Smicridea McLachlan, 1871 (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae: Smicrideinae) do Brasil: Associação de larvas e adultos usando sequências de DNA mitocondrial e metamorfótipo

Abstract

Smicridea McLachlan, 1871 is the single genus of Smicrideinae in the New World. Its species are quite diverse in the Neotropics and are clustered into two subgenera, Smicridea and Rhyacophylax. However, the larvae of a big part of this diversity remain unknown, especially in Brazil, where among the 50 species recorded only seven has the larvae known. This fact compromises its applicability as biomarkers in biomonitoring programs of the quality of aquatic environments. Therefore, to be illustrated and morphologically described at the species level, larvae need to be associated with identified adults. In this sense, were carried associations between larvae and adult Smicridea of Brazil through metamorphotypes and sequence comparison of mitochondrial gene Cytochrome Oxidase subunit I (COI). From the analysis of material from various locations in Brazil, when metamorphotypes were not found or not available, mitochondrial DNA of the specimens was extracted for subsequent amplification, purification and sequencing of the COI gene fragment. The sequences obtained, together with some of the downloaded DNA barcode database (BOLD) were edited and aligned, resulting in a fragment of 620 bp. Based on sequences, intra- and interspecific genetic distances were calculated using evolutionary model Kimura 2-parameters and from these distances were built filogramas using the neighbor-joining method (NJ) with branches of support inferred by bootstrapping with 1.000 replications. In this study, associations between larvae and adults were performed for 11 species of Smicridea, four by metamorphotypes and seven through COI gene sequences, based on the philogram groupings generated by NJ and according to association’s criteria. Of associated species, seven belong to S. (Rhyacophylax) and four to S. (Smicridea), three of which are new to science. Larvae conspecific to adult of known species with adult males of the new species are described, illustrated and their extended distribution. In addition, an illustrated taxonomic identification key is provided for the 17 species of Smicridea with known larval stage that occurs Brazil.