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This paper presents for the first time a checklist of the fish fauna of Araça Bay, São Sebastião Channel, northern coast of São Paulo state, Brazil. Fishes were sampled in five surveys from October 2012 to February 2014 using nine different types of sampling gear during high tide. Tide pool fishes were also sampled in four surveys from March to October 2014. Geographic distribution and conservation status of each species are reported. A total of 126 species was recorded in Araçá Bay, including two non-native species and new records in the São Sebastião region for 16 species. The fish species richness found in Araçá Bay was greater than the previously recorded for the São Sebastião Channel and other adjacent areas. Most of the Araçá fish species show a wide distribution along the western Atlantic Ocean (32%). Few species are included in the international (29%) and Brazilian (3.3%) official lists of threatened species.

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Abstract Over the last quarter century, increasing honey bee colony losses motivated standardized large-scale surveys of managed honey bees (Apis mellifera), particularly in Europe and the United States. Here we present the first large-scale standardized survey of colony losses of managed honey bees and stingless bees across Latin America. Overall, 1736 beekeepers and 165 meliponiculturists participated in the 2-year survey (2016–2017 and 2017–2018). On average, 30.4% of honey bee colonies and 39.6% of stingless bee colonies were lost per year across the region. Summer losses were higher than winter losses in stingless bees (30.9% and 22.2%, respectively) but not in honey bees (18.8% and 20.6%, respectively). Colony loss increased with operation size during the summer in both honey bees and stingless bees and decreased with operation size during the winter in stingless bees. Furthermore, losses differed significantly between countries and across years for both beekeepers and meliponiculturists. Overall, winter losses of honey bee colonies in Latin America (20.6%) position this region between Europe (12.5%) and the United States (40.4%). These results highlight the magnitude of bee colony losses occurring in the region and suggest difficulties in maintaining overall colony health and economic survival for beekeepers and meliponiculturists.

When developing new products to be used in honeybee colonies, further than acute toxicity, it is imperative to perform an assessment of risks, including various sublethal effects. The long-term sublethal effects of xenobiotics on honeybees, more specifically of acaricides used in honeybee hives, have been scarcely studied, particularly so in the case of essential oils and their components. In this work, chronic effects of the ingestion of Eupatorium buniifolium (Asteraceae) essential oil were studied on nurse honeybees using laboratory assays. Survival, food consumption, and the effect on the composition of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC) were assessed. CHC were chosen due to their key role as pheromones involved in honeybee social recognition. While food consumption and survival were not affected by the consumption of the essential oil, CHC amounts and profiles showed dose-dependent changes. All groups of CHC (linear and branched alkanes, alkenes and alkadienes) were altered when honeybees were fed with the highest essential oil dose tested (6000 ppm). The compounds that significantly varied include n-docosane, n-tricosane, n-tetracosane, n-triacontane, n-tritriacontane, 9-tricosene, 7-pentacosene, 9-pentacosene, 9-heptacosene, tritriacontene, pentacosadiene, hentriacontadiene, tritriacontadiene and all methyl alkanes. All of them but pentacosadiene were up-regulated. On the other hand, CHC profiles were similar in healthy and Nosema-infected honeybees when diets included the essential oil at 300 and 3000 ppm. Our results show that the ingestion of an essential oil can impact CHC and that the effect is dose-dependent. Changes in CHC could affect the signaling process mediated by these pheromonal compounds. To our knowledge this is the first report of changes in honeybee cuticular hydrocarbons as a result of essential oil ingestion.

Acaricides and the gut parasite Nosema ceranae are commonly present in most productive hives. Those stressors could be affecting key semiochemicals, which act as homeostasis regulators in Apis mellifera colonies, such as cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC) involved in social recognition and ethyl oleate (EO) which plays a role as primer pheromone in honey bees. Here we test the effect of amitraz, coumaphos, tau-fluvalinate and flumethrin, commonly applied to treat varroosis, on honey bee survival time, rate of food consumption, CHC profiles and EO production on N. ceranae-infected and non-infected honey bees. Different sublethal concentrations of amitraz, coumaphos, tau-fluvalinate and flumethrin were administered chronically in a syrup-based diet. After treatment, purified hole-body extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. While N. ceranae infection was also shown to decrease EO production affecting survival rates, acaricides showed no significant effect on this pheromone. As for the CHC, we found no changes in relation to the health status or consumption of acaricides. This absence of alteration in EO or CHC as response to acaricides ingestion or in combination with N. ceranae, suggests that worker honey bees exposed to those highly ubiquitous drugs are hardly differentiated by nest-mates. Having determined a synergic effect on mortality in worker bees exposed to coumaphos and Nosema infection but also, alterations in EO production as a response to N. ceranae infection it is an interesting clue to deeper understand the effects of parasite-host-pesticide interaction on colony functioning.

