Caddisflies (Trichoptera) checklist and a new species of Helicopsyche von Siebold, 1856, from the Brejo de Altitude de Triunfo, a relict rainforest within the Caatinga domain, Northeast Brazil

Abstract

Brejos de Altitude are evergreen seasonal forests, associated with plateau regions in the middle of the Caatinga domain in Northeast Brazil, which possibly acted as biological corridors between the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon rainforest during the Pleistocene. The first entomological survey in the highest point in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, the Brejo de Altitude de Triunfo, was implemented and resulted in a checklist of caddisflies with six families, nine genera, and eleven species, including a new species. Helicopsyche ralphisp. nov. is described and illustrated, based on all semaphoronts. A key to Brazilian Helicopsyche (Feropsyche) Johanson, 1998 species is also provided. In addition to the caddisfly survey in the Brejos de Altitude, the results include new records for the state, region, and also for the country. Thus, this study updates the number of species in the Brazilian Northeast region and Pernambuco state to 169 species and 43 species, respectively.

Ralph W. Holzenthal – a mentor and friend retires

“…Many of his former mentees submitted articles to this volume, to show their gratitude and respect for Ralph’s life work. The topics he thus influenced range from faunal surveys and checklists ( Cavalcante-Silva et al 2022 ; Chuluunbat et al 2022 ; Houghton 2022 ; Luna-Luna et al 2022 ) and ecological studies ( Houghton et al 2022 ; Ríos-Touma et al 2022 ) to descriptive taxonomy ( Bueno-Soria et al 2022 ; Cavalcante-Silva et al 2022 ; Martins et al 2022 ; Pereira et al 2022 ; Ramírez-Carmona et al 2022 ; Rázuri-Gonzales et al 2022 ) and systematic revisions ( Blahnik and Andersen 2022 ; Sganga et al 2022 ; Thomson et al 2022a , b ).…”