Cleide Costa

University of São Paulo | USP · Department of Zoology (IB)

An online database of the described immature beetles from Brazil is presented for the first time based on published literature. The main purpose of this online database is to ensure accessibility to data associated with the described immature Coleoptera from Brazil, which will be useful for future biological, ecological, conservational and biogeogr...

The last instar larva of Metapteron xanthomelas (Lucas, 1857) is described. This is the first description of a larva for the genus. Two live larvae collected in the Brazilian Atlantic coast Restinga Forest of Itanhaem, Sao Paulo, were reared, one to adult and one was fixed in the last instar. This larva differs from the known Calopterini larvae by...

The family Cerophytidae is revised to include Afrocerophytum vix gen. nov. and sp. nov., from the tropical rainforest of western Africa. Afrocerophytum and A. vix (type locality: Ivory Coast, Tai Region, neighborhood of Gouleako village) are described and illustrated. A key to the Cerophytidae genera is provided. The new genus is distinguished by f...

Mature larva of Alampoides alychnus (Kirsch) is described and compared to known Pyrophorini immatures. Larvae were collected live in the soil of a region dominated by sugarcane plantation and gallery forest in Campo Novo dos Parecis, Mato Grosso, Brazil. They were maintained in laboratory and the pupal period lasted 14 days. This larva differs from...

Mature larva and pupa of Macrolygistopterus subparallelus Pic are described and compared to known Calochromini immatures. Larvae were collected alive inside dead trunk in the Atlantic Forest at Estacão Biologica de Boracéia, Salesopolis, São Paulo, Brazil. They were maintained in laboratory conditions, and the pupal period was 12 days (one observat...

Larvae of Potamophilops cinereus (Blanchard, 1841) from Brazil, São Paulo, Ribeirão Grande (Fazenda Intervales, Rio Carmo) are described for the first time and illustrated. The larvae were found associated with adults. The larva of P. c inereus is most similar to larvae of species of the Mexican and Central American genera Disersus Sharp and Hispan...

The mature larvae and pupae of Claudiella ingens Reichardt & Vanin, 1976 from Grão Mogol, Serra do Cabral, Minas Gerais, Brazil are described. Larvae and pupae were found associated with teneral and mature adults in shallow and fast-flowing water. Larvae and pupae of C. ingens, Iapir borgmeiri (Reichardt & Vanin, 1976) and I. britskii (Reichardt &...

Loxandrus oophagus sp. nov. is described (type-locality: Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil). Larvae, pupae and adults of the new species of the carabid beetle were collected on foam nests of the anuran Leptodactylus fuscus (Schneider, 1799) in the surroundings of Uberlândia, 18º55S, 48º17W (Brazil, Minas Gerais), at 750 m altitude. The new...

Beetle larvae that inhabit termite nests present modifications that allow them to cohabitate with the termites. Some are physogastric and bear special glands and different setae all over their bodies, whereas others are not physogastric. Both kinds of larvae may be termite predators. Some species usually live in the nest cabbage pan, feeding on org...

The mature larva and pupa of Fulgeochlizus bruchi (Candèze, 1896) are described and illustrated. Bioluminescent patterns are also given. Comments, new data on the first instar larva and natural history data are presented. The first instar larvae differ from the mature larvae mainly in their chaetotaxy, which is sparse and more symmetrically distrib...

Among the subfamilies of Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae sensu lato (s.l.) includes 6000 species distributed in 43 tribes. Approximately 100 of these species were cytogenetically analyzed and most of them presented 2n=18=16+Xy(p), which was smaller than 2n=20=18+Xy(p) considered basal for Polyphaga. However, some groups of species presented maintenance o...

Nycterilampus Montrouzier, 1860, from Oceania, is removed from junior synonymy with Tetrigus Candèze, 1857, and is redescribed and revalidated. The genus includes two species, N. lifuanus Montrouzier, 1860, and N. velutinus Fleutiaux, 1891 both from New Caledonia. A comparative study of the morphological characters of males and females, including t...

Nycterilampus Montrouzier, 1860, from Oceania, is removed from junior synonymy with Tetrigus Candèze, 1857, and is redescribed and revalidated. The genus includes two species, N. lifuanus Montrouzier, 1860, and N. velutinus Fleutiaux, 1891 both from New Caledonia. A comparative study of the morphological characters of males and females, including t...

