The Editorial Board of Pesquisa e Ensino em Ciências Exatas e da Natureza would like to thank the referees listed below for their critical review of articles submitted for Volume 1(1-2) (2017).

New records of the rare owlfly Albardia furcata van der Weele, 1903 are provided from the state of Paraiba, in the Caatinga and Atlantic Forest, including four new localities. A referential map is included to the recorded specimens. The first report of the predator fly Peckia (Sarcodexia) lambens (Wiedemann, 1830) on dead body of A. furcata is registered.

This paper presents a brief review of the role of flies (Insecta, Diptera) in Forensic Entomology. Discussions on presence in human cadavers and vertebrate carcasses, Postmortem Interval (PMI) estimations, studies carried out in Brazil and other countries, families of forensic importance and biological, ecological and distribution aspects of the main species are presented.

It is with great joy that we communicate one year of existence of Pesquisa e Ensino em Ciências Exatas e da Natureza (PECEN) and congratulate the editorial team involved in its orchestration. The journal was born in a timid and modest way. However, after only one year, PECEN is already highlighting the national scenario and gathering articles from virtually all regions of Brazil, with the inclusion of researchers linked to important postgraduate programs in the country.

The present study provides an inventory of the bat species recorded in the municipality of Caetité, in southwestern Bahia, Brazil. Sixty-eight individuals were captured, belonging to nine species and three families. The Jackknife 1 procedure estimated a species richness of 9.9. The phyllostomid bats were the most abundant, and Carollia perspicillata (Linnaeus, 1758) was captured most frequently. Our results are consistent with previous studies conducted in Bahia and the Caatinga, providing data on the local bat community structure. It also highlights the importance of rapid inventories for the understanding of the diversity and distribution of the bat fauna.

Currently, forty-one species of bats are known to occur in the restingas of Brazil. However, most studies on restingas’ bats are limited to the south and southeastern regions of Brazil, leaving the northeastern region with a gap of knowledge. The present article presents data on bats captured in three areas of restinga of the municipality of Tibau do Sul, Rio Grande do Norte, collected from a short-term sampling. Mist nets were used to capture bats near the ground and the water bodies. Were captured 38 individuals of six species and two families: five Phyllostomidae and one Molossidae. The bat Carollia perspicillata (Linnaeus, 1758) was the most abundant species. We present here the first list of bats captured in the restinga area for the Rio Grande do Norte State.

The introduction, accidental or deliberate, of exotic species by different vectors is currently a major global changes, resulting in a number of local and global problems. Although not all introductions of non-native species have negative effects, many of the non-native species can have undesirable effects on biodiversity from the genetic level to the landscape. This work aimed to present the current knowledge on biological invasions by species and particularly on invasive Cryptostegia madagascariensis Bojer ex Decne. New introductions are made every year around the world and only a small part of these taxa become invasive, yet cause serious damage to ecosystems invaded. The success of weed plants is due to the intrinsic characteristics of these species that ensures the same competitive advantages with native species and the level of disruption in new niches which makes them totally supportive environments to establish new species and the emergence of monodominadas areas. In this context is C. madagascariensis, origin of climbing on the island of Madagascar in Africa, which was introduced in Brazil with ornamental purposes, becoming invasive in natural ecosystems, especially in riparian environments and humid lowlands, in the field of savanna and associated ecosystems.

Farol Island is a continental island in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil. Due to its position in relation to the continent, three distinct environmental areas are observed: rocky shore area with open exposure to the sea (A); estuarine area (B); sandy beach area (C). Considering that the continental islands are excellent study models that reproduce the environmental conditions of the coastal zone in a smaller scale, the study aimed at surveying and researching the marine malacofauna on the Farol Island and comparing the diversity and shellfish composition. The sampling method was based on a monthly collection in three locations for two years (2011-2012). The survey found 91 species: 47 Gastropoda, 41 Bivalvia and three Scaphopoda. The highest abundance and species richness prevailed in environmental area A. The greatest equitability was observed in B and the highest dominance in C. There was a predominance of Gastropoda and Bivalvia in A, while the frequency of Scaphopoda did not vary among environments. The species composition of the three classes varied among the three areas. The variation of diversity and species composition in the three environments may be related to the natural characteristics of each side of the island, as salinity and wave action.

The gladiator box crab of the genus Acanthocarpus Stimpson, 1871 has benthonic habits, occurring in continental shelf on gravel or muddy substrates with occurrence in all oceans, especially between 20-522 m depth. In this paper we report the occurrence of Acanthocarpus alexandri Stimpson, 1871 and A. bispinosus A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 from the Potiguar Basin (Rio Grande do Norte), located in the Brazilian northeast and increase the knowledge about the distributional aspects of this species from Brazilian coast.

Oxybelis aeneus (Wagler, 1824) is an arboreal snake species that is widely distributed in the American continent whose diet is composed mainly by vertebrates, such as lizards. Several lizard species have already been reported as prey of this snake, including the alien species Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818). Herein we describe in details a predation event of H. mabouia by O. aeneus, widening our knowledge regarding the natural history of both species to scientific literature.

The study of nanomaterials has consolidated as a new revolution in the scientific environment. Among the most investigated nanostructures currently are the derivatives of carbon and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). Graphene for example it is a hexagonal two-dimensional lattice formed only by carbon atoms. In this sense, we investigated the formation energy and the electronic structure of a graphene plane, a h-BN plane, as well as, four nanocones, with disclination of 60° each, two of them derived from graphene and two derived from h-BN. These investigations were made through the SIESTA Code, a free software that uses first-principles methods, based on Density Functional Theory (DFT), as a parameter for its execution. From observations it was possible to identify which nanostructures showed greater stability, depending on the atomic organization of their respective crystal lattices. In the investigated nanomaterials we realized that both the formation energy per atom and the electron density varied noticeably in function of the different atomic arrangements. Regarding the electrical conductivity, the structures researched presented good agreement with the literature, thus reaffirming the applicability of these nanomaterials in electronic devices.