Anopheles darlingi is the principal neotropical malaria vector, responsible for more than a million cases of malaria per year on the American continent. Anopheles darlingi diverged from the African and Asian malaria vectors ∼100 million years ago (mya) and successfully adapted to the New World environment. Here we present an annotated reference A. darlingi genome, sequenced from a wild population of males and females collected in the Brazilian Amazon. A total of 10 481 predicted protein-coding genes were annotated, 72% of which have their closest counterpart in Anopheles gambiae and 21% have highest similarity with other mosquito species. In spite of a long period of divergent evolution, conserved gene synteny was observed between A. darlingi and A. gambiae. More than 10 million single nucleotide polymorphisms and short indels with potential use as genetic markers were identified. Transposable elements correspond to 2.3% of the A. darlingi genome. Genes associated with hematophagy, immunity and insecticide resistance, directly involved in vector–human and vector–parasite interactions, were identified and discussed. This study represents the first effort to sequence the genome of a neotropical malaria vector, and opens a new window through which we can contemplate the evolutionary history of anopheline mosquitoes. It also provides valuable information that may lead to novel strategies to reduce malaria transmission on the South American continent. The A. darlingi genome is accessible at www.labinfo.lncc.br/index.php/anopheles-darlingi.

Seasonality is an important aspect associated with population dynamic and structure of tropical insect assemblages. This study evaluated the effects of seasonality on abundance, richness, diversity and composition of an insect group, drosophilids, including species native to the Neotropical region and exotic ones. Three preserved fragments of the northern Atlantic Forest were surveyed, where temperatures are above 20 °C throughout the year and rainfall regimes define two seasons (dry and rainy). As opposed to other studies about arthropods in tropical regions, we observed that abundance of drosophilids was significantly higher in the dry season, possibly due to biological aspects and the colonization strategy adopted by the exotic species in these environments. Contrarily to abundance, we did not observe a seasonal pattern for richness. As for other parts of the Atlantic Forest, the most representative Neotropical species (Drosophila willistoni, D. sturtevanti, D. paulistorum and D. prosaltans) were significantly more abundant in the rainy season. Among the most abundant exotic species, D. malerkotliana, Zaprionus indianus and Scaptodrosophila latifasciaeformis were more importantly represented the dry season, while D. simulans was more abundant in the rainy period. The seasonality patterns exhibited by the most abundant species were compared to findings published in other studies. Our results indicate that exotic species were significantly more abundant in the dry season, while native ones exhibited an opposite pattern.

The arboreal frog Pithecopus nordestinus is geographically present in almost all Brazilian Northeast territory and Minas Gerais State. It is currently classified as deficient data (DD) by IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, requiring further knowledge about its geographic distribution and population status. In this context, the species distribution modeling can be applied, since its basis uses species occurrence records and environmental variables related to bioclimatic and landscape features. This kind of method predicts the species suitability of certain organism in the geographic space. We obtained 159 P. nordestinus occurrence records, covering all the previously known distribution of the species. These records were collected from direct field sampling, scientific literature, museum collections, and available online databases. We used four species distribution modeling algorithms to obtain the potential range (extent of occurrence) and available habitat for this frog through habitat area analysis proposed by IUCN. The generated models can be considered as excellent, with mean AUC value of 0.981. The environmental variables related to temperature and radiation were the most important to the construction of this distribution model. Our results indicate that the forested areas of the Atlantic Forest domain and forest patches inside the Caatinga biome present the highest suitability values for the species occurrence and the major part of available habitats, a fact possibly related to the known arboreal habit of this amphibian. We thus provide a new distribution area for P. nordestinus more broadly than previously known and a new polygon for conservation purposes based on extent of occurrence, and an increase of occupancy based on habitat area analysis. The identification of additional areas where the P. nordestinus occurrence was not yet well known, new habitats for possible dispersal or recolonization; and the selection of conservation hotspots applied to this species are direct applications from our study. In addition, the methodological procedures used here may serve as a baseline tool for new investigations with focus on still deficient data species and its ecological and conservation planning requirements.

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