Influence of Fungal Contamination on Substrate Carrying by the Leafcutter Ant Atta sexdens rubropilosa (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Systematics of Vitaceae in south America

In South America, the family Vitaceae is represented by 65 species divided into 2 genera: Cissus contains 64 species, whereas Vitis consists of only I species. Recent studies on the Neotropical Cissus reveal that with regard to species delimitation, trichome types and the morphology of fruits and seeds are more important than the traditionally used trichome density and leaf shape. Fifteen provisional species groups are recognized for South America, excluding one species whose grouping is uncertain. Future research in this area should incorporate other data (e.g., anatomical, histological, and molecular) to identify a subgeneric division in Cissus.

A new species of Tontelea from Amazonian Peru and Ecuador, and notes on the Tontelea attenuata species group (Celastraceae, Hippocrateoideae)

Tontelea fuliginea differs from other species whose stamens alternate with undivided stigma-lobes by its profusely ramified, many flowered, and densely dirty-brown puberulous inflorescences. This paper also provides a synopsis and key of the group of species with alternate stamens and 3-lobed stiomas with undivided lobes (T. attenuata group). Four lectotypes are designated for previously published names: Tontelea longifolia, Tontelea micrantha, Tontelea corrugulata, and Salacia micrantha var. lancifolia.

Phylogeny of Celastraceae Subfamily Salacioideae and Tribe Lophopetaleae Inferred from Morphological Characters and Nuclear and Plastid Genes

The phylogeny of Celastraceae subfamily Salacioideae (ca. 255 species in the Old and New World tropics) and tribe Lophopetaleae (ca. 29 species in southern Asia and the Austral-Pacific) was inferred using morphological characters together with plastid (matK, trnL-F) and nuclear (ITS and 26S rDNA) genes. Brassiantha, a monotypic genus endemic to New Guinea, is inferred to be more closely related to the clade of Dicarpellum (New Caledonia) and Hypsophila (Queensland, Australia) than it is to Hippocrateoideae or Salacioideae. This unambiguously supported resolution indicates that a nectary disk positioned outside the stamens has been convergently derived in these two lineages. The clade of Kokoona and Lophopetalum is resolved as more closely related to Breria and Elaeodendron than it is to Hippocrateoideae or Salacioideae. Sarawakodendron, a monotypic genus endemic to Borneo, is resolved as sister to Salacioideae. Salacioideae are inferred to have an Old World origin that was followed by a single successful radiation within Central and South America. We infer that capsular fruits are primitive within the clade of Hippocrateoideae + Sarawakodendron + Salacioideae, with berries a synapomorphy for Salacioideae. Based on the resolution of Sarawakodendron as sister to Salacioideae, we hypothesize that the filaments of Sarawakodendron arils are homologous to the spiral filaments in the mucilagenous pulp of Salacioideae.

Antiviral activity of Bignoniaceae species occurring in the State of Minas Gerais (Brazil): part 1

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Food bodies in Cissus verticillata (Vitaceae): ontogenesis, structure and functional aspects

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Delimitation of the Segregate Genera of Maytenus s. l. (Celastraceae) Based on Morphological and Molecular Characters

Maytenus s. l. (including Gymnosporia) is a morphologically diverse genus of about 300 species that is widely distributed in the tropics and subtropics of both the Old and New Worlds. Its delimitation has been extensively debated and despite the segregation of Gymnosporia, Maytenus s. s. remains a heterogeneous, polyphyletic group. To delimit natural segregate genera we increased taxon sampling and generated sequences from two nuclear gene regions (ITS and 26S rDNA) and two plastid loci (matK and trnL-F) to analyze together with morphological characters. Both Moya and Tricerma were found to be nested within the New World Maytenus and are recognized as synonyms of Maytenus s. s.. In contrast, the three New World species of Gymnosporia are recognized as a new genus that is closely related to Gyminda. Haydenia is erected for these three species: H. gentryi, H. haberiana, and H. urbaniana. One or more previously proposed or novel genera are required to accommodate the systematically difficult African Maytenus. Putterlickia, and most likely Gloveria, are nested within Gymnosporia and should be synonymized with that genus. New binomials are required for four Chinese and one Rapan species of Gymnosporia that have been previously treated only as Maytenus: Gymnosporia austroyunnanensis, G. confertiflora, G. dongfangensis, G. guangxiensis, and G. pertinax. Austral-Pacific Maytenus are transferred to Denhamia, requiring eight new binomials: Denhamia bilocularis, D. cunninghamii, D. cupularis, D. disperma, D. fasciculiflora, D. ferdinandii, D. fournieri, and D. silvestris. Existing intrageneric classifications of Gymnosporia and Maytenus s. s. were not supported in their entirety. Gymnosporia is inferred to have had an African origin followed by dispersals to Madagascar, southeast Asia and the Austral-Pacific.

Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of ethanolic extracts of Lychnophora species

Extracts from Lychnophora species are traditionally used in Brazil as anti-inflammatory, and to treat bruise, pain and rheumatism. The ethanolic extract of aerial parts of five species of Lychnophoras and one specie of Lychnophoriopsis were examined for the antinociceptive (hot-plate and writhing tests) and anti-inflammatory (carrageenan-induced paw oedema test) activity in mice, by oral and topical routes, respectively. In the hot-plate test, the Lychnophora pinaster (0.75 g/kg) and Lychnophora ericoides (1.50 g/kg) extracts significantly increased the time for licking of the paws. The species Lychnophora passerina, Lychnophoriopsis candelabrum and Lychnophora pinaster, using the dose of 0.75 g/kg, and Lychnophora ericoides and Lychnophora trichocarpha in both doses evaluated (0.75 and 1.50 g/kg) significantly reduced the number of writhes induced by acetic acid. The administration of Lychnophora pinaster and Lychnophora trichocarpha ointments, in both concentrations evaluated (5 and 10%, w/w), and Lychnophora passerina and Lychnophoriopsis candelabrum, in the concentration of 10%, significantly reduced the paw oedema measured 3 h after carrageenan administration, suggesting, for the first time, an anti-inflammatory activity upon topical administration of these species. The present work comparatively demonstrated the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of some Brazilian Lychnophoras. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Three new species of Salacioideae (Celastraceae)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Three New Species of Salacia from Mesoamerica (Celastraceae, Salacioideae)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Phylogeny of Celastraceae subfamily Hippocrateoideae inferred from morphological characters and nuclear and plastid loci

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

A New Species of Meliosma (Sabiaceae) from Southeastern Brazil and Notes on the Genus

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Leaf anatomy as a contribution to the taxonomy of Salacioideae N.Hall, ex Thorne & Reveal (Celastraceae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)