Twenty-four new species of Polycentropus (Trichoptera, Polycentropodidae) from Brazil

Twenty-four new species of the caddisfly genus Polycentropus (Insecta: Trichoptera: Polycentropodidae) occurring in Brazil are diagnosed, described, and the male genitalia of each are illustrated. Eighteen of the new species are placed in the Polycentropus jorgenseni species complex of the Polycentropus gertschi group of New World Polycentropussensu lato. Furthermore, 6 new species within the Polycentropus gertschi group (Polycentropus ancistrussp. n., Polycentropus boraceiasp. n., Polycentropus cariocasp. n., Polycentropus froehlichisp. n., Polycentropus galharadasp. n., and Polycentropus graciosasp. n.) are placed in an informal diagnostic cluster of species with Polycentropus urubici Holzenthal and Almeida. Ten of the other Polycentropus gertschi group species form a second cluster of diagnostically similar species, the Polycentropus soniae cluster (Polycentropus caaetesp. n., Polycentropus carolaesp. n., Polycentropus cheliceratussp. n., Polycentropus fluminensissp. n., Polycentropus itatiaiasp. n., Polycentropus minerosp. n., Polycentropus santateresaesp. n., Polycentropus soniaesp. n., Polycentropus tripuisp. n., and Polycentropus virginiaesp. n.). Two of the remaining 8 new species are included in the Polycentropus jorgenseni species complex (Polycentropus cipoensissp. n. and Polycentropus verruculussp. n.), while the remaining 6 are unique and cannot be placed in one of the groups at this time (Polycentropus acinaciformissp. n., Polycentropus amphirhamphussp. n., Polycentropus cachoeirasp. n., Polycentropus inusitatussp. n., Polycentropus paprockiisp. n. and Polycentropus rosalysaesp. n.).