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In the eastern United States, 74 species of Anillini in two genera have been described, with most belonging to Anillinus Casey. Until now, no systematic framework has existed for this large genus, hampering integrative studies. Using DNA sequences from 101 Nearctic species, we present a well-resolved molecular phylogeny supporting a sound systematic framework. Sixteen species groups of Appalachian Anillinus are diagnosed, in part using newly recognized variation in the number of modified male protarsi and the state of the spermathecal duct. We present the first descriptions of Nearctic anilline larvae, which possess none of the synapomorphies of previously described anilline larvae. Within Anillinus , two major clades are mostly consistent with setation of the right paramere: a "hairy clade" with more than four setae, and a "quadrisetose clade." Throughout the phylogeny, microhabitat use varies within each clade, and several endogean lineages are phylogenetically isolated. Our work increases the South Carolina fauna by nearly five-fold. Nine new species are described, Serranillusmonadnock sp. nov. , Anillinuscastaneus sp. nov. , Anillinuschoestoea sp. nov. , Anillinusdentatus sp. nov. , Anillinusjancae sp. nov. , Anillinusmica sp. nov. , Anillinusmicamicus sp. nov. , Anillinusseneca sp. nov. , and Anillinussimplex sp. nov. Several species are newly reported from South Carolina, bringing the total to 20 described species representing seven species groups. Two endemic groups inhabit deep clay soils in the Piedmont and possess unique male sexual characters. The Anillini are a unique component of Nearctic biodiversity, with great potential as a model system for studies of biogeography, secondary male sexual modification, and endogean adaptations., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Curt W. Harden, Michael S. Caterino.)

The fauna of Diplura, the two-pronged bristletails (Hexapoda), of the southern Appalachians has received little focused systematic attention. Existing literature suggests the fauna to comprise around a dozen species. Based on a broader DNA barcode-based survey of high elevation litter arthropods in the region, we suggest the fauna to be much richer, with automated species delimitation methods hypothesising as many as 35 species, most highly restricted to single or closely proximate localities. Such a result should not be very surprising for such small, flightless arthropods, although it remains to be seen if other markers or morphology support such high diversity. The region still remains sparsely sampled for these more cryptic elements of the arthropod fauna and much larger numbers of species undoubtedly remain to be discovered., Competing Interests: No conflict of interest to declare Disclaimer: This article is (co-)authored by any of the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editors or their deputies in this journal., (Ernesto Recuero, Michael S. Caterino.)

Species of the genus Lathrobium Gravenhorst (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae) from North America north of Mexico are reviewed and 41 species are recognized. Morphology and mitochondrial COI sequence data were used to guide species designations in three flightless lineages endemic to the southern Appalachian Mountains, a biologically diverse region known for cryptic diversity. Using a combination of phylogeny, algorithm-based species delimitation analyses, and genitalic morphology, five new cryptic species are described and possible biogeographic scenarios for their speciation hypothesized: L.balsamense Haberski & Caterino, sp. nov. , L.camplyacra Haberski & Caterino, sp. nov. , L.islae Haberski & Caterino, sp. nov. , L.lividum Haberski & Caterino, sp. nov. , L.smokiense Haberski & Caterino, sp. nov. Five additional species are described: L.absconditum Haberski & Caterino, sp. nov. , L.hardeni Haberski & Caterino, sp. nov. , L.lapidum Haberski & Caterino, sp. nov. , L.solum Haberski & Caterino, sp. nov. , and L.thompsonorum Haberski & Caterino, sp. nov. Two species are transferred from Lathrobium to Pseudolathra Casey: Pseudolathraparcum (LeConte, 1880), comb. nov. and Pseudolathratexana (Casey, 1905), comb. nov. Twenty-six names are reduced to synonymy. Lectotypes are designated for 47 species. Larvae are described where known, and characters of possible diagnostic value are summarized. Species diagnoses, distributions, illustrations of male and female genitalia, and a key to Lathrobium species known from the Nearctic region (including several introduced species) are provided., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Adam Haberski, Michael S. Caterino.)

The Pseudoscorpiones fauna of North America is diverse, but in regions like the southern Appalachian Mountains, they are still poorly documented with respect to their species diversity, distributions and ecology. Several families have been reported from these mountains and neighbouring areas. Here we analyse barcoding data of 136 specimens collected in leaf litter, most of them from high-elevation coniferous forest. We used ASAP as a species delimitation method to obtain an estimation of the number of species present in the region. For this and based on interspecific genetic distance values previously reported in Pseudoscorpions, we considered three different genetic Kimura two-parameter distance thresholds (3%/5%/8%), to produce more or less conservative estimates. These distance thresholds resulted in 64/47/27 distinct potential species representing the families Chthoniidae (33/22/12 species) and Neobisiidae (31/25/15) and at least six different genera within them. The diversity pattern seems to be affected by the Asheville Depression, a major biogeographic barrier in this area, with a higher diversity to the west of this geographic feature, particularly within the family Neobisiidae. The absence of representatives from other families amongst our studied samples may be explained by differences in their ecological requirements and occupation of different microhabitats., Competing Interests: No conflict of interest to declare Disclaimer: This article is (co-)authored by any of the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editors or their deputies in this journal., (Ernesto Recuero, Michael S. Caterino.)

We are far from knowing all species living on the planet. Understanding biodiversity is demanding and requires time and expertise. Most groups are understudied given problems of identifying and delimiting species. DNA barcoding emerged to overcome some of the difficulties in identifying species. Its limitations derive from incomplete taxonomic knowledge and the lack of comprehensive DNA barcode libraries for so many taxonomic groups. Here, we evaluate how useful barcoding is for identifying arthropods from highly diverse leaf litter communities in the southern Appalachian Mountains (USA). We used 3 reference databases and several automated classification methods on a data set including several arthropod groups. Acari, Araneae, Collembola, Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera were well represented, showing different performances across methods and databases. Spiders performed the best, with correct identification rates to species and genus levels of ~50% across databases. Springtails performed poorly, no barcodes were identified to species or genus. Other groups showed poor to mediocre performance, from around 3% (mites) to 20% (beetles) correctly identified barcodes to species, but also with some false identifications. In general, BOLD-based identification offered the best identification results but, in all cases except spiders, performance is poor, with less than a fifth of specimens correctly identified to genus or species. Our results indicate that the soil arthropod fauna is still insufficiently documented, with many species unrepresented in DNA barcode libraries. More effort toward integrative taxonomic characterization is needed to complete our reference libraries before we can rely on DNA barcoding as a universally applicable identification method., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Editorial Office, Current Zoology.)

The close association between bacteria and insect hosts has played an indispensable role in insect diversity and ecology. Thus, continued characterization of such insect-associated-microbial communities is imperative, especially those of saprophagous scarab beetles. The bacterial community of the digestive tract of adults and larvae of the cetoniine scarab species Cotinis nitida is characterized according to life stage, gut structure, and sex via high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Through permutational ANOVAs of the resulting sequences, bacterial communities of the digestive system are shown to differ significantly between adults and larvae in taxon richness, evenness and relatedness. Significant bacterial community-level differences are also observed between the midgut and hindgut in adult beetles, while no significant host-sex differences are observed. The partitioning between bacterial communities in the larval digestive system is shown through significant differences in two distinct hindgut regions, the ileum and the expanded paunch, but not between the midgut and ileum portion of the hindgut region. These data further corroborate the hypothesis of strong community partitioning in the gut of members of the Scarabaeoidea, suggest hypotheses of physiological-digestive association, and also demonstrate the presence of a seemingly unusual non-scarab-associated taxon. These findings contribute to a general portrait of scarabaeoid digestive tract bacterial communities while illuminating the microbiome of a common new world cetoniine of the Gymnetini-a tribe largely neglected in scarab and beetle microbiome and symbiosis literature., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Kucuk, Campbell, Lyon, Shelby and Caterino.)

