Publications by authors named "Silvio S Nihei"

South America, particularly within its tropical belt, is renowned for its unparalleled high levels of species richness, surpassing other major biomes. Certain neotropical areas harbor fragmented knowledge of insect diversity and face imminent threats from biodiversity loss and climate change. Hence, there is an urgent need for rapid estimation methods to complement slower traditional taxonomic approaches.

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Article Synopsis
  • Tachinidae is a diverse family of flies (Diptera) with a parasitoid lifestyle, comprised of four subfamilies and analyzed for the first time using phylogenomic data from 30 species.
  • The study utilized various datasets to construct phylogenetic trees, finding strong support for the relationships among subfamilies and confirming Polleniidae as closely related to Tachinidae.
  • Key findings showed the monophyly of Phasiinae, Dexiinae, and Exoristinae, while Tachininae was determined to be polyphyletic, suggesting complexities in evolutionary relationships among these groups.
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Phylogenetic relationships within the oestroid subclades Rhinophorinae (Calliphoridae) and Polleniidae were reconstructed for the first time, applying a Sanger sequencing approach using the two protein-coding nuclear markers CAD (carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase 2, aspartate transcarbamylase, and dihydroorotase; 1794 bp) and MCS (molybdenum cofactor sulfurase; 2078 bp). Three genera of Polleniidae and nineteen genera of Rhinophorinae were analyzed together with a selection of taxa representing the major lineages of Oestroidea (non-rhinophorine Calliphoridae, Oestridae, Sarcophagidae, Tachinidae). The selected markers provide good resolution and moderate to strong support of the distal branches, but weak support for several deeper nodes.

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Euantha Wulp is a New World genus in the tribe Sophiini (Dexiinae). It includes three species: E. interrupta Aldrich, 1927, E.

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Tachinidae are one of the most diverse clades of Diptera. All tachinids are parasitoids of insects and other arthropods, and thus are considered an important source of biological pest control. Antennae are the most important olfactory organs of Tachinidae playing key roles in their lives, especially in locating hosts, and details of antennal ultrastructure could provide useful features for phylogenetic studies and understanding their adaptive evolution.

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Tropical forests are among the most biodiverse biomes on the planet. Nevertheless, quantifying the abundance and species richness within megadiverse groups is a significant challenge. We designed a study to address this challenge by documenting the variability of the insect fauna across a vertical canopy gradient in a Central Amazonian tropical forest.

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We present a summary and analysis of the Diptera-related information published in Zootaxa from 2001 to 2020, with a focus on taxonomic papers. Altogether, 2,527 papers on Diptera were published, including 2,032 taxonomic papers and 1,931 papers containing new nomenclatural acts, equivalent to 22% of all publications with new nomenclatural acts for Diptera. The new nomenclatural acts include 7,431 new species, 277 new genera, 2,003 new synonymies, and 1,617 new combinations.

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Trichopoda Berthold, 1827 is a tachinid genus belonging to the subfamily Phasiinae and natively distributed in the Americas. Species of Phasiinae are parasitoids of Hemiptera, especially Heteroptera, and are greatly important as biological control agents. Trichopoda is included in the "Trichopoda typica" group sensu Sabrosky, along with the genera Eutrichopoda Townsend, 1908 and Ectophasiopsis Townsend, 1915a.

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The Neotropical genus Noctiliostrebla Wenzel (Diptera: Streblidae) is revised after examination of the types of all nominal species, and 11 species are recognized. Seven new species are described, and a lectotype is designated for Lipoptena dubia Rudow. Resulting information on species distributions and host records can be summarized as follows: Noctiliostrebla dubia (Rudow) is restricted to the Amazon region and is a parasite of Noctilio leporinus (Linnaeus) (Chiroptera: Noctilionidae); Noctiliostrebla traubi Wenzel is restricted to Central America and northern South America, being the only species of the genus parasitizing N.

