Landscape heterogeneity and the confluence of regional faunas promote richness and structure community assemblage in a tropical biodiversity hotspot

Crane flies (Limoniidae; Limoniinae) were sampled at national parks and protected areas across central to northern Thailand to observe patterns of species richness and faunal turnover in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. Prior to sampling, the crane fly fauna of this region was poorly known and no taxonomic keys existed for specimen identification. Utilizing a multi-access taxonomic key to the Limoniinae genera of the Oriental Region designed for this project, identification of collected specimens revealed a crane fly fauna displaying higher richness than inventories from temperate regions. Sixty-six morphospecies from 29 genera/subgenera were collected using a combination of light trapping and Malaise trapping. Richness estimators projected that a total of 70-81 species are to be collected with future sampling, with mountainous northern Thailand projected to have the highest richness. The faunas of Central and Northern Thailand were different, with the north generally composed of more temperate genera and the south composed of more tropical genera. The increased diversity in northern Thailand was significantly influenced by landscape topology. Sampling that spread across two mountain ranges displayed faunas that were divided into both high elevation (>1,000m) and lower elevation (<1,000m) faunas. This change in community assemblage across elevation illustrates faunas that were more alike at similar elevations between mountain ranges than they were within national park

A New Species of Blepharicera Macquart (Diptera: Blephariceridae) from Western North America

During a review of the Blepharicera of western North America, we discovered a new species from several mid-sized rivers in southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. We hereby present descriptions of the larvae, pupae, and adults of B. kalmiopsis, new species. Diagnostic characters and a brief discussion of bionomics and distribution are also provided. Based on previous and ongoing studies, B. kalmiopsis clearly belongs to the B. micheneri Alexander species group and appears closely related to B. zionensis Alexander

Editorial overview: Insect phylogenetics: an expanding toolbox to resolve evolutionary questions

It is indeed an exciting time to be an insect systematist! The past decade has seen major breakthroughs in our understanding of the evolutionary relationships of insects, due largely to novel tools for the discovery and analysis of phylogenetically informative characters. Many insights, especially on ancient nodes of the insect evolutionary tree, are a direct result of recent phylogenomic studies [1,2]. New technologies for the discovery of morphological characters provide another valuable source of phylogenetic information, help cross-validate phylogenetic hypotheses based on genomic data, and enhance our understanding of character transformation and adaptation. Additional sources of data (e.g., from studies of fossils and the myriad associations between insects and other organisms) can provide further resolution of important phylogenetic and evolutionary questions. Although the explosion of information from morphological and genomic studies, collection databases, imagebases, geographical records, and other sources has lead to some bioinformatics challenges, the field has seen the development novel approaches to overcome many of these issues. Our goal in this issue of Current Opinion in Insect Science is to provide a synoptic overview of cutting-edge tools and methodologies used to address questions relevant to insect phylogenetics

Advanced Air-Side Heat Transfer Surface Geometries Enabled by Additive Manufacturing

In a world with a decreasing supply of fresh water, industry is looking for design solutions that depend less on the availability of water. Dry-cooled condensers are one possibility, but they must compete with traditional water-cooled condensers in terms of cost, performance, and fan power. To improve performance, air-side heat transfer designs must be improved. Additive manufacturing offers the freedom to create designs that are difficult to manufacture with traditional methods. While the materials for additive manufacturing are not as conductive as the metals used in conventional heat exchangers, highly filled polymers do allow an improvement in conductivity and strength over traditional materials used in 3D printing. Also control over the printing material offers advantages such as the use of an antimicrobial infused filament. The ultimate goal of this research is to design an air-side geometry capable of achieving the same thermal performance (heat transfer rate and pressure drop under a given set of conditions) as a “gold standard” heat exchanger but at lower cost (i.e., using less material and/or less expensive manufacturing techniques). Because additive manufacturing allows for freedom in design, unconventional air-side geometries have been investigated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The typical evaluation process for each geometry that has been considered includes an initial CFD simulation to validate the results and mesh convergence followed by an extensive parametric study of the geometry to develop correlations in terms of dimensionless parameters. The correlations are then implemented into an overall heat exchanger model in order to allow optimization of the heat exchanger