Immatures of Lamprosoma amethystinum Perty, 1832 (Chrysomelidae, Lamprosomatinae)

The genus Lamprosoma Kirby, 1818 includes 128 neotropical species and 54 of them are recorded from Brazil (Monros, 1960). The first species with a described larva was L. seraphinum Lacordaire. After that, larvae and pupae of three species were described: L. bicolor Kirby, 1818, L. chorisiae Monros, 1948 and L. azureum Germar, 1824. Fiebrig (1910) described the larva of L. seraphinum Lacordaire, collected on Teminalia hassleriana Chod. (Combretaceae) of Paraguay. Moreira (1913) described L. bicolor collected on Terminalia catappa L., in Rio de Janeiro. According to him, this tree was introduced from Molucas Islands, in Oceania. He also considered it probable that L. bicolor lived on one native species of Terminalia or on another species of Combretaceae and adaptated itself to live on Terminalia catappa. Monros (1949) described L. chorisiae collected on Chorisia speciosa and Ch. insignis [ Ceiba speciosa (A. St.-Hil., A. Juss. & Cambess.) Ravenna and Ceiba insignis (Kunth) P. E. Gibbs & J. Semir] (Bombacaceae) ("" palos borrachos"") in Tucuman. Caxambu and Almeida (1999) described L. azureum collected on Psidium cattleianum Sabine (Myrtaceae)(""araca""), in Parana state. Herein, the larva and pupa of L. amethystinum collected on Terminalia catappa amendoeira-da-praia"", "" chapeu-de-sol"") in Campinas, Sao Paulo state, are described and illustrated.

Synaptolaemus latofasciatus, a new combination for Leporinus latofasciatus Steindachner, 1910 and its junior synonym Synaptolaemus cingulatus Myers and Fernandez-Yepez, 1950 (Characiformes: Anostomidae)

Leporinus latofasciatus was described by Steindachner (1910) on the basis of a single specimen collected in the rio Orinoco, Venezuela. Since then, no other specimen of the species was mentioned in the literature, and the species was only listed in catalogues, eventually mentioned and treated as a ""poorly known"" species, or even omitted in checklists of fishes from Venezuela. During a visit to the fish collection at the Naturhistorisches Museum at Vienna (NMW) to examine all the type specimens of Leporinus, we were able to study the holotype of Leporinus latofasciatus and recognize that the specimen corresponds to the species described by Myers and Fernandez-Yepez (in Myers, 1950) as Synaptolaemus cingulatus. Thus, the latter is a junior synonym of Leporinus latofasciatus and, based on that, Synaptolaemus latofasciatus (Steindachner, 1910) should be the name applied for this taxon, as a new combination. Herein new data on the holotype of Synaptolaemus latofasciatus are presented and compared with previously data from other authors. In addition, illustrations of live specimens are presented as well as new distribution records for the species.

Morphological structure of the liver in tambaqui, Colossoma macropomum (Cuvier, 1818)

This research aimed to describe the macroscopic and microscopic liver of tambaqui, Colossoma macropomum, Teleost freshwater Family Characidae, of great economic interest for the Amazon basin. We used six juveniles aged between six month and one year, from the small holding Esteio, Alta Floresta/MT, that develops mainly fish farming. The body was photographed in situ, described macroscopically, and fragments were removed and processed by routine histological techniques through paraffin embedding and HE staining. The liver, located ventrally to the swim bladder and craniodorsally to the stomach, is brownish red and consisted of three lobes, the right lateral, the left lateral and the ventral lobe. Microscopically, the parenchyma consists of hepatocytes varying from irregular rounded hexagonal to round forms with a large and central nucleus, and arranged in linear strings limited by sinusoids and radiating to central veins, but with absence of liver lobules. The central veins are distributed throughout the parenchyma, while the portal space consists in most cases only of a hepatic vein and bile duct; elsewhere exist artery and duct. Formation of portal triads was not founde. Melano macrophages were frequently seen dispersed throughout the central parenchyma. The morphofunctional study of the digestive system of fishes of the Amazon basin is important to obtain knowledge about their weight gain, large scale production for human consumption and preservation of the species, and has also its importance for being used as bioindicators today.