Species of Chaetominettia Malloch (Diptera: Lauxaniidae) from the States of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rondônia, Brazil

Abstract

The states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rondônia are located in the Midwest and northern Brazil, with a Neotropical influence. Their vegetation cover present aspects of the Pantanal, Cerrado and Amazon Rainforest Biomes. They are among the Brazilian collections with little coverage and representativeness in entomological collections, which implies low knowledge of its insect fauna. The Project SISBIOTA Diptera CNPq / FAPESP (CNPq 563256 / 2010-9 and FAPESP 2010 / 52314-0) collected in a standardized manner specimens of Diptera in this region. The Order Diptera is among the four megadiverse insect orders and the superfamily Lauxanioidea is part of the Division Acalyptratae, a very diverse group of flies, whose family relationships are not well established. The family Lauxaniidae has 1,894 species in 183 genera worldwide, and 367 species in 62 genera in the Neotropical Region, but the family is still poorly studied, despite being one of the six largest acalyptrate families. Lauxaniid flies have small to moderately large body, its length varies from 2 to 11 mm and the coloring is varied - many have stains, marks or tracks; larvae are saprophagic and adults are found in moist and shady places. The genus Chaetominettia was described by Malloch (1926), it has four species described with Neotropical distribution, two of which reported to occur in Brazil. There are no published reviews and it is the subject of this project. Because of the importance of knowledge and characterization of the genus, this work aims to present a detailed study of the morphology of their species. (AU)