Diversity of Ceratopogonidae (Diptera: Culicomorpha) from the Reserva Natural Integral Punta Lara (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

We present the results of the first survey on the Ceratopogonidae from the “Reserva Natural Integral Punta Lara”, in Buenos Aires province. This protected area represents the southernmost relict of gallery forest where the knowledge of the insect fauna is still limited. Catches were conducted in areas of grassland and marginal forest with Malaise traps, CDC light traps and funnel light traps. A total of 4,195 specimens belonging to nine genera and 39 species of Ceratopogonidae were identified. A list of the species present in the protected area is provided, along with their distributional data. Twenty-three species are recorded from the reserve for the first time, while Dasyhelea mediomunda Minaya, Forcipomyia (Forcipomyia) taragui Marino, Spinelli & Cazorla, Forcipomyia (Microhelea) fuliginosa (Meigen), Stilobezzia (Eukraiohelea) elegantula (Johannsen) and Stilobezzia (Stilobezzia) punctulata Lane are recorded for the first time in Buenos Aires province.


INTRODUCTION
The Ceratopogonidae or biting and predaceous midges, commonly known in Argentina as "jejenes", are a large and diverse family of small flies.They are common inhabitants of fresh and saline lentic and lotic ecosystems on all continents except Antarctica (Borkent & Wirth, 1997).There are more than 1,100 known

Study site
The Reserva Natural Integral Punta Lara (34º 47' 18" S; 58º 00' 01" W) has an extension of 6,000 ha in northeast of Buenos Aires province (Fig. 1), on the coast of the estuary of the Río de La Plata within the localities of Ensenada and Berazategui.The plant communities that make up the Reserve are forest, wetlands and grasslands.The forest extends along streams and river banks, which earned it the name of marginal forest.The wetlands are composed of riverside scrubland, lagoons, streams, clipper grassland, lilygrass and channels.The grassland occupies much of the Reserve with a marked heterogeneity of environments determined by geomorphological and edaphic differences (Herrera & Torres Robles, 2012).

Data collection
Catches of adult Ceratopogonidae were conducted between July 2014 and February 2017 with CDC light traps, funnel light traps, and Malaise traps.Traps were installed in different points within the marginal forest and in the neighboring open grassland.CDC light traps were installed in the marginal forest and worked for fifteen continuous hours from sunset, once a month during one year ( September 2014 to October 2015); Malaise and funnel traps were installed in the marginal forest as well as in the grassland, and worked during two continuous weeks in each point, every month along one year (February 2016 to March 2017), although collector cup removal was carried out every seven days.In the laboratory, specimens were separated by genus with the aid of a stereo microscope.To identify them, at least one male and one female of each species were mounted on slides with Canada balsam according to Borkent & Spinelli ( 2007), and identified based on diagnostic keys and original descriptions.The remaining specimens were preserved in ethyl alcohol 70%.For the recorded species the citation of the original description is presented, followed by the previous records from Buenos Aires province.The known distribution of the species refers to the political division of Argentina into provinces where the species have been recorded in the literature ( Table I), plus the detailed localities in the case of Buenos Aires province.The order of taxa follows the Neotropical catalog of Ceratopogonidae ( Borkent & Spinelli, 2007).Studied specimens are deposited in the Entomological collection of the Museo de La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina (MLP).

