Comportamento adaptativo de Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) às áreas urbanas da cidade de Teresina-PI.

The sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) is currently appointed as the main vector of visceral leishmaniasis in the Americas. The growth of cities in areas originally endemics to American Visceral Leishmaniasis (AVL) resulted in the spread of the disease at the same time that observed the adaptation of this species to the urban environment.Changes in behavior of L.longipalpis that enabled the adapt to increasing losings of biodiversity, as well as the frequent exposure of the vector to insecticides evident in urban areas, could justify the increasing population of the species and consequently the spread of disease for these environments .Thus, we selected sixty houses spread among three areas with increasing stages of occupation of an area endemic for AVL in Teresina-PI. We evaluated the correlation between the density of L.longipalpis captured and different aspects, such as population density of animals, vegetation cover and socio-economic aspects in each house. In addition to the correlations, the feeding preference of the vector between the predominant plant species in the neighborhoods, as well as the presence of metabolic mechanisms of resistance among the captured insects were tested. The results showed that over the growing occupations, represented by three areas, L.longipalpis demonstrate its adaptive nature through an apparent opportunistic behavior in relation to sources of carbohydrates and blood. On the evolutionary point of view, this behavior may have favored its vector competence in urban areas among the limited presence of food sources, as well as in various environments encountered.

Estrutura genética populacional de Heliconius erato e Heliconius melpomene (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) em fragmentos de Mata Atlântica do Rio Grande do Norte

Extensive studies using molecular markers on butterflies have shown how a highly fragmented landscape may result in the reduction of gene flow among patches of habitat and, consequently, increase genetic differentiation among populations. However, little is known about Heliconius geographical structure and the effects of fragmentation on the connectivity of populations. Furthermore, findings on the effects of the population structure on the dynamics of mimicry evolution in Heliconius butterflies need to be tested in H. erato and H. melpomene specimens found in other locations other than Central and northern South Americas. For the present study, we had two motivations: (1) compare the population structure of H. erato and H. melpomene given the highly fragmented Brazil s Atlantic Forest habitat; and (2) studying population structure of co-mimics could give us insights into the dynamics of mimicry evolution. For this, we analysed the spatial structure and connectivity of eight populations of Heliconius butterflies, in a total of 137 H. erato specimens and 145 H. melpomene specimens, using nine microsatellites loci, 1144 AFLPs markers and 282 mitochondrial DNA sequences. In general, both species exhibited evidence of population subdivision but no isolation by distance indicating some extent of genetic differentiation among populations. Contrary to Kronforst & Gilbert s (2008) Costa Rican Heliconius, H. melpomene exhibited more genetic differentiation than H. erato based on nuclear markers. However, for mitochondrial DNA, H. erato populations showed more genetic differentiation than H. melpomene. Our results corroborate to other studies on Heliconius butterflies concerning the pronounced population subdivision and local genetic drift found in this genus. Nevertheless, the pattern of this differentiation varies significantly from the pattern found in studies conducted in Central America, where H. erato is generally more differentiated and structured than H. melpomene, based on nuclear markers. This different pattern may reflect different evolutionary histories of Heliconius species in Northeastern Brazil s Atlantic Forest

Vicus Judæorum: os judeus e o espaço urbano no Recife neerlandês

This work broaches the participation of the Jewish community in the urban expansion of Recife, Brazil, during the Dutch period (1630-1654). With the arrival of the Dutch, the village of Olinda, former capital of Pernambuco, was destroyed and Recife received the juridical statute of city (stad), becoming the capital of Dutch Brazil or New Holland. It became the main West Indians Company s entrepot in South Atlantic, serving as naval base, port of call for ships, and point of export of the sugar production of Pernambuco, and import of European goods and African slaves. In order to such administrative, military and economic functions be carried out, the sand isthmus where Recife used to stay, and the fluvial island of Antônio Vaz, received improvements of many sort. The Dutch hydraulic technology was put in practice, with a posture of opposition between civilization and nature. Among military works and production of urban equipments, the rivers shores were land-filled, canals were built, bridges were lifted, and hundreds of buildings were erected. The civil Dutch population of Recife engaged in the process of production of physical space, which brought a sense of collective action towards the formation of the urban, or burgher, community. From the physical to the social space, there was an effort towards Dutch cultural standards in the urban environment. The Zur Israel Jewish community, formed by private civilians, it is, nonemployees of the WIC, engaged in those processes. It produced physical space through the land-filling and improvement of non healthy areas, and was also responsible for the construction of a significant section of the town s buildings and some of urban equipments, such as stores, markets and slave-warehouses, making more dynamic their economical activities. But their social traffic was due to the adaptation of their behavior to the standards of Dutch sociability. Thus, the community body made itself part of the social body. Disposing of internal selfregulation, it produced spaces with their cultural references cemetery, synagogue, texts enjoying benefits of the government. Zur Israel inscribed itself in the universal history of the Jews as the first community of Americas, and had a fundamental part on the emancipation of Jews within Western society