We describe a second species of Nearctomeris Wesener, 2012, a genus of pill millipede endemic to the southern Appalachians, based on morphological and molecular evidence. The fauna of Glomerida in America is characterized by its low diversity, and Nearctomerissmoky sp. nov. is only the fifth species of the order known from the eastern United States. Our phylogenetic analyses based on COI sequences recover a tentatively monophyletic lineage including both eastern American genera Onomeris Cook, 1896 and Nearctomeris , with a common ancestor in the Late Cretaceous to Mid Eocene and extant diversity within genera dating back to the Miocene. Our results suggest that the observed low diversity of the group in the eastern US is likely caused by extinction events, but it is also possible that new species are yet to be found. We provide new records for Nearctomerisinexpectata Wesener, 2012, Onomerisunderwoodi Cook, 1896 and O.australora Hoffman, 1950; the latter is here reported for the first time from South Carolina. We also present DNA barcoding data for all species of Glomerida present in the US that are not yet publicly available., Competing Interests: No conflict of interest was declared., (Ernesto Recuero, Michael S. Caterino.)

The beetle fauna of the California Channel Islands is here enumerated for the first time in over 120 years. We provide an annotated checklist documenting species-by-island diversity from an exhaustive literature review and analysis of a compiled dataset of 26,609 digitized specimen records to which were added over 3,000 individual specimen determinations. We report 825 unique species from 514 genera and 71 families (including 17 new family records) comprising 1,829 species-by-island records. Species totals for each island are as follows: Anacapa (74); San Clemente (197); San Miguel (138); San Nicolas (146); Santa Barbara (64); Santa Catalina (370); Santa Cruz (503); and Santa Rosa (337). This represents the largest list of species published to date for any taxonomic group of animals on the Channel Islands; despite this, we consider the checklist to be preliminary. We present evidence that both inventory and taxonomic efforts on Channel Islands beetles are far from complete. Rarefaction estimates indicate there are at least several hundred more species of beetles yet to be recorded from the islands. Despite the incomplete nature of existing records, we found that species diversity is highly correlated with island area. We report 56 species which are putatively geographically restricted (endemic) to the Channel Islands, with two additional species of questionable endemic status. We also report 52 species from the islands which do not natively occur in the southern California region., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2023 Gimmel et al.)

Thirteen new species of Euconnus Thomson (Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae: Glandulariini) are described from the southern Appalachian Mts, USA: Euconnusmegalops sp. nov. , E.vexillus sp. nov. , E.cumberlandus sp. nov. , E.vetustus sp. nov. , E.adversus sp. nov. , E.astrus sp. nov. , E.cultellus sp. nov. , E.falcatus sp. nov. , E.cataloochee sp. nov. , E.kilmeri sp. nov. , E.draco sp. nov. , E.tusquitee sp. nov. , and E.attritus sp. nov. These share a number of morphological characters with the Old World subgenus Cladoconnus Reitter, representing a diversification of species distinct from anything previously known from the western hemisphere. Most of the species occur at higher elevations, some at the tops of the region's highest mountains, and a few are single-peak endemics. No females of these species are winged, and in several species neither sex is winged. A preliminary phylogeny suggests the wingless species represent a clade within a clade of wing-dimorphic species., (Michael S. Caterino.)

For the first time, an extant histerid genus Anapleus Horn, 1873 is described from a specimen found in mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. Anapleus kachinensis sp. nov. Although the genus Anapleus has not been precisely defined by synapomorphies, the new species shares numerous features with extant species while differing in comparatively few external characteristics. Anapleus kachinensis represents the first record of an extant histerid genus from Cretaceous deposits and provides further evidence of the ancient origin of the genus.

Forty-nine new species of Neotropical Exosternini are described in this work, representing the newly recognized Phelister blairi species group, within the large, heterogeneous taxon Phelister . Eight previously described species are also assigned to this group. Relationships within are indicated with several informal subgroups: P. blairi subgroup: ( P. blairi Hinton, 1935, P. erwini sp. nov. , P. fimbriatus sp. nov. , P. stellans sp. nov. , P. sparsus sp. nov. , P. pretiosus sp. nov. , P. trigonisternus Marseul, 1889, P. globosus sp. nov. , P. serratus sp. nov. , P. geminus sp. nov. , P. parana sp. nov. , P. asperatus sp. nov. , P. uniformis sp. nov. , P. miscellus sp. nov. , P. inbio sp. nov. , P. sculpturatus Schmidt, 1893, P. tunki sp. nov. , P. praedatoris Reichensperger, 1939, P. ifficus sp. nov. , P. genieri sp. nov. , P. marginatus sp. nov. , P. vazdemelloi sp. nov. , P. dilatatus sp. nov. , P. spectabilis sp. nov. , P. pervagatus sp. nov. ); P. amazoniae subgroup: ( P. morbidus sp. nov. , P. annulatus sp. nov. , P. sphaericus sp. nov. , P. geijskesi Kanaar, 1997, P. fraternus sp. nov. , P. conjunctus sp. nov. , P. chabooae sp. nov. , P. striatinotum Wenzel & Dybas, 1941, P. notandus Schmidt, 1893, P. amazoniae (Lewis, 1898) comb. nov. , P. arcuatus sp. nov. ); P. gregarius subgroup: ( P. gregarius sp. nov. , P. praecisus sp. nov. , P. rudis sp. nov. , P. incongruens sp. nov. , P. congruens sp. nov. , P. praesignis sp. nov. ); P. umens subgroup: ( P. umens sp. nov. , P. almeidae sp. nov. , P. chicomendesi sp. nov. , P. microdens sp. nov. , P. matatlantica sp. nov. ); P. curvipes subgroup: ( P. curvipes sp. nov. , P. vilavelha sp. nov. ); P. rio subgroup: ( P. rio sp. nov. , P. semotus sp. nov. , P. uncinatus sp. nov. , P. inscriptus sp. nov. ); incertae sedis - unplaced to subgroup: ( P. incertus sp. nov. , P. okeefei sp. nov. , P. blairoides sp. nov. , P. pirana sp. nov. ). Lectotypes are designated for the following species: P. trigonisternus Marseul, P. sculpturatus Schmidt, P. praedatoris Reichensperger, P. notandus Schmidt, and Discoscelis amazoniae Lewis. Preliminary phylogenetic analyses of the broader Neotropical Exosternini do not support the monophyly of the P. blairi group, nor of all of these subgroups, but the majority do fall within one large clade (which is potentially paraphyletic with respect to some other Neotropical exosternine genera). More work on the phylogeny and taxonomy of this diverse fauna is needed., (Michael S. Caterino, Alexey K. Tishechkin.)

