Descriptions of larval and pupal morphologies of Macrohyliota militaris (Erichson) (Silvanidae: Brontinae: Brontini)

The mature larva and pupa of the Australian silvanid species, Macrohyliota militaris (Erichson) are described from laboratory reared material. This is the first description of immature stages of Silvanidae from Australia. The larva of M. militaris conforms to the general body shape and apparent morphological features of known Brontini and is very similar to the Asian M. sculptus Yoshida & Hirowatari. Larval and pupal features of M. militaris are compared with other known larvae and pupae of Brontini described in the literature

A Mesozoic Clown Beetle Myrmecophile (Coleoptera: Histeridae)

Complex interspecies relationships are widespread among metazoans, but the evolutionary history of these lifestyles is poorly understood. We describe a fossil beetle in 99-million-year-old Burmese amber that we infer to have been a social impostor of the earliest-known ant colonies. Promyrmister kistneri gen. et sp. nov. belongs to the haeteriine clown beetles (Coleoptera: Histeridae), a major clade of ‘myrmecophiles’—specialized nest intruders with dramatic anatomical, chemical and behavioral adaptations for colony infiltration. Promyrmister reveals that myrmecophiles evolved close to the emergence of ant eusociality, in colonies of stem-group ants that predominate Burmese amber, or with cryptic crown-group ants that remain largely unknown at this time. The clown beetle-ant relationship has been maintained ever since by the beetles host-switching to numerous modern ant genera, ultimately diversifying into one of the largest radiations of symbiotic animals. We infer that obligate behavioral symbioses can evolve relatively rapidly, and be sustained over deep time

Contribution to the genus Filipinolotis Miyatake, 1994 (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae, Sticholotidini)

The genus Filipinolotis Miyatake has been reviewed in this study. Descriptions and illustrations of two species (F. latefasciata Miyatake and F. purpuratorotunda Wang, Zhang & Ślipiński, sp. n.) in the Luzon island of the Philippines, are given. The male genitalia of F. latefasciata are described for the first time. A key to known species is also provided

The role of the triangle singularity in Λ(1405)\Lambda(1405) production in the π−p→K0πΣ\pi^-p\rightarrow K^0\pi\Sigma and pp→pK+πΣpp\rightarrow pK^+\pi\Sigma processes

We have investigated the cross section for the $\pi^-p\rightarrow K^0\pi\Sigma$ and $pp\rightarrow pK^+\pi\Sigma$ reactions paying attention to a mechanism that develops a triangle singularity. The triangle diagram is realized by the decay of a $N^*$ to $K^*\Sigma$ and the $K^*$ decay into $\pi K$, and the $\pi\Sigma$ finally merges into $\Lambda(1405)$. The mechanism is expected to produce a peak around $2140$ MeV in the $K\Lambda(1405)$ invariant mass. We found that a clear peak appears around $2100$ MeV in the $K\Lambda(1405)$ invariant mass which is about $40$ MeV lower than the expectation, and that is due to the resonance peak of a $N^*$ resonance which plays a crucial role in the $K^*\Sigma$ production. The mechanism studied produces the peak of the $\Lambda(1405)$ around or below 1400 MeV, as is seen in the $pp\rightarrow pK^+\pi\Sigma$ HADES experiment.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Genomic changes in the biological control agent Cryptolaemus montrouzieri associated with introduction

Biological control is the main purpose of intentionally introducing non‐native invertebrate species. The evolutionary changes that occur in the populations of the introduced biological control agents may determine the agent's efficiency and the environmental safety. Here, to explore the pattern and extent of potential genomic changes in the worldwide introduced predatory ladybird beetle Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, we used a reduced‐representation sequencing method to analyze the genome‐wide differentiation of the samples from two native and five introduced locations. Our analyses based on a total of 53,032 single nucleotide polymorphism loci showed that beetles from the introduced locations in Asia and Europe exhibited significant reductions in genetic diversity and high differentiation compared with the samples from the native Australian range. Each introduced population belonged to a unique genetic cluster, while the beetles from two native locations were much more similar. These genomic patterns were also detected when the dataset was pruned for genomic outlier loci (52,318 SNPs remaining), suggesting that random genetic drift was the main force shaping the genetic diversity and population structure of this biological control agent. Our results provide a genome‐wide characterization of polymorphisms in a biological control agent and reveal genomic differences that were influenced by the introduction history. These differences might complicate assessments of the efficiency of biological control and the invasion potential of this species but also indicate the feasibility of selective breeding

