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The spatial distribution of small pelagic fishes off the Southeastern Brazilian coastal area (22°-29°S) was investigated over six periods, from 1995 to 2010, in the context of the Program Prospection and Assessment of the Biomass of the Sardine, Sardinella brasiliensis in order to provide data about their pattern of distribution and biomass. A checklist of the species collected is presented herein with data on geographic position and depth of captures. Such information is intended to be a reference about the fauna that occupied the region in the period under investigation, and allow future comparisons about the resilience of the local fauna, i.e., the detection of future changes caused by environmental factors or human activities. Sampling was conducted during hydroacoustic surveys with mid water trawling plus a few purse seine operations between 10 m and 100 m depth. A total of 86 species were collected.

Joseph Beal Steere (1842-1940) was sent by the University of Michigan in a trip around the world, from 1870 (September) to 1875, to collect materials in all departments of natural and human sciences for the University's Museum. He went from New York to Brazil (São Luís, Maranhão), proceeding up the Amazon, and spent about eighteen months on that river and some of its tributaries. Arrived at the head of navigation of the Amazon, at the mouth of the Río Santiago (Peru), he floated back two hundred miles on a raft, to reach the mouth of the Huallaga. He ascended this river to Yurimaguas, going thence across the Andes. He made part of the journey on foot and horseback; on the way he spent some time in the old cities of Moyobamba, Chachapoyas and Cajamarca. He struck the sea-coast at a town called Huanchaco, near the city of Trujillo; thence he went to Lima; and from there to Guayaquil; and thence, overland, to Quito, continually adding to his store of specimens. While at Quito, he ascended the volcano Pichincha and went to the bottom of the crater. He returned from Quito to Lima and made an excursion along the coast of Peru, collecting old Peruvian pottery from graves, etc. From Lima he went to Cerro de Pasco mining regions, making collections of minerals. Returning to Lima, he crossed the Pacific in a ship bound for Macao, China. From Macao he jouneyed successively to Hong Kong and Canton; from Canton to the Island of Formosa, where he spent six or eight months making journeys among the savages of the interior. From Formosa he went, via Hong Kong and Canton, to the Philippine Islands, and spent ten months there; he visited several places never before visited by naturalists, and found forty new species of birds. From the Philippines he went to Singapore, thence to Malacca, and made a trip through the Dutch Moluccas, touching at several places in the islands of Java, Macassar, Amboina and Ternate. From these islands he returned to Singapore, and from there, via Suez Canal and the Mediterranean, to Marseilles, stopping at Naples. He went through France by rail and via London and Liverpool went home, after an absence of little more than three years. Periodically he wrote letters telling of his adventures and impressions, with notes on the regions visited, to a weekly magazine edited in Ann Arbor, the Peninsular Courier and Family Visitant, where they were published. The 62 letters written by Steere in South America (Brazil, Peru and Ecuador) are here transcribed and commented.

A synonymyc catalogue for the species of Neotropical Crabronidae and Sphecidae is presented, including all synonyms, geographical distribution and pertinent references. The catalogue includes 152 genera and 1834 species (1640 spp. in Crabronidae, 194 spp. in Sphecidae), plus 190 species recorded from Nearctic Mexico (168 spp. in Crabronidae, 22 spp. in Sphecidae). The former Sphecidae (sensu Menke, 1997 and auct.) is divided in two families: Crabronidae (Astatinae, Bembicinae, Crabroninae, Pemphredoninae and Philanthinae) and Sphecidae (Ampulicinae and Sphecinae). The following subspecies are elevated to species: Podium aureosericeum Kohl, 1902; Podium bugabense Cameron, 1888. New names are proposed for the following junior homonyms: Cerceris modica new name for Cerceris modesta Smith, 1873, non Smith, 1856; Liris formosus new name for Liris bellus Rohwer, 1911, non Lepeletier, 1845; Liris inca new name for Liris peruanus Brèthes, 1926 non Brèthes, 1924; and Trypoxylon guassu new name for Trypoxylon majus Richards, 1934 non Trypoxylon figulus var. majus Kohl, 1883.