In order to place a newly discovered species Antigracilus costatus gen. sp. n. from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation (China) and to assess previously unplaced fossil taxa, we investigated the relationships of extant and extinct lineages of Histeridae based on three data sets: (i) 69 morphological characters belonging to 48 taxa (representing all 11 subfamilies and 15 of 17 tribes of modern Histeridae); (ii) partitioned alignment of 6030 bp from downloaded nucleotide sequences (28S, CAD, COI, 18S) of 50 taxa (representing 10 subfamilies and 15 of 17 tribes of modern Histeridae); and (iii) a combined morphological and molecular dataset for 75 taxa. Phylogenetic analyses of the morphology and combined matrices recovered the new Lower Cretaceous taxon as a sister group to remaining Histeridae and it is placed in †Antigracilinae subfam. n. †Antigracilinae constitutes the earliest record of Histeridae from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation (∼125 Myr), backdating the minimum age of the family by 25 Myr from the earliest Cenomanian (~99 Myr) to the Barremian of the Cretaceous Period. Our molecular phylogeny supports Histeridae to be divided into seven different clades, with currently recognised subfamilies Abraeinae (sensu lato), Saprininae, Chlamydopsinae, and Histerinae (sensu lato) recovered as monophyletic, while Dendrophilinae, Onthophilinae, and Tribalinae are polyphyletic taxa. The Burmese amber species †Pantostictus burmanicus Poinar & Brown is placed as a sister group to the tribe Plegaderini (Abraeinae) and was assigned as a new tribe Pantostictini trib. n. Both molecular and combined phylogenies recovered the subfamilies Trypanaeinae and Trypeticinae deeply within the subfamily Abraeinae (sensu lato), and they are downgraded into Trypanaeini stat. n. and Trypeticini stat. n., (© 2020 Willi Hennig Society.)

The ant-loving beetle genus Panabachia Park 1942 is a poorly studied beetle lineage from the new world tropics. We recently collected Panabachia from several previously unrecorded locations in the páramo biome of the high Ecuadorian Andes, with males exhibiting great morphological variation in the distribution of the foveae and depressions in the pronotum, as well as aspects of the male genitalia. Here, we employ phylogenetic and species delimitation methods with mitochondrial ( COI ) and nuclear protein-coding (wingless) gene sequences to examine the concordance of morphological characters and geography with hypothesized species boundaries. Three methods of species delimitation (bPTP, GMYC and Stacey) were used to estimate the number of species, and divergence times between putative species using molecular clock calibration. Phylogenetic analysis revealed two parallel radiations, and species delimitation analyses suggest there are between 17 and 22 putative species. Based on clade support and concordance across species delimitation methods we hypothesize 17 distinct clusters, with allopatric speciation consistent with most geographic patterns. Additionally, a widespread species appears to be present in northern páramo sites, and some sister species sympatry may indicate other diversification processes have operated on certain lineages of Panabachia . Divergence time estimates suggest that Panabachia originated in the Miocene, but most species analyzed diverged during the Pliocene and Pleistocene (5.3-0.11 Mya), contemporaneous with the evolution of páramo plant species.

Background: Páramo is a tropical alpine ecosystem present in the northern Andes. Its patchy distribution imposes limits and barriers to specialist inhabitants. We aim to assess the effects of this habitat distribution on divergence across two independently flightless ground beetle lineages, in the genera Dyscolus and Dercylus ., Methods: One nuclear and one mitochondrial gene from 110 individuals from 10 sites across the two lineages were sequenced and analyzed using a combination of phylogenetics, population genetic analyses, and niche modeling methods., Results: The two lineages show different degrees of population subdivision. Low levels of gene flow were found in Dyscolus alpinus , where one dominant haplotype is found in four out of the six populations analyzed for both molecular markers. However, complete population isolation was revealed in species of the genus Dercylus , where high levels of differentiation exist at species and population level for both genes. Maximum entropy models of species in the Dercylus lineage show overlapping distributions. Still, species distributions appear to be restricted to small areas across the Andes., Conclusion: Even though both beetle lineages are flightless, the dispersal ability of each beetle lineage appears to influence the genetic diversity across fragmented páramo populations, where Dyscolus alpinus appears to be a better disperser than species in the genus Dercylus ., Competing Interests: The authors declare they have no competing interests.

The Phelisterhaemorrhous species group is established here, revising the seventeen included species, four of which are described as new. This group is named for and contains the type species of Phelister , so represents a core around which a modern concept of the dumping-ground genus Phelister may be developed. The group includes several common and well-known species in the Americas, including some of the only Phelister to exhibit distinctive coloration. Several of these are typically found in cattle dung, and have likely expanded beyond their native ranges as cattle spread throughout the Americas. The group contains the following species: Phelisterhaemorrhous Marseul, 1854, Phelisteraffinis J.E. LeConte, 1859, Phelisterparallelisternus Schmidt, 1893, Phelistermobilensis Casey, 1916, Phelisterbrevistriatus Casey, 1916, Phelistersonorae sp. nov. , Phelisterwarneri sp. nov. , Phelisterpuncticollis Hinton, 1935, Phelistersubrotundus (Say, 1825), Phelisterrouzeti (Fairmaire, 1850), Phelisterrufinotus Marseul, 1861, Phelisterthiemei Schmidt, 1889, Phelisterparecis sp. nov. , Phelisterbryanti sp. nov. , Phelistervernus (Say, 1825), Phelisterchilicola Marseul, 1870, and Phelisterbruchi Bickhardt, 1920. We also designate the following new synonymies: Phelisterhaemorrhous Marseul (= Phelisterrubicundus Marseul, 1889, syn. nov. ); Phelistersubrotundus (= Phelistercontractus Casey, 1916, syn nov. ); Phelisterrouzeti (Fairmaire) (= Phelisterfairmairei Marseul, 1861; syn. nov. , = Phelisterwickhami Casey, 1916, syn. nov. ); Phelisterrufinotus Marseul, 1861 (= Epierusmarseulii Kirsch, 1873, syn. nov. ); and Phelisterthiemei Schmidt, 1889 (= Phelisterstercoricola Bickhardt, 1909, syn. nov. ).

Background: Southern Appalachian forests are dominated by second-growth vegetation following decades of intensive forestry and agricultural use, although some old-growth patches remain. While it's been shown that second-growth areas may exhibit comparable species richness to old-growth in the area, the extent to which populations of arthropods in second-growth areas have persisted vs. recolonized from other areas remains unexamined. The implications for conservation of both classes of forest are significant. Here we analyze population diversity and relatedness across five old-growth and five second-growth populations of flightless, leaf litter-inhabiting beetles in the genus Eurhoptus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cryptorhynchinae). Our main goal is asking whether second-growth areas show diminished diversity and/or signals of recolonization from old-growth sources., Results: Population genetic and phylogenetic analyses do not reveal any consistent differences in diversity between the old-growth and second-growth populations examined. Some second-growth populations retain substantial genetic diversity, while some old-growth populations appear relatively depauperate. There is no phylogenetic indication that second-growth populations have recolonized from old-growth source populations., Conclusions: Most populations contain substantial and unique genetic diversity indicating long-term persistence in the majority of sites. The results support substantial resilience in second-growth populations, though the geographic scale of sampling may have hindered detection of recolonization patterns. Broad scale phylogeographic patterns reveal a deep break across the French Broad River basin, as has been reported in several other taxa of limited dispersal abilities. In Eurhoptus this break dates to ~ 2-6 Ma ago, on the older end of the range of previously estimated dates.

