Scholarship 24/18307-0 - Inventário, Morfologia - BV FAPESP
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Polycentropodidae (Insecta: Trichoptera) taxonomy in Central Amazonia

Grant number: 24/18307-0
Support Opportunities:Scholarships in Brazil - Program to Stimulate Scientific Vocations
Start date until: January 27, 2025
End date until: March 10, 2025
Field of knowledge:Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
Principal Investigator:Neusa Hamada
Grantee:Marcelo Bovi Munhoz
Host Institution: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA). Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brasil). Manaus , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The scholarship holder will carry out fieldwork and examine specimens of Polycentropodidae already collected and stored at the Laboratory of Cytotaxonomy and Aquatic Insects (LACIA) and deposited in the INPA Invertebrate Collection, over a period of 42 days (January 27 to March 9, 2025). In the field, adult specimens will be collected by sweeping with an entomological net on the banks of streams and using a flight interception trap (Malaise) and a light trap (Pennsylvania). All collected specimens will be stored in PET bottles containing 80% alcohol and labeled with collection information. Larvae will be collected through active search on the different substrates available in the aquatic environment. If pupae with pharate adults are collected, they will be taken alive to the LACIA Rearing Laboratory where they will be kept alive in polystyrene boxes until the adult emerges. The collections of both larvae and adults will be carried out in the Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve, in the municipality of Manaus; additional collections will be carried out in streams in the municipality of Presidente Figueiredo, both municipalities located in the state of Amazonas. At LACIA and the Invertebrate Collection at INPA, the adults of Polycentropodidae will be sorted from the different available samples, these will be identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level and, when necessary, the genitalia will be extracted and prepared for examination under a stereoscopic and/or optical microscope. Images of the specimens as well as of selected morphological structures will be obtained using a camera attached to microscopes and these will be used to assist in the taxonomic identification and compose the research results. The taxonomic identification will be carried out through specific literature and with the assistance of the researcher Dr. Ana Maria Pes, specialist in Trichoptera and postdoctoral fellow at LACIA. Through the development of this proposal, the student is expected to gain field experience, learning about the habitat occupied by Poycentropodidae larvae and maintaining pupae with pharate adults to obtain adult emergence under laboratory conditions. The student will learn about the different methodologies used to collect adults and store samples. In the laboratory, in addition to learning about the morphological structures specific to the taxonomy of Polycentropodidae, he will learn photography techniques using a stereoscopic and optical microscope to compose the plates that will be used in his research. With the specific literature, the help of the specialist in the group and the specimens collected, the student will deepen the taxonomic knowledge about the different genera of Polycentropodidae that occur in the Central Amazon region. This acquired knowledge will be important for him to work with fauna from other regions of Brazil. The student will produce a video showing all the stages of his work to publicize the research carried out to the general public and high school and elementary school students to stimulate interest in the biodiversity of the Amazon region.

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