Sinopse dos Phasmatodea (Insecta) Descritos para o Brasil

Abstract

A sistemática é a ciência que descreve, nomeia, classifica e determina as relações entre os seres vivos. Atualmente ela enfrenta alguns problemas como a falta de especialistas em alguns grupos e regiões pouco amostradas. Os fasmídeos ainda são pouco estudados no Brasil e não existe registro de especialistas na ordem, causando dessa forma, diversas dificuldades na identificação dos espécimes do táxon. Contudo, apesar desse baixo conhecimento é possível notar vários problemas taxonômicos e pouca literatura disponível. Com isso, este trabalho tem como objetivo reconhecer e listar as espécies de Phasmatodea originalmente descritos para o Brasil, além de tecer alguns comentários sobre o histórico taxonômico do grupo no país.
 Synopsis of Phasmatodea (Insecta) Described from Brazil
 Abstract. Systematics involves description, naming of taxa, classification and phylogenetics determination of evolutionary relationships among the living. The decline in taxonomists available and the lack of taxonomic expertise lead to the so-called taxonomical impediments. The diversity and distribution of the phasmids in Brazil is still little known as any taxonomist is available in the country. However, although this poor knowledge in the Brazilian phasmids, it is possible to observe many taxonomical problems, very few literatures available. Thus, in this paper we listed all species originally described from Brazil and pointed out some notes about the taxonomic history of the phasmids from Brazil.

Phasmatodea (Arthropoda, Insecta) in Brazil: Status, New Record, and Proposal for Using Molecular Tools to Assist in Species Identification

“…Homologous COI sequences of Phasmatodea species with registered distribution in Brazil (Araujo and Garraffoni 2012a) or those phylogenetically close to C. phyllinus and P. missionum (Robertson et al 2018) were searched in both nucleotide sequence databases, GenBank and Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). Available sequences, considering the portion of the COI region proposed in this study, were then added to the analyses performed later.…”

“…The studies on Phasmatodea in Brazil were initiated by Dr. Salvador de Toledo-Piza, who at the time was a professor at the ESALQ/USP in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. The dedication of this pioneer researcher to expand the knowledge of phasmids resulted in the description of 45 species (Toledo-Piza 1936a, 1936b, 1937, 1938a, 1938b, 1939, 1943, 1946, 1944, 1978, 1985a, 1985b, whose holotypes have been deposited in national museums (Araujo & Garraffoni 2012a). It is notable that Piza was the only Brazilian expert to study this group of insects in the twentieth century.…”

“…However, these figures may not reliably reflect the group's richness, as there are a very small number of experts and specialists in the world, leaving the Phasmatodea species poorly studied. Furthermore, the intraspecific polymorphism, low number of specimens collected, and the lack of specialized literature are factors that increase the difficulties in the study of this order in Brazil (Araujo and Garraffoni 2012a).…”

Cladomorphus petropolisensis, a New Species of Stick Insect from the Atlantic Forest, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…New initiatives have been increasing the knowledge about this group, especially regarding taxonomy, morphology, biology, and ecology [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. However, several factors bring difficulties to the study of this order in Brazil, such as intraspecific morphological variation, the low number of specimens collected, and a lack of specialised literature [ 20 ].…”

Morfologia, biologia e revisão taxonômica de Exocnophila Zompro, 2001 (Insecta: Phasmatodea: Diapheromeridae)

“…No Brasil, até recentemente existia uma grande escassez de estudos referentes à Ordem Phasmatodea, e mesmo com os recentes avanços, relativamente ainda poucos estudos são realizados (Madeira-Ott et al 2020). O país possui pouco mais de 200 espécies descritas das mais de 3500 conhecidas (Araujo & Garraffoni 2012b;Brock et al 2023), mas é muito provável que existam muitas mais a serem descritas, com estimativas de 600 espécies (Rafael et al 2009;Zompro 2012;Madeira-Ott et al 2020). Até poucos anos atrás, apenas um pesquisador brasileiro havia trabalhado sistematicamente com a ordem, Salvador de Toledo Piza, descrevendo diversas espécies de bichos-pau (Toledo Piza 1936a,b;1937;1938a,b;1939a,b;1977;1985a,b.).…”