Current projects
Copestylum sp.
Species of Copestylum Macquart (Diptera, Syrphidae) in the State of Paraná, Brazil
Undergraduate student: Kalana Lariane da Silva
Advisor: Luciane Marinoni
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Copestylum Macquart is one of the most diverse genera in the family Syrphidae (Insecta: Diptera). This genus of flies has been studied as potential pollinators of plants that produce seeds grown in greenhouses. During their larval stages, the species of Copestylus are sapropagic and generally develop in decomposing plant tissues (Rotheray et al., 2009). Currently, 93 species of Copestylum are known to occur in Brazil, including records of 15 species in the State of Paraná (Marinoni et al., 2004) and a number of morphospecies that are probably new species to be described. Thus, the main objective of this project is to inventory the species of Copestylus that occur in the State of Paraná through the revision of the material deposited in the Entomological Collection 'Pe. Jesus Santiago Moure' (DZUP) and field collections in selected areas in the State of Paraná.
Taxonomy of Syrphidae (Diptera) of Bromeliaceae from the Atlantic Forest of the State of Paraná and use of DNA barcoding for the association of development stages of the species
M.Sc. student: Angela Maria Echeverry Tobon
Advisor: Luciane Marinoni
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The family Syrphidae (Diptera), also known as flower flies or hoverflies, make up a large and taxonomically diverse group of Diptera that has many unknown species. Some lineages of neotropical syrphids have a close association with bromeliads phytotelmata, this being a field to be explored for the knowledge of their biology, stages of development as well as the discovery of new species. The objective of this project is to characterize the fauna of Syrphidae associated with bromelia phytotelmata in the Atlantic Forest of the State of Paraná, with emphasis on the Rio da Onça State Park and the Palmito State Forest, areas poorly studied, despite being considered highly biodiverse. We seek to provide biology and morphology data at any stage of development of the collected species, associate immature and adult stages of the species through phylogenetic methods, using DNA barcoding and elaborating an identification key for the species of Syrphidae (adults and larvae) from the studied areas.