A new species of Diochus from Baltic amber (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Diochini)

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.pensoft.net.The first fossil of the staphylinine tribe Diochini Casey is described and figured from an inclusion in mid-Eocene (Lutetian) Baltic amber. Diochus electrus sp. n. is distinguished from its congeners and the diversity of rove beetles (Staphylinidae s.l.) is summarized briefly

A Revision of the Genus Elmas Blackwelder, 1952 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae: Xanthopygina), with a Preliminary Reconstructed Phylogeny of the Species1

The staphylinid genus Elmas Blackwelder 1952 (type.species: Selma modesta Sharp 1876 from Chontales, Nicaragua) is revised for the first time. The two previously described species, E. modesta (Sharp) from Nicaragua and E. strigella (Bernhauer) from Brazil, are redescribed. Fifteen species are described as new: Elmas brooksi from Ecuador; Elmas costaricensis from Costa Rica; Elmas elassos from Ecuador; Elmas esmeraldas from Ecuador; Elmas falini from Suriname; Elmas gigas from Peru; Elmas guianas from-French Guiana; Elmas hanleyi from Costa Rica; Elmas hibbsi from Ecuador; Elmas lambas from Brazil; Elmas lescheni from Peru; Elmas panamaensis from Panama; Elmas patillas from Costa Rica; Elmas spinosus from Bolivia; and Elmas windsori from Panama. A key and illustrations of structural features and aedeagi are provided for identification of the known species. The phylogenetic relationships of the species of Elmas species are only weakly resolved by the available dataset. Elmas is strongly supported to be a monophyletic lineage, and E. strigella is the most basal species followed by E. lambos and E. guianas respectively. E. spinosus + E. falini + E. gigas are strongly supported to be a monophyletic . group; E. hfbbsi is weakly supported to be the sister group to these three species. The lineage (E. windsori · + E. costaricensis) + (E. panamaensis + E. patillas) is weakly supported in all trees. The lineage E. elassos + E. hanleyi + E. esmeraldas is also weakly supported, and the successive approximation analysis hypothesizes that E. modesta is also a member of this lineage

On the origins of the insect fauna of California\u27s Channel Islands: a comparative phylogeographic study of island beetles

California’s 8 Channel Islands host a large diversity of insects, the vast majority of which are shared with mainland southern California. The existence of a small number of recognized endemic species, however, suggest that, for some lineages, the islands are isolated enough to have permitted significant differentiation. Here we investigate the phylogeographic relationships of 4 beetle species (Thinopinus pictus, Hadrotes crassus, Hypocaccus lucidulus, and Nyctoporis carinata): all occurring on the mainland and on multiple (up to 6) Channel Islands. Sequences of the cytochrome oxidase I mitochondrial gene (and, for one species, an intron in the nuclear guftagu gene) are analyzed by Bayesian, haplotype network, and population genetic methods to examine relationships and gene flow among island and mainland populations. In no instances were all island populations resolved to be monophyletic, and northern (Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel) and southern (San Nicolas, San Clemente, Santa Catalina) island groups generally showed separate relationships to the mainland. Northern island populations of Hy. lucidulus were also found to be closely related to those on the southern island of San Nicolas. Populations on San Clemente and Santa Catalina islands did not show close relationships to each other or to San Nicolas Island populations in any species. San Clemente and especially San Nicolas islands hosted disproportionately high levels of diversity in all species examined. This study suggests that the Channel Islands do not function as a biogeographical unit and that several of the islands exhibit levels of diversity comparable to, or even exceeding, similarly sampled populations on the mainland. Thus, as an insular refuge from southern Californian development, the Channel Islands constitute a center of high conservation importance

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

New Records, Redescription, and Notes on Nomenclature for Triacrus

Chatzimanolis, Stylianos (2015): New Records, Redescription, and Notes on Nomenclature forTriacrusNordmann (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae: Staphylinini). The Coleopterists Bulletin 69 (3): 514-520, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065x-69.3.514, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1649/0010-065x-69.3.51

A revision of the genus Elmas Blackwelder, 1952 (Coleoptera:Staphylinidae:Staphylininae:Xanthopygina) : with a preliminary reconstructed phylogeny of the species /

no.2

The First Fossil Of The Subfamily Trypanaeinae (Coleoptera: Histeridae): A New Species Of Trypanaeus In Dominican Amber

Chatzimanolis, Stylianos, Caterino, Michael S., Engel, Michael S. (2006): The First Fossil Of The Subfamily Trypanaeinae (Coleoptera: Histeridae): A New Species Of Trypanaeus In Dominican Amber. The Coleopterists Bulletin 60 (4): 333-340, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065X(2006)60[333:TFFOTS]2.0.CO;2, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1649/0010-065x(2006)60[333:tffots]2.0.co;

Phylogenetic analysis and biogeography of Aegean taxa of the genus Dendarus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

The genus Dendarus Latr. is distributed throughout the Mediterranean basin with numerous species in the Aegean islands. This paper presents a phylogenetic analysis and the biogeography of most taxa present in the area. Phylogenetic analysis of two outgroup and 25 ingroup taxa based on adult morphology, including 50 characters and 119 character states, produced two equally parsimonious trees (tree length = 148, C.I. = 0.42, R.I. = 0.70, R.C. = 0.294). These trees provide strong support for the monophyly of Dendarus and also define four species groups: the foraminosus group, present mainly on the island of Crete; the rhodius group, present in Dodecanese islands, the sinuatus group present in the central Aegean islands, and another group consisting of taxa from mainland Greece (D. messenius, D. caelatus, D. tenellus, and D. plicatulus paganettii). All area cladograms produced by Compatibility Component Analysis, Brooks Parsimony Analysis, and especially by Component Analysis, correspond quite closely to the hypothesized palaeogeographic history of the studied area and therefore partly support the idea of a vicariant evolution of Dendarus taxa in this region. We distinguished certain monophyletic groups distributed (with some exceptions) within well-defined geographical and palaeogeographical regions of the Aegean. However, we found certain inconsistencies (with Reconciled Tree Analysis) that are probably the result of dispersal, extinction, or duplication events that are independent of the sequence of vicariance events