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The first biological inclusion in Cretaceous (Cenomanian) amber from Texas (USA) is here documented. Most of the Cretaceous ambers with biological inclusions are from Europe (Spain, France) and Myanmar (Asia). Although the coleopteran here reported is microscopic and incomplete, it preserves enough morphological details to be identified as a member of the Family Ptinidae Latreille, 1802. This antecedent is significative and reveals the potential of this Cretaceous amber to contain more diverse bioinclusions, since the paleoenvironment suggested by the sediments that contain the amber and the ecological affinity of recent representatives of the Ptinidae suggest a humid forest near an estuary, associated to deltaic plain deposits. Este hallazgo representa la inclusión biológica en ámbar más antigua en las Americas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the rapid development of NGS technologies, a huge amount of NGS raw reads have been accumulated in public repositories, such as the Short Read Archive of NCBI. We successfully rescued the complete mitochondrial genome of Stegobium paniceum, a drug store beetle, from public NGS raw reads of truffle generated from the whole genome project. The circular mitogenome of S. paniceum is 15,474 bp long including 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNAs, and a single large non-coding region of 803 bp. Intraspecific transfer RNAs structure and sequence variations were investigated and simple sequence repeats identified from three S. paniceum mitochondrial genomes were compared showing their diversities as fundamental data to utilize them in various aspects including developing efficient molecular markers in the family, Ptinidae. Phylogenetic analysis of 23 Bostrichoidea mitochondrial genomes presented better species identification based on phylogenetic analyses and the optimal options for constructing phylogenetic trees based on Bostrichoidea mitochondrial genomes. Our results present not only utilization of public NGS raw read sequences but also intraspecific features of S. paniceum mitochondrial genomes and comparative analysis of Bostrichoidea mitochondrial genomes in various aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Larvae and adults of Korynetes caeruleus (de Geer 1775) (Coleoptera: Cleridae) were collected from old churches and reared in the laboratory on Anobium punctatum (de Geer 1774) (Coleoptera: Ptinidae). Breeding success of K. caeruleus was low, but basic parameters of this species' developmental cycle were identified. At 21°C and 75% relative humidity and a four- month cold period at 4°C, the development of K. caeruleus from egg to adult appearance lasted 2 years. The pupal stage may be reached and completed after one and a half years. Feeding on larvae of A. punctatum by larvae of K. caeruleus was observed and consisted of a combination of sucking haemolymph and consuming body parts. The sickle-like mandibles of larvae of K. caeruleus penetrate the cuticle of prey larvae; this is followed by pumping and sucking body movements. Adult beetles of A. punctatum were not attacked by K. caeruleus larvae. Feeding behaviour of adult K. caeruleus was not investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nine new species of the genus Clada (s. str.) Pascoe, 1887 (Bostrichoidea: Ptinidae: Eucradinae) are described from Madagascar: Clada (Clada) barclayi sp. n., C. (C.) dimbyi sp. n., C. (C.) fasciata sp. n., C. (C.) lalae sp. n., C. (C.) madagascarensis sp. n., C. (C.) mamyi sp. n., C. (C.) njakai sp. n., C. (C.) obesa sp. n., and C. (C.) rindrai sp. n. No species of this genus were previously known from Madagascar. Photographs of the dorsal habiti and drawings the male and female antennae and aedeagi of most of these species are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fauna of Iranian Ptinidae (Coleoptera: Bostrichoidea) is summarized. In total 43 species belonging to 21 genera and 8 subfamilies are listed: Anobiinae (7 genera, 10 species), Dorcatominae (1 genus, 1 species), Ernobiinae (3 genera, 4 species), Eucradinae (2 genera, 2 species), Gibbiinae (1 genus, 3 species), Ptilininae (2 genera, 5 species), Ptininae (3 genera, 8 species) and Xyletininae (2 genera, 10 species). Four species, Gastrallus pubens Fairmaire, 1875, Priobium carpini Herbst, 1793 (Anobiinae), Hyperisus plumbeum (Illiger, 1801) (Ernobiinae), and Stagetus pilula (Aubé, 1861) (Dorcatominae) are newly recorded from Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basidiomes of polypore fungi host many insects. Yet systematic information about insect assemblages from most fungal species is lacking. We studied the insect community associated with the wood-decaying fungusInonotus radiatus(Sowerby: Fr.) P. Karst. (Hymenochaetales). More specifically, we studied the effect of successional stage and weight of basidiomes, as well as shore exposition (north or south), on species richness and composition, as well as occurrence and abundance of the most abundant fungivores. Basidiomes were collected from riparian forests at five lakes in Sweden. Insects were reared out from the basidiomes in the laboratory. A total of 5645 adult insect individuals of 117 taxa were obtained. Among these, 2782 specimens of 36 taxa useInonotus radiatusbasidiomes as breeding habitat. Eight species of parasitic wasps were new to Sweden. The most abundant fungivore wasEnnearthron cornutum(Ciidae), which is a generalist breeding in many