The genus Eurhoptus LeConte, 1876 is revised for America north of Mexico. Eight species are recognized including E.pyriformis LeConte, 1876, E.sordidus (LeConte, 1876), E.curtus (Hamilton, 1893), resurrected name, and five new species as follows: E.rileyi new species (type locality, Texas, Hidalgo County, Bentsen Rio Grande State Park), E.imbricatus new species (type locality, Texas, Bandera County, Lost Maples State Natural Area), E.cariniventris new species (type locality, Texas, Bandera County, Lost Maples State Natural Area), E.occidentalis new species (type locality, Texas, Brewster County, Big Bend National Park), and E.aenigmaticus new species (type locality, Alabama, Winston County, Bankhead National Forest). Descriptions or redescriptions, and images of taxonomically important structures are presented for all species. A key to the eight species is included.

We describe a new genus and species of Histeridae from Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber, Amplectister tenax Caterino & Maddison, gen. & sp. n. This species represents the third known Cretaceous histerid, which, like the others, is highly distinct and cannot easily be placed to subfamily. It exhibits prosternal characters in common with Saprininae, but other characters appear inconsistent with this possibility. The abdominal venter is strongly concave, and the hind legs are enlarged and modified for grasping. We hypothesize that this represents the earliest example in Histeridae of modifications for phoresy on social insects.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.685.13811.].

We revise the genus Prespelea Park, redefining and redescribing the two previously known species, P. copelandi Park and P. quirsfeldi Park, and adding ten new species: P. parki Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n. , P. minima Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n. , P. morsei Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n. , P. divergens Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n. , P. carltoni Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n. , P. myersae Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n. , P. georgiensis Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n. , P. enigma Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n. , P. wagneri Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n. , and P. basalis Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n. . The genus is still only known from a relatively small area in the southern Appalachian Mountains, but the diversity is much greater than previously suspected. The new species exhibit considerable diversity in male secondary sexual characters. A preliminary phylogenetic analysis cannot conclusively resolve the polarity of eye and wing reduction across Speleobamini, but the monophyly of Park's subgenus Fusjugama, if expanded to include all species with full-eyed and winged males, is not supported, and we therefore synonymize it with Prespelea s. str.

The Lepidoptera of North America Network, or LepNet, is a digitization effort recently launched to mobilize biodiversity data from 3 million specimens of butterflies and moths in United States natural history collections (http://www.lep-net.org/). LepNet was initially conceived as a North American effort but the project seeks collaborations with museums and other organizations worldwide. The overall goal is to transform Lepidoptera specimen data into readily available digital formats to foster global research in taxonomy, ecology and evolutionary biology.

External and internal morphological characters of extant and fossil organisms are crucial to establishing their systematic position, ecological role and evolutionary trends. The lack of internal characters and soft-tissue preservation in many arthropod fossils, however, impedes comprehensive phylogenetic analyses and species descriptions according to taxonomic standards for Recent organisms. We found well-preserved three-dimensional anatomy in mineralized arthropods from Paleogene fissure fillings and demonstrate the value of these fossils by utilizing digitally reconstructed anatomical structure of a hister beetle. The new anatomical data facilitate a refinement of the species diagnosis and allowed us to reject a previous hypothesis of close phylogenetic relationship to an extant congeneric species. Our findings suggest that mineralized fossils, even those of macroscopically poor preservation, constitute a rich but yet largely unexploited source of anatomical data for fossil arthropods.

The formely monotypic Neotropical genus Megalocraerus Lewis is revised to include five species, known from southeastern Brazil to Costa Rica: Megalocraerus rubricatus Lewis, Megalocraerus mandibularis sp. n., Megalocraerus chico sp. n., Megalocraerus madrededios sp. n., and Megalocraerus tiputini sp. n. We describe the species, map their distributions, and provide a key for their identification. Their subcylindrical body form and emarginate mesosternum have previously hindered placement to tribe, although their curent assignment to Exosternini now appears well supported by morphological evidence. Nothing is known of the natural history of the species.

A new species of the Hister coenosus group from southern Brazil is described. Hister lucia sp. nov. is the largest Hister sp. in the New World, and is also distinguished by its dorsally and laterally concave mandibles. The three genera of Histerini recorded from Brazil are keyed, and a checklist of species of the tribe recorded from Brazil is presented. In total, seventeen described species of Histerini are recorded from Brazil, including fifteen of Hister Linnaeus, one of Atholus C. Thomson, and one of Margarinotus Marseul.

We describe the following 8 new genera and 23 new species of Neotropical Exosternini. Conocassis gen. n. (Conocassis minor sp. n. [type species], Conocassis dromedaria sp. n., Conocassis trisulcata sp. n., and Conocassis invaginata sp. n.), Enkyosoma gen. n. (Enkyosoma rockwelli sp. n.), Pluricosta gen. n. (Pluricosta onthophiloides sp. n.), Pyxister gen. n. (Pyxister devorator sp. n. [type species] and Pyxister labralis sp. n.), Chapischema gen. n. (Chapischema doppelganger sp. n.), Scaptorus gen. n. (Scaptorus pyramus sp. n.), Lacrimorpha gen. n. (Lacrimorpha glabra sp. n. [type species], Lacrimorpha balbina sp. n., Lacrimorpha subdepressa sp. n., and Lacrimorpha acuminata sp. n.), Crenulister gen. n. (Crenulister grossus sp. n. [type species], Crenulister explanatus sp. n., Crenulister dentatus sp. n., Crenulister impar sp. n., Crenulister umbrosus sp. n., Crenulister simplex sp. n., Crenulister paucitans sp. n., Crenulister spinipes sp. n., and Crenulister seriatus sp. n.) These all represent highly distinctive and phylogenetically isolated forms, almost invariably known from very few specimens. All but one species have been collected only by passive flight intercept traps, and nothing significant is known about the biology of any of them.

