Brazilian Collection Research Articles

Asteraceae no município de Jacobina, Chapada Diamantina, Estado da Bahia, Brasil

Asteraceae é a maior família dentre as Eudicotiledôneas com cerca de 24.000 espécies distribuídas em todo planeta. Jacobina situa‑se no extremo norte da Chapada Diamantina, com duas principais formações montanhosas, a Serra do Tombador na porção oeste e a Serra de Jacobina na porção leste. O estudo tem como objetivo realizar o levantamento florístico de Asteraceae do município de Jacobina, discutir a ocorrência, a distribuição e apresentar uma chave de identificação para as espécies. Foram realizadas cinco viagens de coleta (2011-2012) em diversas fitofisionomias do município e análise das coleções de sete herbários brasileiros. Asteraceae está representada em Jacobina por 15 tribos, 61 gêneros, 80 espécies e um híbrido. As tribos mais representativas foram Vernonieae (21 spp.), Eupatorieae (19) e Heliantheae (13), destacando os gêneros Lepidaploa e Mikania (com 5 espécies cada). Dentre os táxons encontrados, dez têm Jacobina como localidade-tipo e Lepidaploa muricata é uma nova ocorrência para o Estado.

Principais Acervos de Paleontologia do Brasil

Main Brazilian paleontological collections. This paper presents a summary of major paleontological collections in Brazil, without regard to institutions that are closed to reform or with predominantly didactic or academic collections. From thirty institutions listed, twelve of them are located in the southeast (Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Peiropolis, Ouro Preto, Sao Paulo, Rio Claro, Taubate and Monte Alto), ten in the northeast (Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, Sergipe and Bahia), five in the southern (Mafra, Porto Alegre, Sao Leopoldo and Santa Maria), two in the northern region (Acre and Para), and one in central Brazilian region. The largest fossil collections in Brazil are in the Museu de Ciencias da Terra of the DNPM and the Museu Nacional, both in Rio de Janeiro, which gather around 260,000 specimens, even in Aracaju, Sergipe, is the third largest Brazilian paleontological collection, with approximately 38,000 fossils belonging to the Fundacao Paleontologica Phoenix. The most thematic collections are related to Cretaceous fossils, which is concordant with the abundance of Brazilian fossils of this age: in the northeast region, the collections are notables by the large number of invertebrates and fishes, and in Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, by their reptiles. Other thematic collections are in Rio Grande do Sul (Triassic reptiles), Sao Paulo (Mesozoic trace fossils), Santa Catarina (Paleozoic invertebrates), Ceara and Pernambuco (Siluro-Devonian trace fossils), and Ceara, Bahia, Minas Gerais and Acre (Cenozoic megafauna). The oldest museums of Brazil with paleontological collections are all centenarians: the Museu Nacional, established in 1818 in Rio de Janeiro, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, opened in 1866 in Belem, and the Museu de Ciencia e Tecnica in Ouro Preto, created in 1884.

The Brazilian Journal of Geology is part of the SciELO

In this short editorial it is with great pleasure I announce that on September 1 st I received the long expected information that, by decision of the Advisory Committee of SciELO Brazil, in their meeting held on August 29 th, 2014, the Brazilian Journal of Geology (BJG) was considered fit to join the Brazilian SciELO Collection. With the help of our competent and diversified editorial board, the editorial actions conducted with professionalism, and with the continuous flow of good quality scientific articles produced by our national community, we were able to fulfill one of our most important goals.

Conceptual bases in restoration of scientific vertebrate collections.

The scientific heritage preserved in Brazilian biological collections has inestimable value. Despite the research on curation and restoration of biological material is regarded as strategic, there is a lack of expertise in these areas in the country. These deficiencies often determine the use of obsolete or even inadequate procedures aimed at the recovery of material for research or exhibition, resulting in risk to valuable specimens. In the present work we provide a review of the literature on the restoration of biological specimens and summarize concepts employed in the restoration of mammals and birds of the Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, exhibition in 2011. The aim of this work is to contribute to the development of protocols when interventions are needed to restore damaged specimens.

