Scientists discovered 20 new gnat species in Brazil

Due to the heterogenity of natural habitats and its dimension, Brazil is thought to hold 15 to 20 percent of the biodiversity on Earth. A study conducted in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest under the leadership of senior researcher Olavi Kurina from the Chair of Biodiversity and Nature Tourism at Estonian University of Life Sciences could confirm this theory.

The Atlantic Forest ecoregion in Brazil is an area with diverse nature, following the coastline of the country and embracing tropical, subtropical and mangrove forests, and shrubland and grassland. Kurina says, "There are many endemic species known in this region."

In addition to the known biodiversity, in September the researchers described in these rainforests 20 gnat species in the genus Manota that were new to science. The species belong to the family of fungus gnats (Mycetophilidae) and are small flies measuring 1.5 to 3 mm long, with specific differences lying mainly in terminal morphology of the male specimens.

The new species received scientific names by their morphological features and in honour of colleagues who had contributed to the research. As a result of zoogeographic analysis, a discrepancy was described between the comparatively wide distribution of the Manota species and the areas of endemism known for Diptera in South America and in Brazilian Atlantic Forest particularly.

More information:
OLAVI KURINA et al, A contribution to the systematics of the genus Manota Williston (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) in Brazil, Zootaxa (2018). DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4472.1.1

Provided by Estonian Research Council