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Scarab Central
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Team Scarab in Brazil
August 2000
Brett Ratcliffe and Mary Liz Jameson
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Co-PIs Brett Ratcliffe and Mary Liz Jameson and graduate students Andrew Smith, Aura Paucar, and Federico Ocampo conducted research in the major Brazilian entomology collections and attended the 21st International Congress of Entomology in August 2000.
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Following in the footsteps of Henry Walter Bates, we first arrived in Belém to begin our research. L-R, Andrew Smith, Aura Paucar, Brett Ratcliffe, Mary Liz Jameson, Federico Ocampo.
After climbing several obstacles of Amazonian proportions, we finally arrived at our destination. Fede and Aura
blazing a trail.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.
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We descended on our first collection, the Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi in Belém at the mouth of the Amazon River, where we curated and identified the scarab collection for two days. Here, and at all the museums, we gathered data from specimens for our various scarab projects. Bento Mascarenhas (Head of Invertebrates) and Inocencio Gorayeb (Tabanidae) coordinated our efforts in their collection.
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Part of Team Scarab at the Museu Goeldi. L-R, Aura, Fede, Andrew, Brett.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.

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After the wonderful heat and humidity of Amazonia, we then traveled to the Museu Naçional in Rio de Janeiro where we worked for several days. Miguel Monné (Cerambycidae) was our contact and gracious host. This collection is much larger and older, but we were able to make good progress in sorting unidentified material, curating, and providing identifications on many specimens.
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The Museu Nacional in Rio resides in the old palace of the Portuguese king, Dom Pedro. L-R, Brett, Andrew, Fede, Aura, Mary Liz.

Brett sorting cetoniines at the
Museu Nacional.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.

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Miguel Monné, curator of the Coleoptera collections at the Museu Naçional.
Photo by A. B. T. Smith.
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Brett, Aura, Fede, and Andrew with Corcovado looming up behind. It was winter in Rio so not many insects
on the vegetation. You can look
without a permit.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.
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Mary Liz with Rio's signature, Sugar Loaf,
in the background.
Photo by F. Ocampo.
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Aura and Mary Liz curating the
large Rutelinae collection at the
Museu Nacional.
Photo by B. Ratcliffe.
 
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Unfortunately, we had to leave Rio (a beautiful city) to go to São Paulo where we worked in the collections of the Museu da Zoologia of the Universidade de São Paulo. These are the largest collections in Brazil with a wealth of material. In addition to gathering data for our studies, we sorted and identified over 50 drawers of specimens. Ubirajara Martins (Cerambycidae) was our principal counterpart, and a great deal of additional assistance was provided by Cleide Costa (beetle larvae, retired), Sergio Ide (Scarabaeidae), and Fernando Vaz de Mello (graduate student from the Universidade de Viçosa, Scarabaeidae). John Lawrence (CSIRO, Australia), the world's expert on the higher classification of Coleoptera, was conducting a workshop at the Museum. He became an honorary member of Team Scarab in return for letting us crash his coffee breaks for the course.
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Fede, rising to the occasion, and Aura in
the scarab range at the Museu da
Zoologia in São Paulo.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.

Ubirajara Martins and Fede with one of Ubirajara's longhorn books.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.
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Mary Liz and John Lawrence with the requisite cup of cafezinha which, when made in Brazil, does keep you awake.
Photo by B. Ratcliffe.

Scarabaeidophiles at the Museu da
Zoologia. L-R, Sergio Ide, Christiano
Lopes-Andrade, and Fernando Vaz de Mello.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.

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Fede, Andrew, and Aura sorting and identifying scarabs in São Paulo.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.

Cleide Costa and Sergio Vanin, authors of Larvas de Coleoptera do Brasil.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.

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After Sao Paulo, we attended, along with about 4,000 other people, the 21st International Congress of Entomology at Iguassu Falls near the borders of Argentina and Paraguay. One of the highlights of the meetings for us was the Scarab Symposium organized by Brett Ratcliffe and co-moderated by Andrew Smith.

The speakers and their titles were:
1. Phylogenetic trends in the tribe Melolonthini in the Holarctic Region: a biogeographical approach. Mila Coca-Abia, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Spain.

2. Systematics, ecology, and biogeography of Costa Rican dung beetles. Angel Solís, INBio, and Bert Kohlmann, Escuela Agric. Region Tropical Humeda, Costa Rica.

3. Distributional patterns of Amazonian dung beetles. Bruce Gill, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canada.

4. Phylogeny of the Scarabaeoidea. Clarke Scholtz, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

5. Hopliini of the Iberian Peninsula: a biogeographical and taxonomic study. Eduardo Galante & Estefánia Mico, University of Alicante, Spain.

6. Systematics and biogeography of Anoplognathini (Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae), a tribe endemic to the Neotropical and Australian realms. Andrew Smith, University of Nebraska, USA.

7. A preliminary overview of the Neotropical genus Epectinaspis Blanchard (Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Anomalini). Aura Paucar, University of Nebraska, USA.

8. Phylogenetic analysis of the Pelidnotina. Mary Liz Jameson, University of Nebraska, USA.

9. Dung beetle communities in mountain systems. Jean-Pierre Lumaret & Pierre Jay- Robert, Universite Paul Valery, France.

10. A synopsis of the New World Hybosoridae. Federico Ocampo, University of Nebraska, USA.

11. Towards a molecular phylogeny of scarabaeid dung beetles. A. Vogler, D.J.G. Inward, & C. Wilsher, The Natural History Museum and Imperial College, UK.

12. A faunistic survey of the Dynastinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) of Central America. B. C. Ratcliffe, University of Nebraska, USA.

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Iguassu Falls from the Brazilian side.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.
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Scarab confab at the Congress. L-R, Angel Solís (Costa Rica), Alberto Ballerio (Italy), Andrew Smith (U.S.A.), Rosalyn and Jean-Pierre Lumaret (France), and Mary Liz Jameson (U.S.A.).
Photo by B. Ratcliffe (they all wanted him to back up just a little more into the pool).
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After Iguassu, the students returned to Nebraska because classes had already begun. Brett and Mary Liz flew to Manaus in the center of the Amazon basin to study the collections at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia (INPA). This is the largest on-site research collection in entomology for greater Amazonia. Ricardo Andreazze provided invaluable assistance and helped to sort material.
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Joachim Adis and Brett at the Congress where they presented a paper on dung beetles in the Amazonian Insects Symposium.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.

Ricardo Andreazze and Brett curating collections at INPA in Manaus.
Photo by M. L. Jameson.

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A final note . . .
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At each museum we visited, we set aside specimens that we would like to receive on loan. However, with the implementation in June 2000 of the Brazilian federal government's Medida Provisoria 2.052 (protection of genetic resources), it appears that even loans of scientific specimens from Brazil will not be permitted until the new law is clarified. This is a very serious impediment to scientific research that will impact both Brazilian and other scientists. At a time of an accelerating global biodiversity crisis, especially in the tropics, it seems unthinkable that any government would stop the sharing of scientific data that might help us to better understand the threats to our biota. Before governments or the scientific community can fully address such complex issues, we first need to know the composition of the plants and animals that live on Earth. Regulations such as MP 2.052 severely curtail this knowledge.
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You know its bad when I can't even get a permit to export bugs from Brazil!
Heavenly photo by M. L. Jameson.
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Division of Entomology
W 436 Nebraska Hall
University of Nebraska State Museum
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0514 USA
Curator:
Brett C. Ratcliffe
(402) 472-2614
bratcliffe1@unl.edu
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