The monogeneric family Brachypsectridae is redescribed based on adults and larvae, and distribution, biology, and ideas on the phylogenetic relationships are summarized. Presently available data from both adults and larvae support previous conclusions that the family is a basal member of the Elateroidea. The four described species of Brachypsectra...

Metapyrophorus, a new monotypic genus, is erected based on M. pharolim, new species from Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. The genus is characterized mainly by its pair of convex pronotal bioluminescent organs, equidistant between the median line and the lateral margin.O gênero monotípico Metapyrophorus é erigido com base na nova espécie M. pharol...

FIGURES 10 – 18. Nycterilampus lifuanus Montrouzier, 1860 (male). 10, 11, mesoscutum and scutellum (dorsal, lateral); 12, 13, mesoventrite (ventral, lateral); 14, 15, pterothorax (ventral, ventro – lateral); 16, tarsal claw; 17, hind wing; 18, metanotum.

FIGURES 2 – 9. Nycterilampus velutinus Fleutiaux, 1891. 2, 3, antennae (male, female); 7, head and pronotum (female). N. lifuanus Montrouzier, 1860. 4, 5, antennae (male, female); 6, head; 8, head and pronotum (dorsal); 9 prothorax (ventral).

FIGURES 27 – 30. Nycterilampus lifuanus Montrouzier, 1860 (female). 27, tergite VIII; 28, sternite VIII; 29, ovipositor (ventral); 30, ovipositor and reproductive organs (dorsal).

FIGURE 1. Nycterilampus velutinus Fleutiaux, 1891. Male habitus.

FIGURES 19 – 26. Nycterilampus lifuanus Montrouzier, 1860 (male). 19, sternite IX; 20, tergites IX – X; 21, sternite VIII; 22, tergite VIII; 23, abdomen (ventral); 24, 25, aedeagus (dorsal, ventral). N. velutinus Fleutiaux, 1891 (male). 26, aedeagus (ventral).

This work deals with the comparative cytogenetic analysis of four Neotropical Elateridae species and reviews the nucleolar organizer region (NOR) patterns on Coleoptera chromosomes, for the first time. The cytogenetic characterization of Conoderus malleatus (Conoderini), Pyrearinus candelarius, Pyrophorus divergens and Pyrophorus punctatissimus (Py...

The first cytogenetic analysis of fireflies from Brazilian fauna was carried out in this work. The investigation of two species of the subfamily Lampyrinae, Aspisoma maculatum and Photinus sp. (aff. pyralis), showed the diploid number 2n = 19 and an X0 sex determination system in males. These observations are similar to those already described for...

The hypothesis that luciferases evolved from ligases that acquired oxygenase and luminogenic activities, thereby contributing to the antioxidant machinery of bioluminescent organisms, is revisited here. Larvae of click beetle Pyrearinus termitilluminans (Coleoptera: Elateridae) live under conditions close to normoxia into tunnels dug into termite m...

The chromosome study of five species of the family Elateridae, belonging to the subfamilies Agrypninae and Elaterinae, and the analysis of the cytogenetic data previously recorded for this family permitted the establishment of the main strategies of karyotypic differentiation that has occurred in the elaterids. In Agrypninae, the three species stud...

Larvae and pupae of Tetralobus arbonnieri Girard 2003, T gigas (Fabricius 1801), and T shuckhardi (Hope 1842), species that are widely distributed in Ivory Coast and Guinea, have been collected in dead nests of Macrotermes. The main larval morphological characters are described and illustrated. Their morphological particularities are most probably...

The speciose Brazilian Elateridae fauna is characterized by high karyotypic diversity, including one species (Chalcolepidius zonatus Eschscholtz, 1829) with the lowest diploid number within any Coleoptera order. Cytogenetic analysis of Conoderus dimidiatus Germar, 1839, C. scalaris (Germar, 1824,) C. ternarius Germar, 1839, and C. stigmosus Germar,...

  The elateroid family Cerophytidae, originally based on Cerophytum Latreille, is characterized and revised. Detailed morphological studies of adults and a cladistic analysis permitted the recognition of three well-defined lineages: one in the Holarctic Region, and the other two in the Neotropical Region, each one distributed from southern Mexico t...

Bee flies (Bombyliidae) were recorded as parasitoids of larval tiger beetles at two rain forest localities (near São Paulo and Manaus) in Brazil. Anthrax gideon was reared from larvae of Oxycheila tristis. Up to 33 parasitoid larvae were found on a single tiger beetle host. Pupation of the bee fly took place in late August and the pupal stage laste...

