Social insects have many defence mechanisms against pests and pathogens. One of these is hygienic behaviour, which has been studied in detail in the honey bee, Apis mellifera Hygienic honey bee workers remove dead and diseased larvae and pupae from sealed brood cells, thereby reducing disease transfer within the colony. Stingless bees, Meliponini, also rear broods in sealed cells. We investigat...

Insect life stages are known imperfectly in many cases, and classifications are usually based on adult morphology. This is unfortunate as information on other life stages may be useful for biomonitoring. The major impediment to using elmid (Coleoptera) larvae for freshwater biomonitoring is the lack of larval descriptions and illustrations. Reliable molecular protocols may be used to associate ...

Three new species of Macrelmis Motschulsky, 1859 (Macrelmis bispo sp. nov., Macrelmis froehlichi sp. nov., and Macrelmis nessimiani sp. nov.) are herein described and illustrated. The species were collected from several streams in Goiás State, Brazil, a formerly unknown region concerning Elmidae fauna. We also provide an updated key for the Macrelmis species of Brazil.