task, we explore this issue by comparing a dataset from NHC to a recent targeted sampling of the cockroach genus Monastria Saussure, 1864 in the Brazilian Atlantic forest. We showed that, despite strong similarities, the area modeled with NHC data was much smaller. These differences were due to strong climate biases, which increased model’s specificity and reduced sensitivity. By applying two forms of rarefaction in the environmental space, we showed that deleting points at random in the most biased climate class is a powerful way for increasing model’s sensitivity, so making predictions more suitable to the reality.

The genus Monastria Saussure, 1864 includes medium to large sized (40–55 mm) dark brown or black cockroaches found in the understory of the Neotropical Atlantic Forest from the Northeast of Brazil to Paraguay and Argentina. The genus shows evident sexual dimorphism: males are elongated with fully developed wings extending beyond the apex of cerci and females are oval and brachypterous. This study is a revision of the genus with redescription of the three already known species, Monastria biguttata (Thunberg, 1826), Monastria similis (Serville, 1838) and Monastria angulata Saussure, 1864, and description of five new ones, Monastria itubera sp. n. and Monastria itabuna sp. n. from state of Bahia, Monastria cabocla sp. n. from state of Sergipe, Monastria kaingangue sp. n. from state of São Paulo and Monastria sagittata sp. n. from state of Minas Gerais. The morphology of the genus and all species is described in details, including male genitalia. Based on this revision, we proposed a new combination for Hiereoblatta papillosa (Thunberg, 1826) comb. n., excluding it from the genus Monastria. For the first time, the juvenile stages of Monastria are characterized and compared to other genera of Blaberinae of the Atlantic forest. Three determination keys are provided. The two first are aimed at identifying the adults and juvenile stages of the five genera of the Blaberinae radiation endemic to the Atlantic forest, respectively. The third concerns the identification of the species of the genus Monastria. A map indicating the localities where species were sampled is also provided.

LOPES, S.M., OLIVEIRA, E.H., TARLI, V. Five new species of Ectobiidae (Blattodea) collected in the Reserva Ducke, Amazonas, Brazil.http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1676-06032014007913Abstract: Herein we describe five new species of the Ectobiidae subfamilies Pseudophyllodromiinae (Amazonina spiculata sp. nov., Amazonina spinostylata sp. nov., Cariblatta duckeniana sp. nov., Cariblatta manauensis sp. nov.) and Nyctiborinae (Nyctibora nigra sp. nov.), collected in the Reserva Ducke, Manaus, state of Amazonas. The specimens were collected from litter, fallen logs, branches, and foliage. We illustrate the male genitalia of the new species. Keywords: Blattaria, Nyctiborinae, Pseudophyllodromiinae, Taxonomy, Leaf litter. LOPES, S.M., OLIVEIRA, E.H., TARLI, V. Cinco espécies novas de Ectobiidae (Blattodea) coletados naReserva Ducke, Amazonas, Brasil.http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1676-06032014007913Resumo: Neste trabalho sã o descritas cinco novas espécies das subfamílias Pseudophyllodromiinae (Amazonina spiculata sp. nov., Amazonina spinostylata sp. nov., Cariblatta duckeniana sp. nov., Cariblatta manauensis sp. nov.) and Nyctiborinae (Nyctibora nigra sp. nov.) coletadas na Reserva Ducke, Manaus (Estado do Amazonas). Os espécimens foram coletados em folhiço, troncos caídos, ramos e folhagens. Foram ilustradas as genitá lias dos machos das novas espécies.

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