Integrative Taxonomy and Vertical Distribution of Tabanidae (Diptera: Brachycera) Species in the Amazon Rainforest

• Grant number: 25/04174-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: June 30, 2025
• End date: October 29, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Dalton de Souza Amorim
• Grantee: Maria Carolina Pimenta Dutra
• Supervisor: Rudolf Meier
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Museum für Naturkunde, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/03735-6 - Integrative taxonomy and vertical distribution of Tabanidae species (Diptera: Brachycera) in the Amazon Rainforest, BP.MS

Abstract

The Amazon Rainforest is the largest tropical forest in the world and, due to its vast size,plays a crucial role in carbon storage while supporting immense biodiversity. Within forests,different vegetation strata create vertically structured ecosystems, shaping resourceavailability and influencing insect diversity and abundance patterns. The Tabanidae family(Diptera: Brachycera) comprises approximately 4,500 species worldwide, with diversityvarying across forest strata. Many Tabanidae species in forest environments are rare andprimarily restricted to the canopy. At least half of the species are more frequently found in thecanopy than at ground level. However, the taxonomic complexity of canopy-dwellingTabanidae remains poorly understood, mainly due to the difficulty of accessing specimens.The scarcity of available material also limits the study of intraspecific variation in somespecies, making species delimitation more challenging. Integrative taxonomy, whichcombines morphological and molecular approaches, offers a more precise framework forspecies delimitation and identification. Notably, no molecular studies have been conductedfor Tabanidae identification in the Neotropical Region. This study aims to apply integrativetaxonomy, utilizing molecular and morphological data to identify Tabanidae species from theThematic Project and analyze species distribution patterns in the Central Amazon. This BEPEproposal will be conducted under the supervision of Dr. Rudolf Meier at the Center forIntegrative Biodiversity Discovery at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany, wherethe molecular data of the specimens will be analyzed. (AU)