SYLLOGE NUMMORUM GRAECORUM, BRASIL I. MUSEU HISTÓRICO NACIONAL, RIO DE JANEIRO. MOEDAS GREGAS E PROVÍNCIAIS ROMANAS

Abstract: The numismatic collection of the Museu Historico Nacional in Rio de Janeiro is the largest in Brazil. It contains 131,000 specimens from all regions and historical periods, of which many are informatively and handsomely displayed in a permanent exhibition in the museum. This volume of the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum , the first of a Brazilian collection, catalogues 1,750 of the coins that count as Greek. The descriptions and details of the coins are presented in the form that is usual for SNG volumes, with plentiful bibliographical referencing, in particular to other volumes of SNG . The catalogue is introduced by two essays: one, by the author Marici Martins Magalhaes on the development of the collection and the work of cataloguing it, the other by Professor Luiz Aranha Correa do Lago, curator of the permanent exhibition. The title of the exhibition is “As moedas contam a Historia” (Coins tell the [Hi]story), and Professor do Lago here provides for readers an authoritative account of the development of Greek coinage as it is extensively illustrated in the volume. In terms of chronological spread he is able to refer to coins from the very early days of coining in Asia Minor (nos. 1271-2, electrum and silver coins respectively of Lydia) right through to the later stages of the Roman provincial series in Alexandria (Maximianus Herculius, nos. 1726-37); the geographical spread covers an area running from the Straits of Gibraltar in the west to Afghanistan in the east.

Morphological and molecular evidence for the occurrence of three Hippocampus species (Teleostei: Syngnathidae) in Brazil.

For many decades only two species of seahorses were recognized from Brazil: Hippocampus reidi Ginsburg, 1933, the long snout seahorse, and H. erectus Perry, 1810, the lined seahorse. The presence of a possible third species, recognized in 2002, brought about the need for a broad revision of the genus in Brazilian waters. A total of 335 specimens of seahorses, obtained from Brazilian and other collections, representing the three putative species from Brazil were analyzed: H. reidi, the species of greatest abundance and occurs in estuaries and the sea; H. erectus, which occurs only in the sea, and Hippocampus patagonicus was also determined to be present based on multiple specimens. Our morphometric / numerical and molecular analysis showed that the species currently identified as H. erectus in Brazil is actually H. patagonicus Piacentino & Luzatto, 2004. The existence of a possible third species, was instead based on the true H. erectus, as confirmed in the present study by the study of classical systematic and mitochondrial analysis. Thus, we recognize three species of seahorses in Brazil: H. erectus, H. reidi and H. patagonicus.

Cranial morphological diversity of early, middle, and late Holocene Brazilian groups: implications for human dispersion in Brazil.

The history of human occupation in Brazil dates to at least 14 kyr BP, and the country has the largest record of early human remains from the continent. Despite the importance and richness of Brazilian human skeletal collections, the biological relationships between groups and their implications for knowledge about human dispersion in the country have not been properly explored. Here, we present a comprehensive assessment of the morphological affinities of human groups from East-Central, Coastal, Northeast, and South Brazil from distinct periods and test for the best dispersion scenarios to explain the observed diversity across time. Our results, based on multivariate assessments of shape and goodness of fit tests of dispersion and adaptation models, favor the idea that Brazil experienced at least two large dispersion waves. The first dispersive event brought the morphological pattern that characterize Late Pleistocene groups continent-wide and that persisted among East-Central Brazil groups until recently. Within the area covered by our samples, the second wave was probably restricted to the coast and is associated with a distinct morphological pattern. Inland and coastal populations apparently did not interact significantly during the Holocene, as there is no clear signal of admixture between groups sharing the two morphological patterns. However, these results cannot be extended to the interior part of the country (Amazonia and Central Brazil), given the lack of skeletal samples in these regions.

Morphological characterization and genetic diversity in Passiflora alata Curtis and P. cincinnata Mast. (Passifloraceae)

The genetic variability in accessions of Passiflora alata and P. cincinnata in a Brazilian germplasm collection was inferred using sixteen quantitative and eight qualitative morphological descriptors. The accessions were evaluated with randomized block design, with three repetitions. Among the morphological characteristics, the bract length, and plant height were the traits that presented most variation among the accessions of P. alata, whereas floral pedicel length and internode number presented the largest variation among the accessions of P. cincinnata. By means of multivariate analysis, applying Mahalanobis’s cluster technique by single linkage, Tocher optimization, and canonic variables, a cluster of the genotypes per species was noted, and within each species, there was consistency between the methods for the number of groups formed. The accessions of P. alata were divided in our subgroups and the ones of P. cincinnata in eight subgroups. From the qualitative data, the cluster analysis by means of the nearest neighbor method revealed the formation of nine groups, separating them by species, with cophenetic correlation coefficient of r cof = 86. The traits were not efficient to group the accessions, and the corona diameter was the character that contributed most for the explanation of the interspecific genetic divergence. Genetic variability was observed in and between species, with larger genetic divergence between accessions 363 and 332 of P. alata, and 245 and 211 of P. cincinnata.