Persicaria maculosa (Polygonaceae) (known as lady’s thumb) is an annual morphologically variable weed that is widely distributed in Chile. The purpose of this study was to investigate the antifeedant potential of methanolic (MeOH), ethanolic (EtOH), and dichloromethane (DCM) extracts from the aerial parts of this plant collected in the Valparaíso and Curicó provinces (Chile) and relate this activity to the antioxidant capacity and the presence of phenolic compounds in the extracts. A phenolic profile based on HPLC-ESI-MS/MS allowed the identification of 26 phenolic compounds, most of them glycosyl derivatives of isorhamnetin, quercetin, and kaempferol. In addition, the total phenolic content (TP), total flavonoids (TF), and antioxidant activity measured by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), superoxide anion scavenging (O2−), ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and cupric-reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) of the extracts are reported. The antifeedant potentials of the plant extracts were tested against Epilachna paenulata, Pseudaletia adultera, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, and Diaphorina citri insects for the first time. The activity against the aphid M. euphorbiae was significant for the DCM extracts of plants from Valparaíso and Curicó (settling % = 23% ± 4% and 23% ± 5%, respectively). The antifeedant activities against the beetle E. paenulata and the lepidoptera P. adultera were significant for Valparaíso extracts, especially when tested against E. Paenulata (IFP = 1.0 ± 0.0). Finally, the MeOH and EtOH extracts from Valparaíso plants reduced the diet consumption of the psilid D. citri (p < 0.05). The results showed that P. maculosa is a good source of flavonoids with some antioxidant capacities and has potential interest as botanical eco-friendly alternative with deterrent activity.

Melia azedarach L. (Meliaceae) es nativa de Asia pero ha sido naturalizada en muchas partes del planeta. Variados compuestos bioactivos estructuralmente complejos fueron aislados de especímenes asiáticos. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo determinar la actividad anti-insecto de extractos orgánicos de frutos de M. azedarach de especímenes uruguayos y elucidar las estructuras de los compuestos activos. El fraccionamiento sistemático de extractos etanólicos llevó a la obtención de una fracción rica en limonoides con actividad contra diferentes insectos modelo. Mostró fuerte deterrencia frente a larvas de Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) y adultos de Epilachna paenulata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) en bioensayos de opción. Además, inhibió el asentamiento de Myzus persicae y Rhopalosiphum padi (Homoptera: Aphididae). Sin embargo, no mostró toxicidad por contacto contra adultos de Nezara viridula (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). Dos compuestos nunca antes reportados en esta especie vegetal y tres previamente reportados pero nunca antes testados contra los insectos nombrados fueron aislados de la fracción. En síntesis, una fracción rica en triterpenoides del extracto etanólico de frutos de M. azedarach mostró potencial variable contra las diferentes especies de insectos plaga modelo, enfatizando así la importancia de testar los potenciales agentes biocontroladores contra diferentes insectos blanco.

Members of the family Bignoniaceae are mostly found in tropical and neo-tropical regions in America, Asia and Africa, although some of them are cultivated in other regions as ornamentals. Species belonging to this family have been extensively studied in regard to their pharmacological properties (as extracts and isolated compounds). The aim of this review is to summarize the reported scientific evidence about the chemical properties as well as that of the extracts and isolated compounds from species of this family, focusing mainly in insect-plant interactions. As it is known, this family is recognized for the presence of iridoids which are markers of oviposition and feeding preference to species which have became specialist feeders. Some herbivore species have also evolved to the point of been able to sequester iridoids and use them as defenses against their predators. However, iridoids also exhibit anti-insect properties, and therefore they may be good lead molecules to develop botanical pesticides. Other secondary metabolites, such as quinones, and whole extracts have also shown potential as anti-insect agents.

Forest plantations in Uruguay have doubled in the past decade, with Eucalyptus spp. leading this growth. The bronze bug, Thaumastocoris peregrinus (Heteroptera: Thaumastocoridae), originally restricted to Australia, is an important emerging pest of Eucalyptus plantations in the Southern hemisphere. T. peregrinus feeds on mature Eucalyptus leaves, causing them to turn brown and often fall from the tree. Although population dynamics and behavioural patterns are not clearly understood, circumstantial observations suggest that males and nymphs aggregate. We used gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to analyze volatile organic compounds emitted by virgin males and females, and characterized a male-specific compound, 3-methylbut-2-enyl butanoate, based on mass spectral data and chromatographic comparison with a synthetic standard. We also performed Y-olfactometer bioassays to test the attraction of virgin males and females toward live virgin males, male volatile extracts, and synthetic 3-methylbut-2-enyl butanoate. Males were attracted toward conspecific males, while virgin females showed no preference, suggesting that male volatiles are not involved in sexual communication. Further olfactometer tests showed that males were attracted to male volatile extracts and to synthetic 3-methylbut-2-enyl butanoate. The ecological significance of this compound and its potential use for the management of T. peregrinus in Eucalyptus forests will be further investigated.