Here we present a complete revision of the species of Baconia. Up until now there have been 27 species assigned to the genus (Mazur, 2011), in two subgenera (Binhister Cooman and Baconia s. str.), with species in the Neotropical, Nearctic, Palaearctic, and Oriental regions. We recognize all these species as valid and correctly assigned to the genus, and redescribe all of them. We synonymize Binhister, previously used for a polyphyletic assemblage of species with varied relationships in the genus. We move four species into Baconia from other genera, and describe 85 species as new, bringing the total for the genus to 116 species. We divide these into 12 informal species groups, leaving 13 species unplaced to group. We present keys and diagnoses for all species, as well as habitus photos and illustrations of male genitalia for nearly all. The genus now contains the following species and species groups: Baconia loricata group [Baconia loricata Lewis, 1885, B. patula Lewis, 1885, Baconia gounellei (Marseul, 1887a), Baconia jubaris (Lewis, 1901), Baconia festiva (Lewis, 1891), Baconia foliosoma sp. n., Baconia sapphirina sp. n., Baconia furtiva sp. n., Baconia pernix sp. n., Baconia applanatis sp. n., Baconia disciformis sp. n., Baconia nebulosa sp. n., Baconia brunnea sp. n.], Baconia godmani group [Baconia godmani (Lewis, 1888), Baconia venusta (J. E. LeConte, 1845), Baconia riehli (Marseul, 1862), comb. n., Baconia scintillans sp. n., Baconia isthmia sp. n., Baconia rossi sp. n., Baconia navarretei sp. n., Baconia maculata sp. n., Baconia deliberata sp. n., Baconia excelsa sp. n., Baconia violacea (Marseul, 1853), Baconia varicolor (Marseul, 1887b), Baconia dives (Marseul, 1862), Baconia eximia (Lewis, 1888), Baconia splendida sp. n., Baconia jacinta sp. n., Baconia prasina sp. n., Baconia opulenta sp. n., Baconia illustris (Lewis, 1900), Baconia choaspites (Lewis, 1901), Baconia lewisi Mazur, 1984], Baconia salobrus group [Baconia salobrus (Marseul, 1887b), Baconia turgifrons sp. n., Baconia crassa sp. n., Baconia anthracina sp. n., Baconia emarginata sp. n., Baconia obsoleta sp. n.], Baconia ruficauda group [Baconia ruficauda sp. n., Baconia repens sp. n.], Baconia angusta group [Baconia angusta Schmidt, 1893a, Baconia incognita sp. n., Baconia guartela sp. n., Baconia bullifrons sp. n., Baconia cavei sp. n., Baconia subtilis sp. n., Baconia dentipes sp. n., Baconia rubripennis sp. n., Baconia lunatifrons sp. n.], Baconia aeneomicans group [Baconia aeneomicans (Horn, 1873), Baconia pulchella sp. n., Baconia quercea sp. n., Baconia stephani sp. n., Baconia irinae sp. n., Baconia fornix sp. n., Baconia slipinskii Mazur, 1981, Baconia submetallica sp. n., Baconia diminua sp. n., Baconia rufescens sp. n., Baconia punctiventer sp. n., Baconia aulaea sp. n., Baconia mustax sp. n., Baconia plebeia sp. n., Baconia castanea sp. n., Baconia lescheni sp. n., Baconia oblonga sp. n., Baconia animata sp. n., Baconia teredina sp. n., Baconia chujoi (Cooman, 1941), Baconia barbarus (Cooman, 1934), Baconia reposita sp. n., Baconia kubani sp. n., Baconia wallacea sp. n., Baconia bigemina sp. n., Baconia adebratti sp. n., Baconia silvestris sp. n.], Baconia cylindrica group [Baconia cylindrica sp. n., Baconia chatzimanolisi sp. n.], Baconia gibbifer group [Baconia gibbifer sp. n., B. piluliformis sp. n., Baconia maquipucunae sp. n., Baconia tenuipes sp. n., Baconia tuberculifer sp. n., Baconia globosa sp. n.], Baconia insolita group [Baconia insolita (Schmidt, 1893a), comb. n., Baconia burmeisteri (Marseul, 1870), Baconia tricolor sp. n., Baconia pilicauda sp. n.], Baconia riouka group [Baconia riouka (Marseul, 1861), Baconia azuripennis sp. n.], Baconia famelica group [Baconia famelica sp. n., Baconia grossii sp. n., Baconia redemptor sp. n., Baconia fortis sp. n., Baconia longipes sp. n., Baconia katieae sp. n., Baconia cavifrons (Lewis, 1893), comb. n., Baconia haeterioides sp. n.], Baconia micans group [Baconia micans (Schmidt, 1889a), Baconia carinifrons sp. n., Baconia fulgida (Schmidt, 1889c)], Baconia incertae sedis [Baconia chilense (Redtenbacher, 1867), Baconia glauca (Marseul, 1884), Baconia coerulea (Bickhardt, 1917), Baconia angulifrons sp. n., Baconia sanguinea sp. n., Baconia viridimicans (Schmidt, 1893b), Baconia nayarita sp. n., Baconia viridis sp. n., Baconia purpurata sp. n., Baconia aenea sp. n., Baconia clemens sp. n., Baconia leivasi sp. n., Baconia atricolor sp. n.]. We designate lectotypes for the following species: Baconia loricata Lewis, 1885,Phelister gounellei Marseul, 1887, Baconia jubaris Lewis, 1901, Baconia festiva Lewis, 1891, Platysoma venustum J.E. LeConte, 1845, Phelister riehli Marseul, 1862, Phelister violaceus Marseul, 1853, Phelister varicolor Marseul, 1887b, Phelister illustris Lewis, 1900, Baconia choaspites Lewis, 1901, Epierus festivus Lewis, 1898, Phelister salobrus Marseul, 1887, Baconia angusta Schmidt, 1893a, Phelister insolitus Schmidt, 1893a, Pachycraerus burmeisteri Marseul, 1870, Phelister riouka Marseul, 1861, Homalopygus cavifrons Lewis, 1893, Phelister micans Schmidt, 1889a, Phelister coeruleus Bickhardt, 1917, and Phelister viridimicans Schmidt, 1893b. We designate neotypes for Baconia patula Lewis, 1885 and Hister aeneomicans Horn, 1873, whose type specimens are lost.

