Distribuição potencial de Thrips palmi Karny, 1925 (Thysanoptera) frente às mudanças climáticas e combinação nova de Elaphrothrips handlirschii (Schmutz)

Abstract

Studies of insects from the order Thysanoptera are gaining the highlights in the last decade. For many years they were studied mainly by foreign researchers, one of the consequences of this is many of the brazilian specimens described are currently in collections outside Brazil. Some species of Thysanoptera are registered as agricultural pests, requiring robust biological and taxonomic knowledge especially for these species. To help reduce damage caused by these species, tools such as niche modelling allow estimating potential areas of occurrence of these species. This thesis was divided into two topics: I) niche modelling and II) taxonomy. (I) Melon thrips, Thrips palmi, considered a pest, causes damage to field crops and greenhouses, and also has the potential to transmit orthotospovirus, so it is important to try to estimate its distribution and potential areas of occurrence in the future. Its currently distribution is Pantropical. Latitude and longitude records were acquired from researchers' reports and databases to construct the T. palmi occurrence matrix. The environmental data used came from the WorldClim database. We use spatial statistics techniques to create maps for climate projections for 2100, we consider two emissions scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) and four atmosphere-ocean general circulation models. Based on current climate data and occurrences, the most suitable areas for the occurrence of the species at present are distributed mainly in tropical regions and close to the tropical lines, although with exceptions in North Africa and the desert areas of central-southern Australia, and we observed clouds of suitable areas in other subtropical regions as well. Both RCP projections are consistent with each other and coherent with the current projection. Projections for 2100 show that the tropical region still concentrates the most suitable areas, maintaining occurrences mainly in South America, south-central Africa, Asia (except Russia) and Northern Australia, with a reduction in North American areas. We show that climate change can influence the distribution of T. palmi, and its potential maintenance in tropical and subtropical areas. (II) Specimens collected in Brazil and published by Karl Schmutz in 1909 were revisited, resulting in the location of the specimens described, at that time, as Ophidothrips handlirschii. After analyzing the external morphology from images, a new combination for Elaphrothrips handlirschii and the designation of a lectotype for the type series were proposed.