A detailed morphological study is performed on the following cerithioidean species: 1) family Thiaridae, Aylacostoma exoplicata n.sp., from Pará, Brazil; Aylacostoma ci n. sp. from Roraima, Brazil; Aylacostoma tenuilabris (Reeve), from São Paulo, Brazil; Melanoides tuberculatus (Müller), Eurasian species introduced in Brazil; 2) family Planaxidae, Supplanaxis nucleus (Bruguière),from Venezuela; 3) family Pleuroceridae, Doryssa ipupiara n. sp., from Roraima, Brazil; Doryssa atra (Bruguière), from French Guyana; Doryssa macapa (Moricand), from Amapá, Brazil; Pachychilus sp., from Chiapas, Mexico; 4) family Turritellidae, Turritella hookeri Reeve, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 5) family Modulidae, Modulus modulus (L.),from Venezuela and Brazilian coasts; 6) family Cerithiidae, Cerithium atratum (Born) from Brazilian coast; Bittium varium (Pfeiffer) from S.E. Brazil; 7) family Diastomatidae, Finella dubia (Orbigny) from São Paulo, Brazil; 8) family Litiopidae, Alaba incerta (Orbigny) from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 9) family Baullariidae, Batillaria minima (Gmelin) from Venezuela; 10) family Cerithideidae, Cerithidea costata from Venezuela; 11) family Campanilidae, Campanile symbolicum Iredale,from Western Australia; and 12) family Vermetidae, Serpulorbis decussatus (Gmelin), from Espirito Santo, Brazil. (The Thiaridae and Pleuroceridae are freshwater groups, the remainder marine.) A cladistic analysis is undertaken using standard techniques, 122 characters (181 states) (included some autapomorphies) and polarization by outgroup method: archaeogastropod (Patellogastropoda, Vetigastropoda, Cocculiniformia and Nerithimorpha) and sometimes other caenogastropod outgroups. The consensus tree has the following topology: (Modulus modulus ((Campanile symbolicum (Serpulorbis decussatus - Turritella hookeri)) (Batillaria minima ((Pachychilus sp (Doryssa ipupiara (Doryssa atra - Doryssa macapa))) ((Cerithidea costata (Cerithium atratum (Alaba incerta (Bittium varium - Finella dubia)))) (Supplanaxis nucleus (Melanoides tuberculatus (Aylacostoma tenuilabris (Aylacostoma exoplicata - Aylacostoma ci))))))))), length = 331, CI= 55, RI= 73. The Cerithioidea is a monophyletic taxon, supported by 23 synapomorphies and includes Campanile and Serpulorbis.

A catalog of the living termites of the New World is presented, including all known synonyms, geographical distribution, type depositories, and a selected bibliography. The number of termite genera recorded for the New World is 86, and the number of species 543. The following taxonomical changes are included: Curvitermes projectidens is transferred to Armitermes, and Nasutitermes columbicus is treated as a junior synonym of N. guayanae. Most subspecies are treated as full species. Available names of uncertain taxonomic position are presented in a separate list.

The six genera at present included in the Cerambicyd tribe Smodicini, are monographed. The tribe is mainly Neotropical, but two genera occur in Africa, one of which, Afrosmodicum, is described as new (type-species, Smodicum ebeninum Chevrolat, 1855). Both African genera are monotypic. Metaphrenon is described, to include the single Antillean species Smodicum impressicolle Lacordaire, 1869. Smodicum Haldeman, 1847, the largest genus of the tribe, which in the past received most species described, including the African ones, is now redefined to include 13 species, distributed from the United States to Argentina. The following species of Smodicum are described as new: clancularium (from Mexico, Quintana Roo), longicorne (from Brazil, Minas Gerais to Santa Catarina), recticolle (from Argentina, Santiago del Estero), and torticolle (from Colombia). The following new synonymies ore established in Smodicum: subcylindricum Thomson, 1878 = brunneum Thomson, 1878; argentinum Bruch, 1911 = cucujiforme (Say, 1826); missionum Bruch, 1911 = di-nellii Bruch, 1911; peninsulare Linsley, 1942 and arizonarium Knull, 1966 = pacificum Linsley, 1934; and bonariense Bruch, 1911 = semipubescens Gounelle, 1911.

