Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: JOAO CARLOS DA SILVEIRA REGUEIRA

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
DISCENTE: JOAO CARLOS DA SILVEIRA REGUEIRA
DATA : 01/11/2023
LOCAL: VIDEOCONFERÊNCIA
TÍTULO:

Shape variation of Blepharotoma Blanchard, 1850 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) genera through the perspective of geometric morphometrics

PALAVRAS-CHAVES:

Taxonomy. Schafers. Neotropical.

PÁGINAS: 20
RESUMO:

Scarabaeidae is one of the most diverse Coleoptera families with more than 11000 species. Such richness can lead to certain problems like taxonomic uncertainties in their inner groups. Blepharothoma (Melolonthinae: Sericoidini) is an example, since the genus already has been in five distinct tribes and possesses fragile inner limits due to lots of new descriptions and transferences along the years. A current method that has been helping identify patterns among groups of organisms is the geometric morphometrics. The technique identifies variations among specimens shape through comparison of landmarks coordinates. In this study, our aim was to test if there is a significant morphometric variation among species of Blepharothoma and among the genera of Sericoidini that could allow us to identify their taxa. We compared 18 Blepharothoma species among them and all the genus of Sericoidini (Apterodemidea, Blepharotoma, Manonychus, Ovomanonychus and Sericoides). The
structures chosen were clypeus, pronotum and elytra. A photographic matrix was created with images of the structures and a series of 2 landmarks were plotted in each image. Then a Procrustes superimposition was made, and the data was analyzed through Principal Component Analysis, ANOVA de Procrustes and Canonical Variate Analysis. Our results showed that besides the values of Blepharothoma could act as a useful tool to differentiate species, it does not seem to have any pattern among them. The only exception is a small group of beetles from Buenos Aires that remain unidentified and possibly could be a new species. On the contrary, the genus of Sericoidini have well defined groups, and seem to be very characteristic shapes for each one. In conclusion, geometric morphometric seems to be a good support tool when it comes to taxonomic classification of Blepharotoma. Since when used independently there is no satisfactory result, maybe combined with other methods, this technique could at least help to corroborate future hypotheses.

MEMBROS DA BANCA:
Interno - 1516569 - DIEGO ASTUA DE MORAES
Externo à Instituição - FABIO CORREIA COSTA
Interno - 1193010 - JOSE WAGNER DA SILVA MELO
Presidente - 2352978 - LUCIANA IANNUZZI