Integrated phylogenomics and fossil data illuminate the evolution of beetles

Beetles constitute the most biodiverse animal order with over 380,000 described species and possibly several million more yet unnamed. Recent phylogenomic studies have arrived at considerably incongruent topologies and widely varying estimates of divergence dates for major beetle clades. Here we use a dataset of 68 single-copy nuclear protein coding genes sampling 129 out of the 193 recognized extant families as well as the first comprehensive set of fully-justified fossil calibrations to recover a refined timescale of beetle evolution. Using phylogenetic methods that counter the effects of compositional and rate heterogeneity we recover a topology congruent with morphological studies, which we use, combined with other recent phylogenomic studies, to propose several formal changes in the classification of Coleoptera: Scirtiformia and Scirtoidea sensu nov., Clambiformia ser. nov. and Clamboidea sensu nov., Rhinorhipiformia ser. nov., Byrrhoidea sensu nov., Dryopoidea stat. res., Nosodendriformia ser. nov., and Staphyliniformia sensu nov., Erotyloidea stat. nov., Nitiduloidea stat. nov., and Cucujoidea sensu nov., alongside changes below the superfamily level. Our divergence time analyses recovered a late Carboniferous origin of Coleoptera, a late Paleozoic origin of all modern beetle suborders, and a Triassic–Jurassic origin of most extant families, while fundamental divergences within beetle phylogeny did not coincide with the hypothesis of a Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution

A new species of \u3ci\u3eEuxestoxenus\u3c/i\u3e Arrow (Coleoptera: Euxestidae) from Thailand

A new species of Euxestoxenus Arrow (Coleoptera: Euxestidae), E. thomasi Ślipiński, is described from northern Thailand. The species differs from all Oriental and most of African species of Euxestoxenus by a 10-segmented antenna and glabrous, polished dorsum. Euxestidae is a small and poorly known family of Coccinelloidea that currently includes 11 genera and about 70 species distributed mostly in the Old-World tropics and subtropics but extending into temperate areas of North America and Australia (Ślipiński 1990). The biology of the Euxestidae is mostly unknown but it appears that all species are fungivores, commonly found in rotten wood, forest litter, in the ant galleries and in the fungus gardens of the fungus growing termites in the genus Odontotermes Holmgren (Jiang et al. 2020). The first species of Euxestoxenus was described by G.J. Arrow in the family Erotylidae in the volume of the Fauna of British India (Arrow 1925). The specimens of E. striatus Arrow were collected by H.G. Champion in the Northern India (Kumaon, Haldwani District) within the comb of a common termite species Odontotermes obesus (Rambur). Euxestoxenus was later found (John 1968) to be a senior synonym of two African genera, the common and speciose Elytrotetrantus John, 1941 and more obscure and monotypic Tachyoryctidium Jeannel and Paulian, 1945. The African taxa have been collected at light, sifted from decaying litter and fruits, from subterranean mammal nests and from ant nests of the genus Myrmicaria Saunders. The ant-nest inhabiting species have been put into a subgenus Anaulakous John (John 1963) characterised by almost glabrous and irregularly micropunctured elytra. Interestingly a similar, glabrous Euxestoxenus species has been found among the unidentified Euxestidae from Thailand deposited at the Natural History Museum in Geneva. The new species is the second Oriental species of Euxestoxenus, different from the Indian species, E. striatus, but more similar to the myrmecophilous species from Angola and Democratic Republic of the Congo (John 1964). The species from Thailand was collected by sifting from the “pied d’arbre” [foot of the tree] but the potential association with the ants has not been recorded. Euxestoxenus is diagnosed by having 8–10 segmented antenna bearing large, asymmetrical 1-segmented club received by concave hypomeron, lightly sculptured elytra and the prosternal process broad and expanded apically (Ślipiński 1990). The taxonomic status of the approximately 60 African species is unclear due to a large number of synonyms created by the late Hans John that remain unrevised

Three new replacement names for beetle genera in Cerylonidae, Zopheridae and Cerambycidae (Insecta: Coleoptera)

Ślipiński, Adam (2016): Three new replacement names for beetle genera in Cerylonidae, Zopheridae and Cerambycidae (Insecta: Coleoptera). Zootaxa 4161 (1): 119-120, DOI: http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4161.1.

A new species of Euxestoxenus Arrow (Coleoptera: Euxestidae) from Thailand

A new species of Euxestoxenus Arrow (Coleoptera: Euxestidae), E. thomasi Ślipiński, is described from northern Thailand. The species differs from all Oriental and most of African species of Euxestoxenus by a 10-segmented antenna and glabrous, polished dorsum

Platycrus-a remarkable new genus of the tribe Platynaspini (Coleoptera Coccinellidae) from Laos

Szawaryn, Karol, Ślipiński, Adam (2022): Platycrus-a remarkable new genus of the tribe Platynaspini (Coleoptera Coccinellidae) from Laos. Zootaxa 5190 (4): 584-590, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5190.4.