We revise the large Neotropical genus Operclipygus Marseul, in the histerid tribe Exosternini (Histeridae: Histerinae). We synonymize 3 species, move 14 species from other genera, sink the genus Tribalister Horn into Operclipygus, and describe 138 species as new, bringing the total to 177 species of Operclipygus. Keys are provided for the identification of all species, and the majority of the species are illustrated by habitus and male genitalia illustrations. The species are diverse throughout tropical South and Central America, with only a few species extending into the temperate parts of North America. The majority of species can be recognized by the presence of a distinct stria or sulcus along the apical margin of the pygidium, though it is not exclusive to the genus. Natural history details for species of Operclipygus are scant, as most specimens have been collected through the use of passive flight interception traps. Many are probably generally associated with decaying vegetation and leaf litter, where they prey on small arthropods. But a small proportion are known inquilines, with social insects such as ants and termites, and also with some burrowing mammals, such as Ctenomys Blainville. The genus now includes the following species groups and species: Operclipygus sulcistrius group [Operclipygus lucanoides sp. n., Operclipygus schmidti sp. n., Operclipygus simplistrius sp. n., Operclipygus sulcistrius Marseul, 1870], Operclipygus mirabilis group [Operclipygus mirabilis (Wenzel & Dybas, 1941) comb. n., Operclipygus pustulifer sp. n., Operclipygus plaumanni sp. n., Operclipygus sinuatus sp. n., Operclipygus mutuca sp. n., Operclipygus carinistrius (Lewis, 1908) comb. n., Operclipygus parensis sp. n., Operclipygus schlingeri sp. n.], Operclipygus kerga group [Operclipygus kerga (Marseul, 1870), Operclipygus planifrons sp. n., Operclipygus punctistrius sp. n.], Operclipygus conquisitus group [Operclipygus bicolor sp. n., Operclipygus conquisitus (Lewis, 1902), Operclipygus friburgius (Marseul, 1864)], Operclipygus impuncticollis group [Operclipygus bickhardti sp. n., Operclipygus britannicus sp. n., Operclipygus impuncticollis (Hinton, 1935)], Operclipygus panamensis group [Operclipygus crenatus (Lewis, 1888), Operclipygus panamensis (Wenzel & Dybas, 1941)], Operclipygus sejunctus group [Operclipygus depressus (Hinton, 1935), Operclipygus itoupe sp. n., Operclipygus juninensis sp. n., Operclipygus pecki sp. n., Operclipygus punctiventer sp. n., Operclipygus sejunctus (Schmidt, 1896) comb. n., Operclipygus setiventris sp. n.], Operclipygus mortavis group [Operclipygus ecitonis sp. n., Operclipygus mortavis sp. n., Operclipygus paraguensis sp. n.], Operclipygus dytiscoides group [Operclipygus carinisternus sp. n., Operclipygus crenulatus sp. n., Operclipygus dytiscoides sp. n., Operclipygus quadratus sp. n.], Operclipygus dubitabilis group [Operclipygus dubitabilis (Marseul, 1889), Operclipygus yasuni sp. n.], Operclipygus angulifer group [Operclipygus angulifer sp. n., Operclipygus impressifrons sp. n.], Operclipygus dubius group [Operclipygus andinus sp. n., Operclipygus dubius (Lewis, 1888), Operclipygus extraneus sp. n., Operclipygus intermissus sp. n., Operclipygus lunulus sp. n., Operclipygus occultus sp. n., Operclipygus perplexus sp. n., Operclipygus remotus sp. n., Operclipygus validus sp. n., Operclipygus variabilis sp. n.], Operclipygus hospes group [Operclipygus assimilis sp. n., Operclipygus belemensis sp. n., Operclipygus bulbistoma sp. n., Operclipygus callifrons sp. n., Operclipygus colombicus sp. n., Operclipygus communis sp. n., Operclipygus confertus sp. n., Operclipygus confluens sp. n., Operclipygus curtistrius sp. n., Operclipygus diffluens sp. n., Operclipygus fusistrius sp. n., Operclipygus gratus sp. n., Operclipygus hospes (Lewis, 1902), Operclipygus ibiscus sp. n., Operclipygus ignifer sp. n., Operclipygus impositus sp. n., Operclipygus incisus sp. n., Operclipygus innocuus sp. n., Operclipygus inquilinus sp. n., Operclipygus minutus sp. n., Operclipygus novateutoniae sp. n., Operclipygus praecinctus sp. n., Operclipygus prominens sp. n., Operclipygus rileyi sp. n., Operclipygus subterraneus sp. n., Operclipygus tenuis sp. n., Operclipygus tiputinus sp. n.], Operclipygus farctus group [Operclipygus atlanticus sp. n., Operclipygus bidessois (Marseul, 1889), Operclipygus distinctus (Hinton, 1935), Operclipygus distractus (Schmidt, 1896) comb. n., Operclipygus farctissimus sp. n., Operclipygus farctus (Marseul, 1864), Operclipygus gilli sp. n., Operclipygus impressistrius sp. n., Operclipygus inflatus sp. n., Operclipygus latemarginatus (Bickhardt, 1920) comb. n., Operclipygus petrovi sp. n., Operclipygus plicatus (Hinton, 1935) comb. n., Operclipygus prolixus sp. n., Operclipygus punctifrons sp. n., Operclipygus proximus sp. n., Operclipygus subrufus sp. n.], Operclipygus hirsutipes group [Operclipygus guianensis sp. n., Operclipygus hirsutipes sp. n.], Operclipygus hamistrius group [Operclipygus arquus sp. n., Operclipygus campbelli sp. n., Operclipygus chiapensis sp. n., Operclipygus dybasi sp. n., Operclipygus geometricus (Casey, 1893) comb. n., Operclipygus hamistrius (Schmidt, 1893) comb. n., Operclipygus impressicollis sp. n., Operclipygus intersectus sp. n., Operclipygus montanus sp. n., Operclipygus nubosus sp. n., Operclipygus pichinchensis sp. n., Operclipygus propinquus sp. n., Operclipygus quinquestriatus sp. n., Operclipygus rubidus (Hinton, 1935) comb. n., Operclipygus rufescens sp. n., Operclipygus troglodytes sp. n.], Operclipygus plicicollis group [Operclipygus cephalicus sp. n., Operclipygus longidens sp. n., Operclipygus plicicollis (Schmidt, 1893)], Operclipygus fossipygus group [Operclipygus disconnectus sp. n., Operclipygus fossipygus (Wenzel, 1944), Operclipygus foveipygus (Bickhardt, 1918), Operclipygus fungicolus (Wenzel & Dybas, 1941), Operclipygus gibbulus (Schmidt, 1889) comb. n., Operclipygus olivensis sp. n., Operclipygus simplicipygus sp. n., Operclipygus subdepressus (Schmidt, 1889), Operclipygus therondi (Wenzel, 1976)], Operclipygus impunctipennis group [Operclipygus chamelensis sp. n., Operclipygus foveiventris sp. n., Operclipygus granulipectus sp. n., Operclipygus impunctipennis (Hinton, 1935) comb. n., Operclipygus latifoveatus sp. n., Operclipygus lissipygus sp. n., Operclipygus maesi sp. n., Operclipygus mangiferus sp. n., Operclipygus marginipennis sp. n., Operclipygus nicodemus sp. n., Operclipygus nitidus sp. n., Operclipygus pacificus sp. n., Operclipygus pauperculus sp. n., Operclipygus punctissipygus sp. n., Operclipygus subviridis sp. n., Operclipygus tripartitus sp. n., Operclipygus vorax sp. n.], Operclipygus marginellus group [Operclipygus ashei sp. n., Operclipygus baylessae sp. n., Operclipygus dentatus sp. n., Operclipygus formicatus sp. n., Operclipygus hintoni sp. n., Operclipygus marginellus (J.E. LeConte, 1860) comb. n., Operclipygus orchidophilus sp. n., Operclipygus selvorum sp. n., Operclipygus striatellus (Fall, 1917) comb. n.], incertae sedis: O. teapensis (Marseul, 1853) comb. n., Operclipygus punctulatus sp. n., Operclipygus lama Mazur, 1988, Operclipygus florifaunensis sp. n., Operclipygus bosquesecus sp. n., Operclipygus arnaudi Dégallier, 1982, Operclipygus subsphaericus sp. n., Operclipygus latipygus sp. n., Operclipygus elongatus sp. n., Operclipygus rupicolus sp. n., Operclipygus punctipleurus sp. n., Operclipygus falini sp. n., Operclipygus peregrinus sp. n., Operclipygus brooksi sp. n., Operclipygus profundipygus sp. n., Operclipygus punctatissimus sp. n., Operclipygus cavisternus sp. n., Operclipygus siluriformis sp. n., Operclipygus parallelus sp. n., Operclipygus abbreviatus sp. n., Operclipygus pygidialis (Lewis, 1908), Operclipygus faltistrius sp. n., Operclipygus limonensis sp. n., Operclipygus wenzeli sp. n., Operclipygus iheringi (Bickhardt, 1917), Operclipygus angustisternus (Wenzel, 1944), Operclipygus shorti sp. n. We establish the following synonymies: Phelisteroides miladae Wenzel & Dybas, 1941 and Pseudister propygidialis Hinton, 1935e = Operclipygus crenatus (Lewis, 1888); Phelister subplicatus Schmidt, 1893b = Operclipygus bidessois (Marseul, 1889). We designate lectotypes for Operclipygus sulcistrius Marseul, 1870, Phelister carinistrius Lewis, 1908, Phelister kerga Marseul, 1870, Phelister friburgius Marseul, 1864, Phelister impuncticollis Hinton, 1935, Phelister crenatus Lewis, 1888, Phelister sejunctus Schmidt, 1896, Pseudister depressus Hinton, 1935, Epierus dubius Lewis, 1888, Phelister hospes Lewis, 1902, Phelister farctus Marseul, 1864, Phelister bidessois Marseul, 1889, Phelister subplicatus Schmidt, 1893, Phelister plicatus Hinton, 1935, Phelister distinctus Hinton, 1935, Phelister distractus Schmidt, 1896, Pseudister latemarginatus Bickhardt, 1920, Phelister hamistrius Schmidt, 1893, Phelister plicicollis Schmidt, 1893, Phelister gibbulus Schmidt, 1889, Phelister subdepressus Schmidt, 1889, Phelister teapensis Marseul, 1853, Phelister pygidialis Lewis, 1908, Phelister iheringi Bickhardt, 1917, and Phelister marginellus J.E. LeConte 1860. We designate a neotype for Operclipygus conquisitus Lewis, replacing its lost type specimen.