polypore species. Based on our material and literature, the melandryid beetlesAbdera affinisandA. flexuosaseem to be specialists on the order Hymenochaetales. Other frequent fungivores wereDorcatoma dresdensis(Ptinidae), and the lepidopteransArchinemapogon yildizae, Nemapogon cloacellusandN. picarellus(Tineidae). The parasitoid community associated with the tineid moths was similar to the community associated with the other polypore species in the order Polyporales. In contrast, the parasitoids associated withDorcatoma(and/orAbdera) were different from the other Polyporales species, suggesting that the fungal host species is more important for these parasitoid species than the beetle host species itself. The most abundant and frequent parasitoids were the braconidsDiospilus disparandColastes fritzeni, which both parasitiseDorcatoma. Species richness was significantly smaller in fresh than in more decayed basidiomes, but species composition did not differ. There was no difference in species composition or richness between north and south shorelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study of five examples of spider beetle inclusions from Rovno amber revealed that at least three of these spider beetles belong to the genus Sucinoptinus Bellés et Vitali, 2007, of them, S. rovnoensis sp. n. (most probably from Klesov) and S. brevipennis sp. n. from Dubrovitsa are described. S. rovnoensis is similar to the previously known S. bukejsi Alekseev in having the same general structure of pronotum and elytra, differing from it by the morphology of pronotal sides, which are only slightly rounded and practically not constricted near the base, whereas in S. bukejsi the sides are well rounded leaving a slight but clear constriction near the base. S. brevipennis is similar to S. bukejsi Alekseev and S. sucini Bellés et Vitali in having the same general structure of the prothorax, but differing from them in having much shorter elytra. Addition of these two new species to the two previously known, S. sucini, from the eastern Baltic Sea coast, and S. bukejsi, from Kaliningrad Region, indicates that the genus Sucinoptinus was much more diverse and widespread in Late Eocene forests than former reports suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key to 37 Palaearctic species and 6 subspecies of the genus Stagetus Wollaston, 1861 is composed. New morphological characters for species differences were used [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ptinus bertranpetiti sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) is described from Socotra Island. The practical absence of secondary sexual dimorphism and the structure of the aedeagus, slender and subsymmetrical, suggest that the new species must be placed in the subgenus Gynopterus Mulsant & Rey, 1868. The most peculiar characteristics of P. bertranpetiti sp. nov. refer to the aedeagus and the elytral pubescence, both with features that are unparalleled in other species of the subgenus Gynopterus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report ten new species records for the Coleoptera fauna of New Brunswick, Canada from the families Dermestidae, Endecatomidae, Bostrichidae, and Ptinidae. Anthrenus fuscus Olivier and Anthrenus museorum (Linnaeus) of the family Dermestidae are newly recorded for New Brunswick. Endecatomus rugosus (Randall) and the family Endecatomidae are recorded for the first time for New Brunswick and the Maritime provinces. Two Bostrichidae, the adventive Dinoderus minutus (Fabricius) and the native Stephanopachys substriatus (Paykull), are newly recorded for the province. Five species of Ptinidae, the adventive Anobium punctatum (DeGeer) and Microbregma emarginatum emarginatum (Duftschmid), and the native Hadrobregmus notatus (Say), Ptilinus lobatus Casey, and Ptilinus ruficornis Say are added to the faunal list of New Brunswick. Collection data, habitat data, and distribution maps are presented for all these species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six new species of the Australian myrmecophilous ptinid genus Polyplocotes are described from South Australia. Three are from the deserts of central Australia, one from the Franklin Islands in the Great Australian Bight, one from Eyre Peninsula and one from the Riverland region. Morphologically, the majority of these new species are conventional Polyplocotes, but two are less typical. The characters uniting the genus are explored in the discussion, and comparisons are made to related genera. Although the six new species described here have not been observed in the field, the species of this genus are known to be myrmecophilous, and ant – beetle interactions similar to those seen in other spider beetles might occur between these new species and their host ants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four new species of the Australian ptinid genus Diplocotes are described. Two of these species are from the dry tropical and subtropical areas of northern and central Queensland, while the other two are from the arid areas of South Australia. While the four new species described here have not been observed with ants in the field, the species of this genus are known to be myrmecophilous, and similar interactions may occur between the new species and their host ants. Additionally, many characters are shared with other unrelated myrmecophilous species, and may be convergent adaptations to the ant-associated lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]