Application of MALDI-TOF MS for requalification of a Candida clinical isolates culture collection.

Microbial culture collections underpin biotechnology applications and are important resources for clinical microbiology by supplying reference strains and/or performing microbial identifications as a service. Proteomic profiles by MALDI-TOF MS have been used for Candida spp. identification in clinical laboratories and demonstrated to be a fast and reliable technique for the routine identification of pathogenic yeasts. The main aim of this study was to apply MALDI-TOF MS combined with classical phenotypic and molecular approaches to identify Candida clinical isolates preserved from 1 up to 52 years in a Brazilian culture collection and assess its value for the identification of yeasts preserved in this type of collections. Forty Candida spp. clinical isolates were identified by morphological and biochemical analyses. Identifications were also performed by the new proteomic approach based on MALDI-TOF MS. Results demonstrated 15% discordance when compared with morphological and biochemical analyses. Discordant isolates were analysed by ITS sequencing, which confirmed the MALDI-TOF MS identifications and these strains were renamed in the culture collection catalogue. In conclusion, proteomic profiles by MALDI-TOF MS represents a rapid and reliable method for identifying clinical Candida species preserved in culture collections and may present clear benefits when compared with the performance of existing daily routine methods applied at health centres and hospitals.

First Report of Stigmina palmivora Causing Leaf Spots on Phoenix roebelenii in Brazil.

Phoenix roebelenii (Arecaceae), known as dwarf date (tamareira-anã in Brazil), is a palm native to Southeast Asia and widely cultivated worldwide because of its ornamental value and ease of adaptation to a broad range of climates and soil types (4). In June 2012, some individuals were observed in a private garden in the municipality of Viçosa (state of Minas Gerais, Brazil) bearing numerous necrotic lesions on its leaves. Representative samples were taken, dried in a plant press, and brought to the laboratory for examination. A fungus was regularly associated with the leaf spots. Fungal structures were mounted in lactophenol and slides were examined under a microscope (Olympus BX 51). Spores were taken from sporulating colonies with a sterile fine needle and plated on PDA for isolation. A pure culture was deposited in the culture collection of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (accession COAD1338). A dried herbarium sample was deposited in the local herbarium (VIC39741). The fungus had the following morphology: conidiophores grouped on sporodochia, cylindrical, 12 to 29 × 5 to 6 μm, dark brown; conidiogenous cells, terminal, proliferating percurrently (annellidic), 8 to 20 × 5 to 6 μm, pale to dark brown; conidia obclavate to subcylindrical, straight, 58 to 147 × 5 to 6 μm, 6 to 16 septate, hila thickened and darkened with a thin-walled projecting papilla, dark brown, and verrucose. The morphology of the Brazilian collections agrees well with the description of Stigmina palmivora (2), a species known to cause leaf spots on P. roebelenii in the United States (Florida) and Japan (3). Pathogenicity was demonstrated through inoculation of leaves of healthy plants by placing 6 mm diameter cuture disks of COAD1338 on the leaf surface followed by incubation in a moist chamber for 48 h and then transferred to a greenhouse bench at 21 ± 3°C. Typical leaf spots were observed 15 days after inoculation. DNA was extracted from the isolate growing in pure culture and ITS and LSU sequences were generated and deposited in GenBank under the accession numbers KF656785 and KF656786, respectively. These were compared by BLASTn with other entries in GenBank, and the closest match for each region were Mycosphaerella colombiensis strain X215 and M. irregulariamosa strain CPC 1362 (EU514231, GU2114441) with 93% of nucleotide homology (over 100% query coverage) for ITS and 98% of nucleotide homology (over 100% query coverage) for LSU. There are no sequences for S. palmivora deposited in public databases for comparison, but for Stigmina platani, the type species in this genus, 86% and 96% nucleotide homology for ITS and LSU with S. palmivora were found. The genus Stigmina is regarded as being polyphyletic (1) and this is probably reflected by these low homology levels found in the BLASTn search. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Stigmina palmivora in Brazil.