We revise the four species of Kaszabister Mazur, 1972, one of which, Kaszabister barrigaisp. n., is described as new. The other species in the genus are Kaszabister rubellus (Erichson, 1834), Kaszabister ferrugineus (Kirsch, 1873) and Kaszabister carinatus (Lewis, 1888). The species are principally known from the subtropics of South America, with one in Central America. Lectotypes are designated for Kaszabister rubellus and Kaszabister ferrugineus, and a key is provided for all the species. Ants of the genus Solenopsis Westwood, mainly Solenopsis invicta Buren and Solenopsis saevissima (Smith), are documented as hosts of three of the four species.

We revise the genus Mecistostethus Marseul, sinking the monotypic genus Tarsilister Bruch as a junior synonym. Mecistostethus contains six valid species: Mecistostethus pilifer Marseul, Mecistostethus loretoensis (Bruch), comb. n., Mecistostethus seagorumsp. n., Mecistostethus carltonisp. n., Mecistostethus marseulisp. n., and Mecistostethus flechtmannisp. n. The few existing records show the genus to be widespread in tropical and subtropical South America, from northern Argentina to western Amazonian Ecuador and French Guiana. Only a single host record associates one species with the ant Pachycondyla striata Smith (Formicidae: Ponerinae), but it is possible that related ants host all the species.

The genus Oropodes is characterized and revised with 18 species being treated. Members of this genus are found in temperate forests to desert brush lands from Oregon to Baja California, but are associated primarily with dry forests and shrub lands of California. Keys to males and females, where known, are provided. Seven species are redescribed: Oropodes arcaps (California), Oropodes dybasi (Oregon), Oropodes ishii (California), Oropodes nuclere (California), Oropodes orbiceps (California), Oropodes rumseyensis (California), Oropodes yollabolly (California). The name Oropodes raffrayi (California) is raised from synonymy and the species is redescribed, NEW STATUS. Ten new species are described: Oropodes aalbui (California), Oropodes bellorum (California), Oropodes casson (California), Oropodes chumash (California), Oropodes esselen (California), Oropodes hardyi (California), Oropodes serrano (California), Oropodes tataviam (California), Oropodes tongva (California), and Oropodes tipai (Baja California, Mexico), NEW SPECIES. These species are placed into three species groups: the arcaps-group, the orbiceps-group, and the raffrayi-group. Data for a new record of Euplecterga fideli are given, and a list of the unassociated Oropodes females with distinctive genitalia is included with their label data.

Nucleotide sequences from 16S rRNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) were used to examine phylogenetic relationships and evolution of beetles from the tribe Hololeptini (Coleoptera: Histeridae: Histerinae) that inhabit necrotic tissue of columnar cacti in the Sonoran Desert. Phylogenetic and morphological analyses revealed the presence of seven separate lineages, three representing species in the genus Iliotona, including I. beyeri stat. nov., and four species belonging to the genus Hololepta (sensu lato). The possible roles of historical vicariance and host plant associations on the evolution of the Hololeptini from the Sonoran Desert are discussed., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Comparative phylogeography of sympatric sibling species provides an opportunity to isolate the effects of geography and demographics on the evolutionary history of two lineages over the same, known time scale. In the current study, we investigated the phylogeographic structure of two zopherid beetle species, Phloeodes diabolicus and P. plicatus, where their ranges overlap in California's Transverse Ranges., Results: Although P. diabolicus and P. plicatus share similar habitats with largely overlapping distributions, the results of this study revealed different evolutionary histories for each species since divergence from their most recent common ancestor. In general, P. plicatus had higher genetic diversity, and more among population isolation than P. diabolicus. The mismatch distributions indicated that one major difference between the two species was the timing of population expansion. This result was consistent with genetic patterns revealed by the Phist values and genetic diversity. Lastly, there were no parallel genetic breaks at similar geographic barriers between the species., Conclusions: Our data revealed that differential demographics rather than geography were responsible for the genetic patterns of the two species.

Among freshwater organisms, water flow is frequently considered to be one of the most important environmental variables affecting life-history traits such as dispersal abilities and therefore genetic structure. Recent studies have suggested that habitat type alone as defined by water flow is predictive of genetic population differentiation, while others have advocated against broad generalizations in favour of more conservative, species-specific conclusions. If aquatic habitat type is predictive of population differentiation, then one would expect sympatric taxa that occupy the same aquatic habitat to converge on a similar genetic structure. We tested this prediction by examining the haplotype diversity, phylogeographical concordance, population connectivity and population isolation of three lotic water beetle species in southern California: Anacaena signaticollis, Eubrianax edwardsii and Stictotarsus striatellus. In addition to coarse habitat and geography, we also controlled for the potentially confounding factors of range size, method of dispersal and clade independence. Together, the species spanned extremes of genetic and phylogeographical structure in all measures examined, suggesting that a coarse dichotomy of aquatic habitat type is not predictive of genetic structure. While there is little question that water flow plays a major role in shaping the life-history traits of freshwater organisms, it is perilous to confer predictive properties to an artificially simplistic dichotomy or use it as a surrogate for other unmeasured variables.

Beetles represent almost one-fourth of all described species, and knowledge about their relationships and evolution adds to our understanding of biodiversity. We performed a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Coleoptera inferred from three genes and nearly 1900 species, representing more than 80% of the world's recognized beetle families. We defined basal relationships in the Polyphaga supergroup, which contains over 300,000 species, and established five families as the earliest branching lineages. By dating the phylogeny, we found that the success of beetles is explained neither by exceptional net diversification rates nor by a predominant role of herbivory and the Cretaceous rise of angiosperms. Instead, the pre-Cretaceous origin of more than 100 present-day lineages suggests that beetle species richness is due to high survival of lineages and sustained diversification in a variety of niches.

The Transverse Ranges in southern California have been identified as having a prominent phylogeographic role. Numerous studies have identified distinct north-south and/or east-west lineage breaks involving the Transverse Ranges. However, in evaluating their findings, most authors have regarded this complex system somewhat simplistically. In this study we more deeply investigate these breaks using two approaches: first we examine the phylogeographic history of Sepedophilus castaneus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) and then implement a comparative phylogeography approach applying Brooks parsimony analysis to the topologies of nine additional taxa. Phylogenetic analysis, nested clade analysis, and AMOVAs for S. castaneus agree that there is a major lineage break between the eastern and western Transverse Ranges, localized between the Sierra Pelona and the San Gabriel Mountains. The comparative phylogeographic analysis supports a generally strong concordance of area relationships with geographic proximity. It is notable, however, that the Transverse Ranges as a group do not show phylogenetic cohesion, but rather they are split into three main regions: an eastern region (San Gabriel, San Bernardino, and San Jacinto Mountains), a central region (central Transverse Ranges and Sierra Pelona) that is often grouped with the Tehachapi and Sierra Nevada populations, and a western region (northwestern Transverse Ranges and Santa Ynez Mountains) that is consistently grouped with coast range areas to the north. The lineage break between east and west Transverse Ranges is attributable to the presence of a marine embayment in what is now the Santa Clara River valley 5-2.5 million years ago.

