Análise espaço-temporal da pandemia de Covid-19 em uma cidade do sul do Brasil: como a chegada do inverno afeta a pandemia? / Spatiotemporal analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic in a city in southern Brazil: How does the arrival of winter affect the pandemic?

RESUMO Aglomerações sociais e as condições climáticas estão entre os fatores que podem contribuir para a disseminação do SARS-CoV-2 e para o aumento no número de pacientes infectados, havendo relação do frio com a maior taxa de disseminação do vírus. Assim, no sul do Brasil, região subtropical, onde as baixas temperaturas são características durante o inverno, se torna pertinente avaliar como está variável climática é capaz de interferir no surgimento de casos de Covid-19 e investigar o padrão espacial de distribuição da doença em uma cidade sulina. As associações entre os casos diários de Covid-19 e os valores de temperatura média no município foram realizadas por análises de Correlação de Spearman e de Regressão. Após as quatro primeiras semanas de inverno, o número de casos confirmados de Covid-19 no município se elevou 400%, principalmente na região central. Porém, as análises não indicam relação significativa entre os casos de Covid-19 e as oscilações de temperatura. Portanto, é preciso sensibilizar as pessoas de que não há uma fórmula padronizada de enfrentamento à pandemia de Covid-19, uma vez que as combinações de elementos ambientais e sociais, diferentes em cada região, afetam de diferentes maneiras os números de casos e óbitos confirmados da Covid-19, pois, na localidade investigada as baixas temperaturas de inverno não interferiram significativamente no número de novos casos de Covid-19, de modo que o comportamento de aglomeração populacional parece ser o principal gatilho para o aumento dos casos de Covid-19 noticiados pela Secretaria de Saúde. PALAVRA-CHAVE: Aglomeração, coronavírus, temperatura

ABSTRACT Social agglomerations and climatic conditions are among the factors that can contribute to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and to the increase in the number of infected patients, with a relationship between cold weather and the higher rate of spread of the virus. Thus, in southern Brazil, a subtropical region, where low temperatures are characteristic during winter, it is relevant to evaluate how this climate variable is able to interfere with the emergence of Covid-19 cases and to investigate the spatial pattern of distribution of the disease in a southern city. Associations between daily Covid-19 cases and mean temperature values in the city were performed by Spearman's Correlation and Regression analyses. After the first four weeks of winter, the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the city rose by 400%, mainly in the central region. However, the analyses do not indicate a significant relationship between Covid-19 cases and temperature fluctuations. Therefore, it is necessary to sensitize people that there is no standardized formula for dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, since the combinations of environmental and social elements, which are different in each region, affect the numbers of confirmed Covid-19 cases and deaths in different ways, since low winter temperatures in the investigated location did not significantly interfere with the number of new Covid-19 cases, so that the population agglomeration behavior seems to be the main trigger for the increase in Covid-19 cases reported by the Health Department. KEYWORDS: Agglomeration, coronavirus, temperature

The identity of some specimens previously (mis)identified as Rhinoleucophenga obesa (Loew) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in Brazil, based on morphological and molecular data, with implications on distribution.

Rhinoleucophenga Hendel is an endemic genus of the New World with most species recorded in Brazil. Rhinoleucophenga obesa (Loew) seemed to be the most widespread species, being recorded in the United States of America, Mexico and Brazil. In the Neotropical region, identifications of R. obesa were commonly based on the description of non-type specimens determined by Costa Lima (1935) and Malogolowkin (1946), although their identities were doubtful. However, the recent redescription of R. obesa from the type-series from Texas, USA, confirmed a long period of misidentifications and a new species, R. cantareira Vilela Bächli, was proposed based on Brazilian specimens. Thus, review of morphological and molecular traits of specimens previously identified as R. obesa in Neotropical biomes are necessary to check the identity and distribution of a group of sibling species: R. obesa, R. cantareira, R. gigantea (Thomson), R. pallida Hendel and R. pampeana Poppe et al. In the present paper, specimens previously determined as R. obesa, sampled in different Brazilian localities, were compared by morphological and molecular traits. Plates of female terminalia of R. cantareira and R. gigantea are presented for the first time. The spermathecal capsules (as well as the male epandrium) revealed useful characteristics to differentiate those species; these morphological differences were corroborated by a sequence fragment of COI. The specimens on which were based the descriptions of Rhinoleucophenga obesa sensu Costa Lima (1935) and sensu Malogolowkin (1946) were reviewed and confirmed as R. cantareira. Other Brazilian specimens from different localities, previously misidentified as R. obesa, were determined as R. gigantea or R. cantareira, with new records for both species. Therefore, the present study corresponds to the advance of identity definition and distribution of sibling species of Rhinoleucophenga commonly sampled in Neotropical inventory studies.

