Lutzomyia maruaga (Diptera: Psychodidae), a new bat-cave sand fly from Amazonas, Brazil

Abstract

A new species of parthenogenetic, autogenic and apparently extremely endemic phlebotomine is described from a sandstone cave located in primary terra firme forest to the North of the city of Manaus. Specimens The caves and other arenitic formations of the municipal district of Presidente Figueiredo are singular relicts of the Palaeozoic (Karmann 1986), surviving between the more recent Amazonian sediments and the ancient rocks of the Guiana Shield. As part of a biological inventory of the area, insects were collected in the darkest recesses of the largest cavern. The purpose of the present communication is to describe a most peculiar phlebotomine, so as to make the name available for studies in progress on its ecology, ontogeny and classification. MATERIALS AND METHODSStudy area -The cave, known as Gruta Refúgio do Maruaga, is catalogued (AM-0002, Sociedade Brasileira de Espeleologia). It is a cavity 302 m long in white sandstone of the Nhamundá formation (Trombetas group, Palaeozoic Era) at 02º03'02.49"S, 59º57'48.85"W in the municipally of Presidente Figueiredo, state of Amazonas, Brazil (Karmann 1986). Access to the entrance is by steep descent through primary forest from km 6 on the road leading from the BR-174 highway to the hydroelectric station of Balbina. A shallow stream runs through the whole length of the cave, from the interior to the mouth. Vertebrates observed in the cave include fish, amphibians, alligators, turtles and (close to the entrance) cocks-of-the-rock (Cotingidae), but by far the most abundant were diverse species of bats. Thick deposits of guano were present, especially in the final chambers. Although closed to visitors following the detection of pathogenic fungi, the entrance was heavily marked by human footprints.Sampling and identification -CDC miniature light traps were hoisted on poles leaning against the walls of the cave, to give a height of approximately 4 m. Immature stages were extracted from bat guano by flotation according to Hanson (1961). Larvae and pupae were reared according to the methods of Killick-Kendrick et al. (1977) with supplementation of the medium with autoclaved guano. The adults which emerged were offered bloodmeals on anaesthetized mice and hamsters, but did not feed. Conventional clearing with potassium hydroxide and phenol resulted in the collapse of the very delicate spermathecae of this species, so drawings of specimens included in the type series are from individuals freshly dissected and mounted directly in Berlese fluid. Measurements are mean values in mm, with range in parentheses.

Sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) from caves of the quartzite Espinhaço Range, Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…Several recent studies have contributed to the knowledge of the biodiversity of Brazilian caves. Alves et al (2008) described Lutzomyia maruaga, which was captured in the aphotic zone of a sandstone cave in AM. Carvalho et al (2010) described Martinsmyia reginae, captured in a cave in the state of Tocantins, and Carvalho et al (2011a) described Evandromyia spelunca, found in a cave in Lassance, MG.…”

Diversity of sandflies (Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) captured in sandstone caves from Central Amazonia, Brazil

“…All captured specimens were identified after clarification process (Young & Duncan 1994). For Deanemyia maruaga, other techniques were used to clarify and are discussed in Alves et al (2008), as well as a description of the biology of adults.…”

Phlebotomines (Diptera, Psychodidae) in the Speleological Province of the Ribeira Valley: 3. Serra district - area of hostels for tourists who visit the Parque Estadual do Alto Ribeira (PETAR), state of São Paulo, Brazil

“…It is probable that some of them use the caves as resting places, as in the case of those of Brumptomyia and Psathyromyia, closely associated with armadillo burrows (Forattini 1973;Young & Duncan 1994), as well as Migonemyia, Nyssomyia, Psychodopygus, Trichophoromyia and some species of Pintomyia and Psathyromyia that are associated with forests (Aguiar & Medeiros 2003). Some species are troglophiles (Galati et al 2003a) and the endemic, parthenogenetic and autogenic Deanemyia maruaga (Alves, Freitas & Barret, 2008) (Alves et al 2008) can be identified as a troglobite species.…”