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The Neotropical genus Ormiophasia Townsend, 1919 is revised. Of the nine nominal species included in the genus prior to this revision, eight are interpreted as valid, with one new synonymy: Ormiophasia travassosi Tavares, 1964 = Ormiophasia inflata (Séguy, 1927b), syn. nov.

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Terrestrial isopods are soil macroarthropods that have few known parasites and parasitoids. All known parasitoids are from the family Rhinophoridae (Insecta: Diptera). The present article reviews the known biology of Rhinophoridae flies and presents the first record of Rhinophoridae larvae on a Neotropical woodlouse species.

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Metacryphaeus is a calmoniid trilobite genus from the Devonian Malvinokaffric Realm, exclusive to the Gondwanan regions. It includes eleven species, which are for the first time included here in a single phylogenetic analysis. The resulting hypotheses establish relations among the Metacryphaeus species with few ambiguities, also suggesting the inclusion of both Plesiomalvinella pujravii and P.

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Mapinguari Papavero & Wilcox, 1974 (Diptera, Mydidae, Mydinae) is a very rare monotypic genus, with the type-species, M. politus (Wiedemann, 1828), occurring exclusively in Amazonia. With the description of Mapinguari uai sp.

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The subgenera Morellia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 and Parapyrellia Townsend, 1915 of Morellia (Diptera, Muscidae) are revised. Forty-two species of the subgenus Morellia (out of 50) and seven of the subgenus Parapyrellia (all species) are redescribed and illustrated, and 48 species are keyed (41 spp. of Morellia and 7 spp.

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Since its establishment ZOOTAXA has become not only a rapid journal for zoological systematics but also a respected forum for discussions of all taxonomic matters, and it has gradually attained a distinguished position among other zoological journals by its special issues. These collections of papers treat varied themes such as the Carl Linnaeus legacy (Zhang & Shear 2007, Minelli et al. 2008), cataloguing metazoan life (Zhang 2011, 2013), and promoting and discussing the future of taxonomic sciences, for example modification of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 2008).

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Recently a new species of bombyliid fly, Marleyimyia xylocopae, was described by Marshall & Evenhuis (2015) based on two photographs taken during fieldwork in the Republic of South Africa. This species has no preserved holotype. The paper generated some buzz, especially among dipterists, because in most cases photographs taken in the field provide insufficient information for properly diagnosing and documenting species of Diptera.

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Shannoniella cuspidata Townsend, 1939 is redescribed and S. setinervis sp. nov.

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The present catalogue summarizes 154 species and 71 genera occurring in Colombia. All the four subfamilies (Phasiinae, Dexiinae, Tachininae and Exoristinae), and 24 tribes are represented in the Colombian territory.

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Only one species of Rhinophoridae has been recorded to Colombia so far, Bezzimyia busckii Townsend, 1919. However, three other species of the genus Bezzimyia are listed in the present catalogue, for they occur on nearby areas and are likely to occur in the country as well.

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Scathophagidae (Diptera, Calyptratae) is an uncommon group of flies. In Colombia there was no scientific record of this family until now. In this paper we report for the first time the genus Scatogera and the species S.

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Colombia has an imposing natural wealth due to its topography has many unique characteristics as a consequence of having Caribbean and Pacific shores, as well as sharing part of the Amazon basin and northern Andes mountains. Thus, many natural and biological features are due to the convergence of three biogeographical regions: Pacific, Andes and Amazonia. The Andean uplift created a complex mosaic of mountains and isolated valleys, including eleven biogeographical provinces (Morrone 2006).

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A new Tachinidae species, Eutrichopoda flavipenna sp. nov. (Diptera: Tachinidae: Phasiinae), from Brazil and Paraguay is described and illustrated by photographs and line drawings.

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Gauromydas Wilcox, Papavero & Pimentel, 1989 are giant flies, and include the largest fly known, G. heros (Perty, 1833). This genus was originally erected to group four Neotropical species, namely G.

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