The Brazilian Labour Court Digital Collection

In 1938, Jose Maria Serafim, a Portuguese migrant weaver, started work at the Industrias Reunidas Ranieri in Sao Paulo. After ten years of work for the same company, he was considered a stable employee, accordingly to the law of stability provided by the Brazilian labour law code Consolidacao das Leis Trabalhistas (CLT), created in 1943. In 1956, the factory filed for bankruptcy and dismissed all its employees without paying the compensation required according to labour legislation. Serafim was among a group of thirty textile and metalworkers from Brazil, Portugal and Lithuania who decided to sue the company at the Brazilian Labour Court to claim their rights. In addition to salary compensation, the workers demanded the payment of the aviso previo, unemployment benefits paid by the employer after dismissal. The case opened in September 1956. In that same year, the company was acquired by the Industria Reunidas Paulista, but the new management declined to pay the labour debts generated by the former employer. Rio Branco Paranhos, a well-known militant Communist trade union lawyer, defended the workers at the Labour Court. The workers’ main concern was to ensure the payment of their compensation through retention of the company’s assets. Their objective was to prevent the sale of the machines considered the most important assets of the company. They believed that the machines would ensure the payment of their compensations. Then, in order to secure the company’s assets, the workers mobilized the people living close to the factory to check that

Range and natural history of point-tailed palmcreepers (Aves: Furnariidae)

The point-tailed palmcreeper Berlepschia rikeri is a distinctive Furnariidae species, very shy and poorly known. In this paper we present natural history notes on this species as well as a detailed review of its range. This paper summarizes anecdotal observations gathered during 10 years of ornithological investigation of the central Brazilian Cerrado, as well as data obtained in 13 Brazilian and overseas collections and from online databases. We found that B. rikeri is widely distributed across north and central South America, where it is strictly associated with palm groves, especially those of Mauritia spp. and Orbignya phalerata. Despite being a habitat specialist, this species can be found in a wide spectrum of vegetation formations, from lowland rainforests to high plateau grasslands. This is an insectivorous species, which constructs a stick nest concealed within the fronds of Mauritia palms. Its juvenile plumage is similar to that of the adult.

Updates on the geographic distribution of three Geastrum species from Brazilian semi-arid region

Taxonomic studies on Brazilian semi-arid collections of earthstars revealed the occurrence of three species: Geastrum floriforme (first record for Brazil), Geastrum violaceum (new for the tropical region) and Geastrum xerophilum (second record for the Neotropics). Detailed basidiomata descriptions with taxonomic remarks, photos and drawings of macro- and micro-morphological data are given.

Enzymatic activity profile of a Brazilian culture collection of Candida albicans isolated from diabetics and non‐diabetics with oral candidiasis

The secretion of hydrolytic enzymes is a fundamental virulence factor of Candida albicans to develop disease. The objective of this study was to characterise the virulence of 148 clinical isolates of C. albicans from oral candidiasis by assessing the expression of phospholipase (PL) and secreted aspartyl proteinase (SAP). Isolates were obtained from healthy subjects (HS) and diabetics (DOC) and non-diabetics with oral candidiasis (NDOC). An aliquot (5μl) of each cell suspension was inoculated on PL and SAP agar plates and incubated. Enzymes secretion was detected by the formation of an opaque halo around the colonies and enzymatic activity (PZ) was determined by the ratio between colony diameter and colony diameter plus the halo zone. Statistical comparisons were made by a one-way anova followed by Tukey's post hoc test (α=0.05). The clinical sources of C. albicans had significant effect (P<0.001) on the PZ values of both enzymes. For PL, clinical isolates from NDOC and DOC had highest enzymatic activity than those from HS (P<0.05), with no significant differences between them (P=0.506). For SAP, C. albicans from NDOC showed the lower enzymatic activity (P<0.001). There were no significant differences between isolates from HS and DOC (P=0.7051). C. albicans isolates from NDOC and DOC patients showed an increased production of PL.

Entre tradição e inovação: um estudo sobre mudanças no ensino de gramática em livros didáticos brasileiros de Língua Portuguesa

O objetivo deste artigo é investigar o tratamento dado ao ensino de gramática ou à análise linguística em três coleções brasileiras de livros didáticos de Língua Portuguesa aprovadas no Programa Nacional do Livro Didático 2007. Os resultados evidenciaram que duas das coleções analisadas usavam o termo gramática e todas elas tendiam a estabelecer objetivos de ensino relacionados ao domínio da gramática ou da língua em si mesmas. Em relação aos conteúdos, constatamos que os tópicos tradicionais da gramática escolar dividiam a cena com outros conteúdos. Ao analisar as atividades, constatamos, em duas das coleções, poucas atividades de análise quando setratavam dos conteúdos tradicionais. No ensino das classes de palavras e da ortografia, encontramos duas inovações principais: o uso de textos e a tendência à não-apresentação de informações prontas. Já na exploração de características dos gêneros textuais, além de usar pseudotextos, as coleções adotavam, às vezes, uma abordagem transmissiva.Palavras-chaveAnálise linguística; Ensino de gramática; Livros didáticos

Susceptibility profile of a Brazilian yeast stock collection of Candida species isolated from subjects with Candida-associated denture stomatitis with or without diabetes

