Manutenção e catalogação de insetos via úmida da coleção entomológica "Iraci Paiva Coelho do Laboratório de Entomologia da Universidade Estadual do Maranhão

Abstract

Insects are superior to vertebrates as the most successful inhabitants of the terrestrial environment and their conservation for future generations is of utmost importance. Thus, the entomological collections are extremely important, because they close, over time, the almost integral representation of the entomofauna of a locality. Therefore, this work aims to perform the recognition, identification and wet preservation of insects contained in the Iraci Paiva Coelho Entomological Collection / LEA/NBA/CCA/UEMA. The activities were developed in the Entomological Collections room, belonging to the Entomology Laboratory, located in the Agronomy Course of the Maranhão State University, São Luís Campus. The material studied came from didactic collections made by students during the General Entomology discipline of the Agronomy Course. After all sorting of the material, we proceed to the identification of family-level insects, with the help of a magnifying glass, entomological keys and didactic materials. After identification the insects were properly packaged in properly labeled 70% alcohol glass bottles. The numerical data regarding the orders and families found in the Collection were tabulated in Excel and graphs were generated. During the study period, the insects found in wet path were identified at family level and distributed in 10 insect orders: Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Blattodea, Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, Siphonaptera, Thysanura and Dermaptera. The most representative order was Coleoptera (23%) followed by Hemiptera (20%), Diptera and Lepidoptera (12%) and Hymenoptera (14%). The number of specimens collected belonging to the orders Siphonaptera, Blattodea, Dermaptera, Phthiraptera and Thysanura the same value (2%). The coleopteran order was the one that obtained the largest number of specimens identified in the wet collection, followed by the hemiptera order