A new species of Psammonitocrella Huys, 2009 (Copepoda, Harpacticoida, Ameiridae) from California (USA), with a discussion of the relationship between Psammonitocrella and Parastenocarididae.

The freshwater harpacticoid Psammonitocrella kumeyaayi sp. nov. from the Nearctic Region (California; USA) is proposed. The position of the genus within Harpacticoida and its relationship with the Parastenocarididae is discussed. The new species can be included within Psammonitocrella on account of a) the cylindrical furca, longer than the telson, b) the unmodified inner spine on the basis of the male first leg, c) loss of the outer spine on the second exopodal segment of the first leg, d) loss of the outer spine of the third exopodal segment of the second, third, and fourth legs, e) loss of the inner apical seta on the third exopodal segment of the second and third legs, f) transformation of the inner apical seta of the third exopodal segment of the fourth leg into a spine, and g) loss of the endopodite of the fourth leg. The new species differs remarkably from P. boultoni, and P. longifurcata in the loss of the outer spine of the second exopodal segment of the fourth leg, in the presence of a one-segmented fifth leg exopodite, and in the presence of an outer seta on the basis of the first and second legs. Both Psammonitocrella and the known species of Parastenocarididae have a one-segmented endopod on the fourth leg, and the endopods of the second and third legs are reduced to one or two segments. Psammonitocrella is currently allocated into the Ameiridae, and evidence suggesting a sister-group relationship with Parastenocarididae-both share the loss of the inner seta on the first endopodal segment of the first leg-indicates that the Parastenocarididae should be included into the Ameiridae. In an evolutionary context, Parastenocarididae could have evolved from a lineage of freshwater ameirids that became interstitial in continental waters and colonized aquifers and groundwaters.

Nocturnal Mosquitoes of Pará State in the Brazilian Amazon: Species Composition, Habitat Segregation, and Seasonal Variation.

Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are one of the most important disease vector species in the world. Many species have a high degree of anthropophilia and are often found in human habitations. In the present study, we have inventoried the nocturnal mosquito assemblage in intra-, peri-, and extradomicile environments in four municipalities in Pará, Brazil. At each municipality, a residence was selected and the mosquitoes were sampled using the protected human attraction capture and Shannon trap methods in April (rainy season) and August 2018 (dry season). We have collected a total of 696 mosquito specimens belonging to 8 genera and 17 species. The most abundant species were Mansonia (Mansonoides) titillans (Walker) (366/696, 52.6%), Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) albitarsis Lynch-Arribálzaga (97/696, 13.9%), and Culex (Culex) quinquefasciatus Say (93/696, 13.4%). Mosquito richness, abundance, and composition did not differ between intra-, peri-, and extradomicile environments suggesting limited habitat segregation among the different species. However, mosquito species richness and mosquito species abundance were significantly higher during the rainy season than during the dry season, suggesting increased mosquito activity during the rainy season. We detected several important vector species of human diseases including Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (Linnaeus), Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) darlingi Root, Haemagogus (Conopostegus) leucocelaenus (Dyar and Shannon), Coquillettidia (Coquillettidia) venezuelensis (Theobald), and Culex (Culex) quinquefasciatus which are the main transmitters of dengue, malaria, yellow fever, mayaro, and oropouche fever, respectively. As inventories of disease-carrying mosquitoes in the region are very scarce, mainly in residential environments, our results suggest high potential for mosquito-borne disease transmission in Pará State.

An annotated checklist of freshwater Copepoda (Crustacea, Hexanauplia) from continental Ecuador and the Galapagos Archipelago.

An annotated checklist of the free-living freshwater Copepoda recorded in different regions in Ecuador (including the Amazon, the Andes, the coastal region, and the Galapagos Islands) is here provided. We revised all published records, critically evaluated the validity of each taxon and provided short taxonomic and biogeographical remarks for each one. A total of 27 taxa have been reported, including species and records at the generic level only. The species and taxa identified only up to the generic level belong to five families and 14 genera. The Cyclopoida is the most diverse group with 16 records belonging to species (or identified to the generic level only) and eight genera, followed by the Harpacticoida with six species, one identification to the generic level only, and four genera, and Calanoida with four species belonging to two genera. A total of 18 taxa are recorded for the Andes. Six have been recorded in the Amazon, two are recorded for the coastal region, and six for the Galapagos. One species is shared between the Amazon and the Andes. One species is shared between the coastal region and the Amazon. Seventeen are only reported from the Andes and four are only reported from the Amazon. At the current status of the knowledge, any attempt to analyze and generalize distributional patterns of copepods in Ecuador is premature due to the scarcity of available information, and evidently there is an urgent need for more extensive field collections. A few working hypothesis for future studies are identified.