RESULTS
We list all taxa determined to species level, belonging to subfamilies Forcipomyiinae, Dasyheleinae and Ceratopogoninae.
From a biogeographical point of view, Argentina spans over both the Andean and Neotropical regions, including part of the South American transition zone (Morrone, 2014).In the Neotropical region, the Chacoan sub-region includes among others the Chacoan dominion, which is divided in Argentina into two provinces: Chaco and Pampean provinces.The Reserva Natural Integral Punta Lara (RNIPL) is located in the Pampean province.Moreover, from an ecological point of view the RNIPL occupies two ecoregions: Delta e Islas del Paraná and Pampa (Dinerstein et al., 1995).The RNIPL was declared main area of the Biosphere Reserve " Pereyra Iraola" ( UNESCO, 2017) and it is a protected natural area within a system of protected areas of the province.It was created in 1949 and its main roles are the conservation of the biodiversity of the southernmost relict of the gallery forest, the environmental education and interpretation, and the scientific research.
Despite being the most diverse animal group, arthropods have been and remain minimally represented in biodiversity inventories; insects, as the most species-rich and ecologically varied and complex components of animal biodiversity, cannot be disregarded in assessing impacts of the environmental changes ( New, 2012).Knowledge about the insect fauna of the RNIPL is limited.Most systematic and ecological studies date back to the year 2000, such as the ones concerning the orders Coleoptera ( e.g.: Fernández, 1995;Von Ellenrieder & Fernández, 2000), Odonata ( e.g.: Rodrigues Capítulo, 1988, 1996;Rodrigues Capítulo & Muzón, 1990;Von Ellenrieder, 2000), and Heteroptera ( e.g.: Schnack et al., 1986Schnack et al., , 1989;;Von Ellenrieder & Perez Goodwyn, 2000).As regards to the Diptera, only three families have been briefly studied in this area: Ceratopogonidae ( Spinelli et al., 1989), Chironomidae ( Donato & Paggi, 2005;Siri et al., 2008;Mauad et al., 2013) and Culicidae ( e.g.: García et al., 1994García et al., , 1995;;Maciá et al., 1995Maciá et al., , 1997;;Campos & Zavortink, 2010).In order to manage and evaluate the effectiveness of protected areas to preserve biodiversity, it is important to have a comprehensive knowledge of the species under protection ( Vieira et al., 2013).This study presents an updated list of species of Ceratopogonidae from the Reserva Natural Integral Punta Lara, in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

DISCUSSION
The last study of the family Ceratopogonidae carried out in the Reserva Natural Integral Punta Lara dates back almost thirty years and listed ten known species and seven undetermined species (Spinelli et al., 1989).
In the present study, we present an updated list where the number of named species for this protected area of the province of Buenos Aires is increased to 39. Twentythree of these species are recorded in the RNIPL for the first time, while five species are recorded for the first time in Buenos Aires province: Dasyhelea mediomunda, Forcipomyia (F.) taragui, Forcipomyia (M.) fuliginosa, Stilobezzia (E.) elegantula and Stilobezzia (S.) punctulata.Most of these species have a Neotropical distribution; therefore, their presence in this area CAZORLA, C.G. et al.Ceratopogonidae from Reserva Natural Integral Punta Lara represents the southernmost limit of their distribution, while Dasyhelea mediomunda presents Andean distribution, so this new record represents the easternmost limit of its distribution.Besides, it is noted that the previously published first records of Stilobezzia (S. ) glauca and Stilobezzia (S .)kiefferi from Buenos Aires province (Cazorla, 2016) were made based on material from the same series of samples.
Forcipomyia and Atrichopogon were the genera with higher number of species, 11 and 9 respectively.Regarding the genera Culicoides, Monohelea Kieffer, Forcipomyia (subgenera Caloforcipomyia, Forcipomyia, Synthyridomyia and Trichohelea) and Palpomyia, some material remains undetermined and is being studied, as they could be new taxa.In addition, an undetermined species of Atrichopogon has resulted to be a new one, which was previously found by Cazorla, Marino and Díaz in Sierra de la Ventana, province of Buenos Aires, and it is currently under description.

Fig. 1 .
Fig. 1.Geographical location of Reserva Natural Integral Punta Lara and sampling sites in Buenos Aires province, Argentina.
Table I.Distribution of Ceratopogonidae species collected in the Reserva Natural Integral Punta Lara, by province.① ①: First record in Reserva Natural Integral Punta Lara, ② ②: First record in Buenos Aires province.