This study reports for the first time the occurrence of Gonatopus flavipes Olmi, 1984 in Pará State, Brazil. Specimes were collected on upland rice crops of Cambará variety in Novo Progresso (7°07'45.71"S 55°23'21.13"W). A sampling of insects with pitfall traps was conducted between November 2010 and March 2011. Specimens of G. flavipes were identified, illustrated and deposited in the Entomological Collection of the Department of Zoology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil (DZUP/UFPR). This record indicates that rice crops may represent important habitats for this species.

Chrysidoidea , Gonatopodinae , Gonatopus group seven, pitfall traps

Gonatopus Ljung, 1810 is one of the 11 genera belonging to the subfamily Gonatopodinae (Hymenoptera, Dryinidae). With about 440 worldwide described species, among which 120 known in the Neotropics and 32 in Brazil (Olmi and Virla 2014; Martins et al. 2015a, b), this genus is divided into 12 groups (nine registered for the Neotropics and five for Brazil) (Olmi and Virla 2014). Little is known about the biology of parasitoids belonging to the genus Gonatopus. The few studies report the association of the genus with some families of leafhoppers and planthoppers (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha): Acanaloniidae, Caliscelidae, Cicadellidae, Cixiidae, Delphacidae, Dictyopharidae, Flatidae, Issidae, Lophopidae, Meenoplidae and Tropiduchidae (Guglielmino et al. 2013; Olmi and Virla 2014).

Gonatopus flavipes Olmi, 1984, broadly distributed from Mexico to Argentina, belongs to group seven, which is the largest group of Gonatopus with exactly 61 described species. Both sexes of G. flavipes are known (Olmi and Virla 2014). The following species of Cicadellidae (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha) are reported as hosts: Mendozellus asunctia Cheng in Argentina; Dalbulus maidis (DeLong and Wolcott) in Piaui, Brazil; Dalbulus elimatus (Ball), Planicephalus flavicosta (Stål) and Graminella comata (Ball) in Mexico (Guglielmino and Olmi 1997, 2006; Meneses et al. 2013; Moya-Raygoza 1990, 1993; Olmi and Virla 2014; Virla 1992).

The Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento do Brasil (CONAB 2016) records rice cultivation in Pará State since 1976–1977, mainly in the North, with recent planting of upland rice in the Southwest (less than 10 years) (Azevedo 2009; Krinski 2014; Lopes et al. 2004; Silva and Magalhães 1981). For this reason, a few entomological studies have been conducted on rice cultivars of this region. This study reports for the first time the occurrence of G. flavipes in upland rice crop in Southwestern region of Pará State (Brazil).

A sampling of insects was conducted with pitfall traps on upland rice crops (Cambará variety), in Novo Progresso, State of Pará, Brazil (7°07'45.71"S 55°23'21.13"W) (Fig. 1), between November 2010 and March 2011. The sampling effort included 16 collecting points visited weekly, covering 400 meters in four transects of 100 meters, distant 25 meters from each other.

Figure 1. 

Distribution map of Gonatopus flavipes. Black circle: record areas in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil (Piauí, São Paulo and Santa Catarina), Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Jamaica and Mexico; Star: new record of occurrence (Florentino farm – municipality of Novo Progresso, Pará State, Brazil). Source: i3Geo (free software). Licensed as General Public License (GNU) and created by Ministry of Environment (MMA).

The collected specimens of Gonatopus were sent to the Laboratory of Comparative Hymenoptera Biology at Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), where they were identified to species level using a stereo-microscope LEICA M125 coupled to digital camera LEICA DFC295. The images were processed by Zerene Stacker software (1.04 version build). Digital scanning electronmicroscope (SEM) photographs were taken with a TESCAN VEGA3 LMU in low vacum mode. The figures were prepared using Adobe Photoshop (version 11.0). Specimens are deposited in the Entomological Collection of the Department of Zoology, Federal University of Paraná (DZUP).

Authors acknowledge the farmers of Fazenda Florentino, Marlete Florentino, Eurides Florentino (in memoriam), and Nadir de Lima Florentino (in memoriam) for allowing this research on their property. We also thank the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for fellowships provided to D. Krinski (CNPq – Proc.: 141243/2012-0 and CAPES – Proc.: 939980) and A. L. Martins (CNPq – Proc.: 142415/2015-4). Many thanks to the Center of Electron Microscopy of Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) for the SEM photomicrographs. Many thanks to Dr. Massimo Olmi (Tropical Entomology Research Center, Viterbo, Italy) for help in the identification of species and for the review of the manuscript.