Discovery of an alien species of mayfly in South America (Ephemeroptera).
Despite its wide, almost worldwide distribution, the mayfly genus Cloeon Leach, 1815 (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) is restricted in the Western hemisphere to North America, where a single species is reported. In the Neotropics, except for some species wrongly attributed to the genus in the past, there are no records of Cloeon. Recently, however, specimens of true Cloeon were collected along the coast of Espírito Santo, Southeastern Brazil. In order to verify the hypothesis that this species was recently introduced to Brazil, our aim was to identify the species based on morphological and molecular characters and to confirm the presence of true representatives of the genus in the Neotropics. Our results revealed that the specimens found in Brazil belong to the Afrotropical species C. smaeleni Lestage, 1924. The identity of the species, its distribution, along with its previous absence in regularly sampled sites, is a clear sign that the specimens of C. smaeleni found in Espírito Santo are introduced, well established, and that the colonization took place very recently.
Laboratório de Sistemática e Ecologia de Insetos, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Departamento de Ciências Agrárias e Biológicas, 29933-415, São Mateus, ES, Brasil ; Museum of Zoology, Palais de Rumine, Place Riponne 6, CH-1005 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Frederico F
FF
Salles
Museum of Zoology, Palais de Rumine, Place Riponne 6, CH-1005 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Jean-Luc
JL
Gattolliat
Laboratório de Sistemática e Ecologia de Insetos, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Departamento de Ciências Agrárias e Biológicas, 29933-415, São Mateus, ES, Brasil.
Kamila B
KB
Angeli
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Departamento de Entomologia, Núcleo de Morfologia e Ultraestrutura de Vetores, 21045-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil ; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.
Márcia R
MR
De-Souza
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Laboratório de Entomologia, Caixa Postal 68044, Cidade Universitária, 21941-971, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil ; Programa de pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas, modalidade Zoologia da UFRJ/Museu Nacional.
Inês C
IC
Gonçalves
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Laboratório de Entomologia, Caixa Postal 68044, Cidade Universitária, 21941-971, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Jorge L
JL
Nessimian
Museum of Zoology, Palais de Rumine, Place Riponne 6, CH-1005 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Michel
M
Sartori
Aquatic insects; Baetidae; Cloeon; Ephemeroptera; Neotropics; invasive species