The tribe Megapodini Carrera is considered as a monophyletic group of probable West Gondwanian origin. After the separation of Africa and South America in the Early Cretaceous, the African stock originated the subtribe Lagodiina (with Lagodias Loew and Pegesimallus Loew), while in South America three other subtribes have evolved: Cyrtophryina (with Cyrtophrys Loew and Deromyia Philippi), Senobasiina (with Senobasis Macquart), and Megapodina (with Megapoda Macquart, Pronomopsis Hermann, and Pseudorus Walker). The American species are reviewed, and considerations on the mechanisms of speciation are made. For the Old World genera only a list of species is furnished.

A reclassification of the species formerly included in the genera Prolepsis Walker, Dizonias Loew, Sphageus Loew, Tolmerolestes Lynch Arribálzaga and Cylicomera Lynch Aribálzaga is proposed in the present paper. Examination of types and dissection of male genitalia, among other characters studied, showed the close interrelationships among the species of the "Prolepsis-complex", now considered to belong to two genera, namely Prolepsis Walker and Cylicomera Lynch Arribálzaga. The proposed new arrangement of the "Prolepsis-complex" is as follows: Genus Cylicomera Lynch Aribálzaga, 1881 with the following species: rubrofasciata Lynch Arribálzaga, 1881 [= fraterna Lynch Arribálzaga, 1881], and genus Prolepsis Walker, 1851 [= Cacodaemon Schiner, 1866; = Dizonias Loew, 1866; ( = Sphageus Loew, 1866; = Tolmerolestes Lynch Arribálzaga, 1881; = Cacodaemonides Strand, 1928], including the following species: fax (Lynch Arribálzaga, 1881) [= brethesi Gemignani, 1936], pluto (Lynch Arribálzaga, 1881) [= rubripes Lynch Arribálzaga, 1881], fenestrata (Macquart, 1838), rosariana (Carrera, 1959), tristis (Walker, 1851) [= quadrimaculatus Bellardi, 1861; = lucasi Bellardi, 1861; = phoenicurus Loew, 1866; = bicinctus Loew, 1866; = pilatei Johnson, 1903; = albifasciatus Back, 1904; = bromleyi Carrera & d'Andretta, 1950], chalcoprocta (Loew, 1866), sandaraca (Martin, 1966), elotensis (Martin, 1966), crabroniformis (Schiner, 1866), and lucifer (Wiedemann, 1828) [= satanas Wiedemann, 1828; = rufipennis Macquart, 1838; = fumiflanima Walker, 1851; = quadrinotatum Bigot, 1878]. The following new species are described herein: Cylicomera dissona, from Argentina, Tucumán, San Pedro de Colalao, Prolepsis huatajata, from Bolivia, Lα Paz, Huatajata, P. pseudopluto, from Argentina, Tucumán, El Infiernillo, P. colalao, from Argentina, Tucumán, San Pedro de Colalao, P. martini, from Argentina, Córdoba, Villa de María, P. indecisa, from Argentina, Tucumán, P. costaricensis, from Costa Rica, Liberia, and P. funebris, from Brazil, Goiás, Jatai. Two tentative keys to species are given, one based on external morphological characters, the other on the male genitalia, with an interpretation and discussion, of the probable phylogeny of the "Prolepsis-complex" and the history of its geographical distribution.