Onciderini Thomson, 1860 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) types of the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), with a brief history of the Coleoptera collection

The primary types of Onciderini Thomson, 1860 of the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH) are catalogued and illustrated. Data on the original combination, current name, gender, and type locality are verifi ed and presented. There are 14 primary types of Onciderini including fi ve in Oncideres Lacordaire, 1830; three in Charoides Dillon and Dillon, 1945; and two in Jamesia Jekel, 1861. Of the 14 primary types, 13 were described by L.S. Dillon and E.S. Dillon. One lectotype is designated. A brief history of the Coleoptera collection at the FMNH is also presented

Hypsilara royi gen. n. and sp. n. (Coleoptera, Elmidae, Larainae) from Southern Venezuela, with a revised key to Larainae of the Western Hemisphere

Here we describe a new genus, for a new species of riffle beetle, Hypsilara royi gen. n. and sp. n., from the tepui Cerro de la Neblina in southern Venezuela. This new genus can be distinguished from all other laraine genera by its small size (ca. 4.5 mm) and the presence of a shallow, wide, V-shaped groove across the apical third of the pronotum. An updated key to the genera of Western Hemisphere Larainae is provided, along with information on habitat and collection methods for this taxon

Phylogeny, Ecology, and Taxonomic Revision of the Travertine Beetles (Coleoptera: Lutrochidae)

The Lutrochidae is a small, poorly known group of aquatic beetles, endemic to the Western Hemisphere. The evolutionary history of the group has never been examined in a phylogenetic framework, and much of its diversity is undescribed. Here, I present the first phylogenetic study of the group and a revised classification, which better reflects the evolutionary relationships in light of an extensive review of museum material. Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic analyses of three genes (16S, 28S, and COI) strongly supported a close relationship with Dryopidae, which is consistent with published literature. However, the placement of the dryopid Ceradryops spp. as sister to Lutrochidae renders Dryopidae paraphyletic. These same molecular phylogenetic analyses of the group recovered distinct, well-supported clades within Lutrochidae, which are corroborated by morphology, distribution, and ecology. As a result, the taxonomy of the group is revised to reflect evolutionary relationships recovered in phylogenetic analyses, and the following genera are erected: Andotrochus n. gen., from Andean South America; Auritrochus n. gen., from North and northern Central America; Berotrochus n. gen., from the Greater Antilles; and Saxitrochus n. gen., from Andean South America. The genus Andotrochus n. gen. includes the species Andotrochus minutus (Maier & Short, 2013) n. comb. The genus Auritrochus n. gen. includes the species Auritrochus arizonicus (Brown and Murvosh, 1970) n. comb., Auritrochus laticeps (Casey, 1893) n. comb., and Auritrochus luteus (LeConte, 1852) n. comb. The genus Berotrochus n. gen. includes Berotrochus geniculatus (Chevrolat, 1864) n. comb. The genus Saxitrochus n. gen. includes Saxitrochus meridaensis (Maier and Short, 2013) n. comb. The composition of Lutrochus sensu. n. is revised to include only species from South and southern Central America that have a close association with submerged woody debris. Morphological phylogenetic analyses recovered a tree with similar topology to the molecular analyses. Most branches were poorly supported, and a thorough re-evaluation of homology statements and character selection is necessary, and inferences about the group based on morphology can not be using the data in its current state. Examination of museum specimens revealed eight species, new to science: Andotrochus cordobensis n. sp. from Argentina; Auritrochus brunneus n. sp. from southern Mexico; Auritrochus shepardi n. sp. from Mexico; Lutrochus barrae n. sp. from Central America; Lutrochus gimmeli n. sp. from Ecuador; Lutrochus guarani n. sp. from Paraguay; Lutrochus tocache n. sp. from South America; and Lutrochus torrens n. sp. from Central America. These species are described and descriptions, illustrations, photographs of historical type specimens, diagnoses, distribution maps for all twenty-nine species, including previously described species, are provided. An illustrated key to species of Lutrochidae of the world is also presented. A catalogue of world Lutrochidae species is included, and lectotypes are designated for the following species: Lutrochus montanus Grouvelle, Lutrochus pilula Erichson, and Lutrochus geniculatus Chevrolat

A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins

Butterflies are a diverse and charismatic insect group that are thought to have evolved with plants and dispersed throughout the world in response to key geological events. However, these hypotheses have not been extensively tested because a comprehensive phylogenetic framework and datasets for butterfly larval hosts and global distributions are lacking. We sequenced 391 genes from nearly 2,300 butterfly species, sampled from 90 countries and 28 specimen collections, to reconstruct a new phylogenomic tree of butterflies representing 92% of all genera. Our phylogeny has strong support for nearly all nodes and demonstrates that at least 36 butterfly tribes require reclassification. Divergence time analyses imply an origin similar to 100 million years ago for butterflies and indicate that all but one family were present before the K/Pg extinction event. We aggregated larval host datasets and global distribution records and found that butterflies are likely to have first fed on Fabaceae and originated in what is now the Americas. Soon after the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum, butterflies crossed Beringia and diversified in the Palaeotropics. Our results also reveal that most butterfly species are specialists that feed on only one larval host plant family. However, generalist butterflies that consume two or more plant families usually feed on closely related plants

Macrophage Replication Screen Identifies a Novel Francisella Hydroperoxide Resistance Protein Involved in Virulence