The Staphyliniformia is one of the most diverse lineages of Coleoptera, with representatives occupying every conceivable non-marine niche. Phylogenetic relationships among its varied families and lower taxa have defied resolution. The problem has been further complicated by the recent suggestion that another major coleopteran series, Scarabaeiformia, is derived from within it. Here we present the first phylogenetic analyses, based on 18S rDNA sequences and morphological data, to explicitly examine this possibility. Thorough evaluation of alternative alignments and tree construction methods support the contention that Scarabaeiformia is derived from within Staphyliniformia. Though the analyses yielded strong support for few family level groupings within the expanded Staphyliniformia, they conclusively support a close relationship between Hydraenidae and Ptiliidae, which has often been debated. The primary factor hindering additional resolution appears to be the inconsistent rate of divergence in 18S among these taxa.

Swallowtail butterflies are recognized as model organisms in ecology, evolutionary biology, genetics, and conservation biology but present numerous unresolved phylogenetic problems. We inferred phylogenetic relationships for 51 of about 205 species of the genus Papilio (sensu lato) from 3.3-Kilobase (kb) sequences of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (2.3 kb of cytochrome oxidases I and II and 1.0 kb of elongation factor 1 alpha). Congruent phylogenetic trees were recovered within Papilio from analyses of combined data using maximum likelihood, Bayesian analysis, and maximum parsimony bootstrap consensus. Several disagreements with the traditional classification of Papilio were found. Five major previously hypothesized subdivisions within Papilio were well supported: Heraclides, Pterourus, Chilasa, Papilio (sensu stricto), and Eleppone. Further studies are required to clarify relationships within traditional "Princeps," which was paraphyletic. Several biologically interesting characteristics of Papilio appear to have polyphyletic origins, including mimetic adults, larval host associations, and larval morphology. Early diversification within Papilio is estimated at 55-65 million years ago based on a combination of biogeographic time constraints rather than fossils. This divergence time suggests that Papilio has slower apparent substitution rates than do Drosophila and fig-pollinating wasps and/or divergences corrected using best-fit substitution models are still being consistently underestimated. The amount of sequence divergence between Papilio subdivisions is equivalent to divergences between genera in other tribes of the Papilionidae, and between genera of moths of the noctuid subfamily Heliothinae.

For its size (ca. 4000 species) the Histeridae is one of the most ecologically and morphologically diverse families of beetles. Its mostly predaceous members occupy a wide variety of habitats for which their morphologies may be highly modified. Previous attempts to resolve the phylogeny of the family based on morphological data have left many difficult issues unresolved. This study is the first to utilize either larval or molecular (18S rDNA) data in combination with adult morphology in an attempt to resolve these issues. We compare the performance of optimization alignment with a fixed positional homology approach, over a range of parameter space. Optimizing alignment parameters for combined analyses of 18S and morphology for both approaches resulted in very similar topologies. Contrary to previous hypotheses which held the cylindrical, subcortical forms of the family (e.g., Niponius, Trypanaeus, Trypeticus) to be the most primitive, our analyses find these to be highly specialized forms derived from within other more generalized taxa. Basal lineages within the family instead include Onthophilus, Anapleus, and Dendrophilus, all of which are ovoid, mainly generalist forms.

Although it is widely agreed that data from multiple sources are necessary to confidently resolve phylogenetic relationships, procedures for accommodating and incorporating heterogeneity in such data remain underdeveloped. We explored the use of partitioned, model-based analyses of heterogeneous molecular data in the context of a phylogenetic study of swallowtail butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Despite substantial basic and applied study, phylogenetic relationships among the major lineages of this prominent group remain contentious. We sequenced 3.3 kb of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (2.3 kb of cytochrome oxidase I and II and 1.0 kb of elongation factor-1 alpha, respectively) from 22 swallowtails, including representatives of Baroniinae, Parnassiinae, and Papilioninae, and from several moth and butterfly outgroups. Using parsimony, we encountered considerable difficulty in resolving the deepest splits among these taxa. We therefore chose two outgroups with undisputed relationships to each other and to Papilionidae and undertook detailed likelihood analyses of alternative topologies. Following from previous studies that have demonstrated substantial heterogeneity in the evolutionary dynamics among process partitions of these genes, we estimated evolutionary parameters separately for gene-based and codon-based partitions. These values were then used as the basis for examining the likelihoods of possible resolutions and rootings under several partitioned and unpartitioned likelihood models. Partitioned models gave markedly better fits to the data than did unpartitioned models and supported different topologies. However, the most likely topology varied from model to model. The most likely ingroup topology under the best-fitting, six-partition GTR + gamma model favors a paraphyletic Parnassiinae. However, when examining the likelihoods of alternative rootings of this tree relative to rootings of the classical hypothesis, two rootings of the latter emerge as most likely. Of these two, the most likely rooting is within the Papilioninae, although a rooting between Baronia and the remaining Papilionidae is only nonsignificantly less likely.

Insect molecular systematics has undergone remarkable recent growth. Advances in methods of data generation and analysis have led to the accumulation of large amounts of DNA sequence data from most major insect groups. In addition to reviewing theoretical and methodological advances, we have compiled information on the taxa and regions sequenced from all available phylogenetic studies of insects. It is evident that investigators have not usually coordinated their efforts. The genes and regions that have been sequenced differ substantially among studies and the whole of our efforts is thus little greater than the sum of its parts. The cytochrome oxidase I, 16S, 18S, and elongation factor-1 alpha genes have been widely used and are informative across a broad range of divergences in insects. We advocate their use as standards for insect phylogenetics. Insect molecular systematics has complemented and enhanced the value of morphological and ecological data, making substantial contributions to evolutionary biology in the process. A more coordinated approach focused on gathering homologous sequence data will greatly facilitate such efforts.

Butterflies of the genus Papilio have served as the basis for numerous studies in insect physiology, genetics, and ecology. However, phylogenetic work on relationships among major lineages in the genus has been limited and inconclusive. We have sequenced 2.3 kb of DNA from the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I and II genes (COI and COII) for 23 Papilio taxa and two outgroups, Pachliopta neptunus and Eurytides marcellus, in order to assess the potential of these genes for use in Papilio phylogenetics and to examine patterns of gene evolution across a broad taxonomic range. Nucleotide and amino acid variation is distributed heterogeneously, both within and between genes. Structural features of the proteins are not always reliable predictors of variation. In a combined analysis, these sequences support a nearly fully resolved topology within subgenera and species groups, though higher level relationships among species groups require additional study. The most noteworthy findings are that neither Papilio alexanor nor P. xuthus belongs in the machaon group and that the subgenus Pterourus is paraphyletic with respect to the subgenus Pyrrhosticta. We leave relationships among members of the phorcas species group as a trichotomy. These two protein coding genes, particularly COI, show excellent performance in resolving relationships at the level of species and species groups among Papilionidae. We strongly endorse a similar approach for future studies aimed at these levels., (Copyright 1999 Academic Press.)