La subfamilia Donaciinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) en México

The subfamily Donaciinae is distinguished from the rest of the leaf beetles by the aquatic larvae and semiaquatic adults. In Mexico, there are records for Donacia Fabricius, Neohaemonia Székessy, and Plateumaris Thomson. The study of this subfamily in Mexico is poor; thus, in the present work, a dichotomic key for the genera distributed in the country, a diagnosis, and photographs for the species are provided, with the objective of providing a tool that facilitates the identification of the Mexican Donaciinae that could be found in collections or in material from recent collects and thus increase the taxonomic and ecological knowledge of this subfamily. In addition, Neohaemonia flohri (Jacoby) is reported for the first time in Tlaxcala.La subfamilia Donaciinae se caracteriza del resto de los crisomélidos porque sus larvas son acuáticas y los adultos semiacuáticos. En México se han registrado los géneros Donacia Fabricius, Neohaemonia Székessy y Plateumaris Thomson. El estudio de esta subfamilia en México es limitado, por lo que en el presente trabajo se presenta una clave para los géneros distribuidos en el país y una diagnosis e ilustraciones de las especies con el objetivo de proveer una herramienta que facilite la identificación de los Donaciinae mexicanos que pudieran encontrarse en colecciones o en material de recientes colectas, y así incrementar el conocimiento taxonómico y ecológico de esta subfamilia. Se reporta a Neohaemonia flohri (Jacoby) por primera vez en Tlaxcala

Pyropyga julietafierroae sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Lampyridae): Un ejemplo de participación ciudadana en la ciencia

Se presenta la descripción de Pyropyga julietafierroae sp. nov., incluyendo los genitales de la hembra, de modo que es la primera vez que se describen estas estructuras para una hembra del género Pyropyga Motschulsky, 1852. La especie nueva fue descubierta en un ambiente urbanizado de Ciudad Universitaria en la Ciudad de México, lo que aumenta a 13 especies el género Pyropyga, de las cuales ocho se registran en México. Se muestra un mapa de distribución de las especies mexicanas. Además, se comenta sobre la participación de la ciudadanía para la propuesta y elección del nombre científico con la temática “Mujeres Mexicanas Ilustres”, este ejercicio se realiza por primera vez para nombrar una especie de luciérnaga en nuestro país.We present the description of Pyropyga julietafierroae sp. nov., including the female genitalia, so that it is the first time that these structures are described for a female of the genus Pyropyga Motschulsky, 1852. The new species was recovered from the urbanized environment of Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City. The total number of species for the genus increases to 13, of which, eight are recorded from Mexico. A distribution map of Mexican species is included. Moreover, herein we comment on the citizen involvement for the proposal and choice of the scientific name with the theme “Illustrious Mexican Women”, this is the first time that a dynamic like this is carried out for naming a firefly species in our country

A new species of Mastostethus (Coleoptera: Chrysomeloidea: Megalopodidae) from Chiapas, Mexico

Rodríguez-Mirón, Geovanni M. (2019): A new species of Mastostethus (Coleoptera: Chrysomeloidea: Megalopodidae) from Chiapas, Mexico. Zootaxa 4691 (1): 93-96, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4691.1.1

A new reticulated beetle (Coleoptera: Cupedidae) from Mexico with a catalogue of Cupedidae species of the world

Rodríguez-Mirón, Geovanni M., López-Pérez, Sara (2019): A new reticulated beetle (Coleoptera: Cupedidae) from Mexico with a catalogue of Cupedidae species of the world. Zootaxa 4567 (1): 147-160, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4567.1.

Figure 7 from: Rodríguez-Mirón GM, Zaragoza-Caballero S, López-Pérez S (2017) Comparative morphology of the spermatheca in Megalopodidae (Coleoptera, Chrysomeloidea). In: Chaboo CS, Schmitt M (Eds) Research on Chrysomelidae 7. ZooKeys 720: 47-64. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.720.14088

The spermatheca is an organ that stores and maintains viability of sperm until fertilization. It has an important role in copulation and oviposition, and it is highly informative in species delimitation. Here, we present a comparative study of the spermathecal morphology in the coleopteran family Megalopodidae. The spermathecae of 34 species, representing 13 genera and all three subfamilies, were studied. Illustrations are newly provided for all species, except in 14 cases in which illustrations were reproduced from previously published literature. Our results show that each subfamily of Megalopodidae can be effectively differentiated based on the particular spermathecal anatomy. In addition, the spermathecal anatomy presents a range of variation within each subfamily, useful for diagnosing species and, in some cases, identifying groups of genera. For instance, the “American group” is thus recognized in this study