Francisella tularensis is a Gram-negative facultative intracellular pathogen and the causative agent of tularemia. Recently, genome-wide screens have identified Francisella genes required for virulence in mice. However, the mechanisms by which most of the corresponding proteins contribute to pathogenesis are still largely unknown. To further elucidate the roles of these virulence determinants in Francisella pathogenesis, we tested whether each gene was required for replication of the model pathogen F. novicida within macrophages, an important virulence trait. Fifty-three of the 224 genes tested were involved in intracellular replication, including many of those within the Francisella pathogenicity island (FPI), validating our results. Interestingly, over one third of the genes identified are annotated as hypothetical, indicating that F. novicida likely utilizes novel virulence factors for intracellular replication. To further characterize these virulence determinants, we selected two hypothetical genes to study in more detail. As predicted by our screen, deletion mutants of FTN_0096 and FTN_1133 were attenuated for replication in macrophages. The mutants displayed differing levels of attenuation in vivo, with the FTN_1133 mutant being the most attenuated. FTN_1133 has sequence similarity to the organic hydroperoxide resistance protein Ohr, an enzyme involved in the bacterial response to oxidative stress. We show that FTN_1133 is required for F. novicida resistance to, and degradation of, organic hydroperoxides as well as resistance to the action of the NADPH oxidase both in macrophages and mice. Furthermore, we demonstrate that F. holarctica LVS, a strain derived from a highly virulent human pathogenic species of Francisella, also requires this protein for organic hydroperoxide resistance as well as replication in macrophages and mice. This study expands our knowledge of Francisella's largely uncharacterized intracellular lifecycle and demonstrates that FTN_1133 is an important novel mediator of oxidative stress resistance

Shattered pellet injection experiments at JET in support of the ITER disruption mitigation system design

A series of experiments have been executed at JET to assess the efficacy of the newly installed shattered pellet injection (SPI) system in mitigating the effects of disruptions. Issues, important for the ITER disruption mitigation system, such as thermal load mitigation, avoidance of runaway electron (RE) formation, radiation asymmetries during thermal quench mitigation, electromagnetic load control and RE energy dissipation have been addressed over a large parameter range. The efficiency of the mitigation has been examined for the various SPI injection strategies. The paper summarises the results from these JET SPI experiments and discusses their implications for the ITER disruption mitigation scheme

Spectroscopic camera analysis of the roles of molecularly assisted reaction chains during detachment in JET L-mode plasmas

The roles of the molecularly assisted ionization (MAI), recombination (MAR) and dissociation (MAD) reaction chains with respect to the purely atomic ionization and recombination processes were studied experimentally during detachment in low-confinement mode (L-mode) plasmas in JET with the help of experimentally inferred divertor plasma and neutral conditions, extracted previously from filtered camera observations of deuterium Balmer emission, and the reaction coefficients provided by the ADAS, AMJUEL and H2VIBR atomic and molecular databases. The direct contribution of MAI and MAR in the outer divertor particle balance was found to be inferior to the electron-atom ionization (EAI) and electron-ion recombination (EIR). Near the outer strike point, a strong atom source due to the D+2-driven MAD was, however, observed to correlate with the onset of detachment at outer strike point temperatures of Te,osp = 0.9-2.0 eV via increased plasma-neutral interactions before the increasing dominance of EIR at Te,osp < 0.9 eV, followed by increasing degree of detachment. The analysis was supported by predictions from EDGE2D-EIRENE simulations which were in qualitative agreement with the experimental observations

New H-mode regimes with small ELMs and high thermal confinement in the Joint European Torus

New H-mode regimes with high confinement, low core impurity accumulation, and small edge-localized mode perturbations have been obtained in magnetically confined plasmas at the Joint European Torus tokamak. Such regimes are achieved by means of optimized particle fueling conditions at high input power, current, and magnetic field, which lead to a self-organized state with a strong increase in rotation and ion temperature and a decrease in the edge density. An interplay between core and edge plasma regions leads to reduced turbulence levels and outward impurity convection. These results pave the way to an attractive alternative to the standard plasmas considered for fusion energy generation in a tokamak with a metallic wall environment such as the ones expected in ITER.& nbsp;Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing

Testing a prediction model for the H-mode density pedestal against JET-ILW pedestals

The neutral ionisation model proposed by Groebner et al (2002 Phys. Plasmas 9 2134) to determine the plasma density profile in the H-mode pedestal, is extended to include charge exchange processes in the pedestal stimulated by the ideas of Mahdavi et al (2003 Phys. Plasmas 10 3984). The model is then tested against JET H-mode pedestal data, both in a 'standalone' version using experimental temperature profiles and also by incorporating it in the Europed version of EPED. The model is able to predict the density pedestal over a wide range of conditions with good accuracy. It is also able to predict the experimentally observed isotope effect on the density pedestal that eludes simpler neutral ionization models

A control oriented strategy of disruption prediction to avoid the configuration collapse of tokamak reactors

The objective of thermonuclear fusion consists of producing electricity from the coalescence of light nuclei in high temperature plasmas. The most promising route to fusion envisages the confinement of such plasmas with magnetic fields, whose most studied configuration is the tokamak. Disruptions are catastrophic collapses affecting all tokamak devices and one of the main potential showstoppers on the route to a commercial reactor. In this work we report how, deploying innovative analysis methods on thousands of JET experiments covering the isotopic compositions from hydrogen to full tritium and including the major D-T campaign, the nature of the various forms of collapse is investigated in all phases of the discharges. An original approach to proximity detection has been developed, which allows determining both the probability of and the time interval remaining before an incoming disruption, with adaptive, from scratch, real time compatible techniques. The results indicate that physics based prediction and control tools can be developed, to deploy realistic strategies of disruption avoidance and prevention, meeting the requirements of the next generation of devices.Confining plasma and managing disruptions in tokamak devices is a challenge. Here the authors demonstrate a method predicting and possibly preventing disruptions and macroscopic instabilities in tokamak plasma using data from JET