This study investigated the susceptibility of 198 clinical isolates of Candida species against caspofungin, amphotericin B, itraconazole, and fluconazole. Suspensions of the microorganisms were spread on Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI) agar plates. Etest strips were placed on the plates, and the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) was read after incubation (48 h at 37 °C). Data were analyzed by a factorial analysis of variance and a 2 × 2 post hoc test (α = .05). C glabrata showed the highest MIC values (P < .001) against caspofungin, itraconazole, and fluconazole. For amphotericin B, the MIC values of C tropicalis and C glabrata (P = .0521) were higher than those of C albicans (P < .001). Itraconazole was the least effective antifungal; 93.3% of the C glabrata isolates, 3.3% of the C albicans, and 1.3% of the C tropicalis were resistant. All microorganisms were susceptible to caspofungin and amphotericin B. Caspofungin and amphotericin B should be recommended as an effective alternative for the management of oral Candida infections when treatment with topical or other systemic drugs has definitely failed.

Microbial culture collections as pillars for promoting fungal diversity, conservation and exploitation

Fungi are a diverse group of organisms with an overall global number of 1.5M up to 3.3M species on Earth. Besides their ecological roles as decomposers, fungi are important in several aspects of applied research. Here, we review how culture collections may promote the knowledge on diversity, conservation and biotechnological exploitation of fungi. The impact of fungi diversity on biotechnological studies is discussed. We point out the major roles of microbial repositories, including fungal preservation, prospecting, identification, authentication and supply. A survey on the World Data Center for Microorganisms (WDCM) powered by the World Federation for Culture Collections and on the Genetic Heritage Management Council (CGEN) database revealed that 46 Brazilian culture collections registered in these databases are dedicate to preserving fungi. Most of these culture collections are located in the Southeast of Brazil. This scenario also demonstrates that Brazil has many collections focused on fungal strains, but the lack of up-to-date information in WDCM as well as of a solid national platform for culture collections registration do not allow accurate assessment of fungal preservation.

Strobilurus torquatus Wiegmann, 1834 (Squamata: Tropiduridae): new records from the Brazilian state of Paraíba and a geographic distribution map

We provide the first records of Strobilurus torquatus from the Brazilian state of Paraíba and review its distribution based on specimens available in Brazilian collections and published data. This result emphasizes the need for more surveys on reptiles at this region.

The Reptile Collection of the Museu de Zoologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil

Brazilian scientific collections represent an important sample of the country’s biodiversity and are a testament to its history. The Reptile Collection of the Museu de Zoologia from Universidade Federal da Bahia (CRMZUFBA) has 5,206 specimens and 185 species (13 endemic to Brazil and 9 threatened) with one quarter of the known reptile species listed in Brazil, from over 175 municipalities. Although the CRMZUFBA houses species from all Brazilian biomes there is a strong regional presence. Knowledge of the species housed in smaller collections could avoid unrepresentative species descriptions and provide information concerning intraspecific variation, ecological features and geographic coverage.

Taxonomic and distributional notes on Telebasis Selys, 1865, with a redescription of T. pallida Machado, 2010, and an evaluation of the T. racenisi Bick & Bick, 1995 “complex” of species (Odonata, Coenagrionidae)

A full checklist of the species of Telebasis Selys, 1865, housed in the Brazilian collections Colecao Entomologica “Prof. Jose Alfredo Pinheiro Dutra”, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio do Janeiro (DZRJ), and Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo (MZSP) is presented. A total of 325 specimens representing 19 species were studied. Ten new records for Brazilian States were found for T. carmesina Calvert, 1909 (Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul), T. corallina (Selys, 1876) (Pernambuco), T. demarara (Williamson, 1917) (Maranhao), T. filiola (Perty, 1834) (Paraiba and Santa Catarina), T. gigantea Daigle, 2002 (Sao Paulo), T. inalata (Calvert, 1961) (Mato Grosso do Sul), T. pallida Machado, 2010 (Goias) and T. obsoleta (Selys, 1876) (Mato Grosso do Sul), as well as a new record of T. carminita Calvert, 1909 for Suriname. Telebasis pallida Machado, 2010 is redescribed and diagnosed based on 14 males collected near the type locality, and its genital ligula is described and illustrated for the first time. Furthermore, the status of the three species of the Telebasis racenisi Bick & Bick, 1995 “complex” is evaluated. Of these, Telebasis pareci Machado, 2010 syn. n. is proposed as junior subjective synonym of Telebasis lenkoi Machado, 2010, and a possible synonymy among the three species is discussed under T. racenisi. (© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)