A new species of the genus Rhinoleucophenga (Diptera: Drosophilidae) and redescription of five species from Neotropical region.

The genus Rhinoleucophenga Hendel comprises 29 nominal species with New World distribution. In the present study five species are redescribed: R. angustifrons Malogolowkin; R. lopesi Malogolowkin; R. matogrossensis Malogolowkin; R. nigrescens Malogolowkin and Rhinoleucophenga personata Malogolowkin. R. capixabensis Culik & Ventura is proposed as a new junior synonymy of R. lopesi. Other species, R. jacareacanga sp. nov., is described from the specimens deposited at CEIOC/Fiocruz. The description of new species and review of some former descriptions of Rhinoleucophenga is indispensable since the distribution records of some species are doubtful.

The New World genus Rhinoleucophenga (Diptera: Drosophilidae): new species and notes on occurrence records.

The genus Rhinoleucophenga Hendel comprises 26 nominal species with New World distribution. In the present study, two new species are described from samples in the Pampa and Caatinga biomes in Brazil, R. punctuloides sp. nov. and R. trivisualis sp. nov., respectively. Rhinoleucophenga punctuloides sp. nov. is a sibling species of R. punctulata Duda. Furthermore, two females of R. joaquina Schmitz, Gottschalk & Valente were found for the first time and a description is presented. A taxonomic dichotomous key with pictures is given for the Rhinoleucophenga species recorded in the Caatinga and Pampa biomes. The Neotropical open environments are areas of high diversity for Rhinoleucophenga. The description of new species and review of some older descriptions can change the area of species distribution and improve the faunistic knowledge of other localities in which previous studies have shown unidentified or misidentified Rhinoleucophenga species.

High diversity of Drosophilidae (Insecta, Diptera) in the Pampas Biome of South America, with descriptions of new Rhinoleucophenga species.

In the last three decades some faunal surveys of Drosophilidae have been done in several environments in the Neotropical region, especially in Brazil. But approximately 30 to 50% of the drosophilids in Brazil have not yet been described, and the degradation of some biomes causes a profound loss of species diversity, as well as the loss of information about the present structureof their communities. This is the situation with the pampas biome, which covers southernmost Brazil, all of Uruguay, and the central region of eastern Argentina. For the present study, seasonal collections were made in a natural area of pampas within the limits of the municipality of Bossoroca in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (28°45'01"S 54°56'55"W), from April 2011 to April 2012. A total of 7,164 drosophilids of 51 species were collected, comprising 36 species belonging to Drosophila Fallén, ten of Rhinoleucophenga Hendel, two of Amiota Loew, two of Zygothrica Wiedemann and one of Zaprionus Coquillett. Some species were recorded for the first time in pampas: Drosophila briegeri Pavan & Breuer, D. fuscolineata Duda, Rhinoleucophenga obesa (Loew), R. punctulata Duda, R. subradiata Duda and Zygothrica orbitalis (Sturtevant). Furthermore, three new species of genus Rhinoleucophenga were described: R. pampeana sp. nov., R. missionera sp. nov. and R. sulina sp. nov. A dichotomous key is given for the Rhinoleucophenga species recorded in pampas. An intensive literature search is reviewed of drosophilid species recorded in pampas of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, including taxonomic, genetic, evolutionary, and ecological studies. Despite Brazilian pampas being the richest when compared with Uruguay and Argentina, the three countries presented the same problem: huge areas with a barely surveyed Drosophilidae fauna. The combination of this information and the knowledge of the current state of preservation of pampas stress the necessity and importance of creating new conservation areas to preserve the natural biodiversity of pampas.