The Neotropical lacconotine genus Physiomorphus Pic (Coleoptera: Mycteridae) is reviewed, and redescribed. Larvae are described and illustrated for three species, based on reared specimens. Detailed information is included on biology, rearing and habitat. New synonymies presented are: Physiomorphus Pic 1917 = Batobiomorphus Pic 1920; Laccoderus mel...

Resumo A description of a new species of Cneoglossa (C. edsoni sp. n., type locality: Brazil, São Paulo State, City of São Paulo, Parque Estadual da Cantareira) is presented based on male and female adults, pupae and larvae. The synonymy of Buckodrillus Wittmer, 1948, with Cneoglossa Guérin-Méneville, 1843, is confirmed and C. brasiliensis (Wittme...

Lampyridae, Elateridae, and Phengodidae constitute the three main families of luminescent beetles and whose bioluminescence has attracted study for many decades. The various colors of their bioluminescence range from green to red, and play important roles in predation and mating. The emission color is governed by the enolization of the nascent elec...

Larva and pupa of Paracalais prosectus (Candèze, 1857) from Eastern Australia are described and illustrated. Larvae were collected under bark of decayed log of Pinus ellioti, together with Cerambycidae larva. Up to now, only the larva of Paracalis gibboni (Newman, 1857) was described.

Resumo The cladistic analysis of the Tetralobini, based on the study of 47 morphological characters, resulted in the recognition of the following genera: Piezophyllus Hope, 1842; Paratetralobus Laurent, 1964(stat.n);Neotetralobus Girard, 1987; Pseudotetralobus Schwarz, 1902; Pseudalaus Laurent, 1967; Tetralobus Le Peletier & A. Serville, 1825 and...

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase activities were determined in larvae of luminescent and non-luminescent click-beetles (Elateridae). Superoxide dismutase levels were found to be 5- (Pyrophorus divergens and an unidentified Pyrophorinae) and 15- (Pyrearinus termitilluminans) fold higher in the luminescent insects. Regarding catalase, the data...

In vivo and in vitro bioluminescence spectral data are presented for 12 species of Elateridae (two tribes, four genera) in distinct stages of their life cycle. In adults, the emission color from the abdominal light organ is always shifted (20–40 nm) towards the red relative to that from the prothoracic lanterns (525–560 nm). Thin layer chromatograp...

In vivo and in vitro bioluminescence spectral data are presented for 12 species of Elateridae (two tribes, four genera) in distinct stages of their life cycle. In adults, the emission color from the abdominal light organ is always shifted (20–40 nm) towards the red relative to that from the prothoracic lanterns (525–560 nm). Thin layer chromatograp...

Three main concepts of "pre-pupa" are recognized here in the Holometabola: i) pre-pupa without a distinct moult but with a short quiescent period followed or not by slight modifications of the last larval instar form of body - this type corresponds to the pharate pupa; ii) pre-pupa with a distinct moult, and a quiescent resting period followed by s...

Larvae of Callirhipis goryi Castelnau, 1834 and C. scapularis Castelnau, 1834 were collected inside hard logs at the Estação Biológica de Boracéia and in Peruíbe, São Paulo, Brazil; reared adults were identified. Descriptions of the larva and pupa are provided with illustrations.

Larvae of Stilpnonotus postsignatus Fairmaire, 1889 were collected inside a hard log in Peruíbe, São Paulo, Brazil; reared adults were identified. A description of the larva, pre-pupa and pupa are provided with ilustrations.

Pyrearinus termitilluminans, sp.n., type-locality: Brazil, Goiás, Parque Nacional das Emas, is described based on larvae, pupa and adults collected from nests of Cornitermes sp.

Resumo The genus Pyrearinus was established by Costa, 1975, to harbour 24 species formerly included in the genus Pyrophorus Bilberg, 1820. Nineteen new species are here described, a key to species added, and bionomic data on P. candens, P. janus and P. micatus given. A discussion of the more important specific characters is presented. Some mistake...

Resumo Examination of types and comparative studies of the male and femule genitalia and other morphological characters of all genera of the "Pyrophorini" permitted a reclassification of this tribe. It is divided into two others: Pyrophorini sensu stricto and Heligmini, trib. n. The former, exclusively bioluminescent, includes seventeen genera (Py...