The Australian genus Theprisa Moore, 1963, is taxonomically revised to comprise five species, two... more The Australian genus Theprisa Moore, 1963, is taxonomically revised to comprise five species, two newly described: Theprisa darlingtoni Liebherr & Porch, sp. nov. of Tasmania, and Theprisa otway Liebherr, Porch & Maddison, sp. nov. from the Otway Ranges, Victoria. Two previously described species, T. australis (Castelnau) and T. montana (Castelnau), are distributed in the mountains of Victoria. The third previously described species, T. convexa (Sloane) is found in Tasmania. A lectotype is designated for T. convexa because the various syntypes are ambiguously labelled. Cladistic analysis based on morphological characters establishes monophyly of Theprisa relative to the Australian genera Sitaphe Moore and Spherita Liebherr. This and a second clade of Australian genera (Pterogmus Sloane, Thayerella Baehr, and Neonomius Moore) do not form a natural group, but are cladistically interdigitated among two monophyletic New Zealand lineages (Tarastethus Sharp, and Trichopsida Larochelle and...
Western Australian populations of Mecyclothorax punctipennis (MacLeay) exhibit chiral polymorphis... more Western Australian populations of Mecyclothorax punctipennis (MacLeay) exhibit chiral polymorphism for male genitalic asymmetry. The plesiomorphic genitalic enantiomorph, wherein the male aedeagal median lobe is left side superior when retracted in the abdomen, is rotated 180° to a right side superior position in 23% of males from Western Australia. Conversely, population samples from eastern Australia are monomorphic for the plesiomorphic left side superior condition. Western Australian population samples are significantly heterogeneous for the percentages of chirally reversed males, with right side superior frequencies ranging 0–58%. Conversely, asymmetry of the M. punctipennis female reproductive tract, wherein the apex of the bursa copulatrix is distally expanded toward the right side of the individual, is shown to be monomorphic within the species. Based on the vast disparity in frequencies of left versus right enantiomorphs among populations of Western Australian M. punctipenn...
Vanuatu supports 11 resident species of the carabid beetle tribe Platynini: five indigenous speci... more Vanuatu supports 11 resident species of the carabid beetle tribe Platynini: five indigenous species shared with other Pacific islands and Australia and six newly described precinctive species. Notagonum delaruei, sp. nov. represents a single descendant species of one colonisation event. Helluocolpodes, gen. nov. (type species Colpodes helluo Darlington of New Guinea) is proposed to accommodate a monophylum comprising the type species plus Helluocolpodes discicollis, sp. nov., H. mucronis, sp. nov., H. multipunctatus, sp. nov., H. sinister, sp. nov. and H. vanemdeni, sp. nov., all from Vanuatu. Generic assignments are informed by cladistic analysis of anatomical characters for a variety of Pacific platynine taxa. Metacolpodes Jeannel is redefined cladistically to include seven Pacific and Asian species. Biogeographic relationships among island areas housing platynine taxa on the Australian and Pacific Plates are investigated using a chrono–area cladogram, i.e. a taxon–area cladogram ...
... JAMES K. LIEBHERRI AND QUENTIN D. WHEELER' 'Department of Entomology, Corne... more ... JAMES K. LIEBHERRI AND QUENTIN D. WHEELER' 'Department of Entomology, Cornell Uniunsily, Ithaca ... distance between arrays), HAP (based on Rogers' distance; see Rogers, 1984), OBA ... or beyond the expertise of the authors, including those by Roger Hansell, Leonard P ...
Tropopterus Solier, 1849, precinctive to southern South America, is taxonomically revised. Six ne... more Tropopterus Solier, 1849, precinctive to southern South America, is taxonomically revised. Six new species are described: T. peckorumsp. nov., T. robustussp. nov., T. canaliculussp. nov., T. trisinuatussp. nov., T. minimucrosp. nov., and T. fieldianussp. nov.Merizodus catapileanus Jeannel, 1962, is synonymized with T. montagnei Solier, 1849. Lectotypes are designated for T. montagnei, T. giraudyi Solier, T. duponchelii Solier, and T. nitidus Solier (= T. duponchelii). Tropopterus peruvianus Straneo is noted as a nomen dubium, with its identity and taxonomic placement to be substantiated via neotype designation. Phylogenetic relationships among Tropopterus spp. are hypothesized based on 37 morphological characters, the distributions of which are analyzed under the parsimony criterion, with the cladogram root established between Tropopterus and its adelphotaxon from New South Wales, Australia. Speciation in the group has occurred predominantly at a limited geographical scale relative ...
The 15 species of Mecyclothorax Sharp precinctive to New Caledonia are revised and shown by cladi... more The 15 species of Mecyclothorax Sharp precinctive to New Caledonia are revised and shown by cladistic analysis to comprise a monophyletic lineage, here treated as subgenus Phacothorax Jeannel. The New Caledonian species of subgenus Phacothorax include Mecyclothoraxfleutiauxi (Jeannel), M.najtae Deuve, and 13 newly described species: M.jeanneli sp. n., M.laterobustus sp. n., M.laterorectus sp. n., M.laterosinuatus sp. n., M.laterovatulus sp. n., M.manautei sp. n., M.megalovatulus sp. n., M.octavius sp. n., M.paniensis sp. n., M.picdupinsensis sp. n., M.plurisetosus sp. n., and two jointly authored species; M.kanak Moore & Liebherr sp. n., and M.mouensis Moore & Liebherr sp. n.. subgenus Phacothorax is one of five subgenera recognized within genus Mecyclothorax based on cladistic analysis of 65 exemplar taxa utilizing information from 137 morphological characters. The four other monophyletic subgenera include the precinctive Australian Eucyclothorax subgen. n. (type species Mecyclotho...
The Hawaiian Archipelago is the most isolated oceanic island system in the World, separated from ... more The Hawaiian Archipelago is the most isolated oceanic island system in the World, separated from the nearest source areas by more than 4000 km. Five independent colonization events have resulted in diversification of a native carabid beetle fauna in excess of 400 known species. This diverse assemblage is disharmonic, with the major radiations restricted to the platynine genus Blackburnia Sharp (139 species), the subgenus Nesocidium Sharp of Bembidion Latreille (21 species), and the moriomorphine genus Mecyclothorax Sharp (239 species). Biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary attributes of these three radiations are compared in order to determine factors crucial to carabid beetle diversification in this most-isolated situation. Biogeographical attributes include the age of origin of the constituent radiation, the island likely colonized by its common ancestor, and the biological characteristics, where known, of the colonizing ancestors for each independent radiation. Ecological...
Life history information and first instar egg bursters are compared for larvae of 25 species acro... more Life history information and first instar egg bursters are compared for larvae of 25 species across the monophyletic radiation of Hawaiian Platynini (Coleoptera : Carabidae). The plesiotypic larval duration is approximately five weeks, with derived extension of the larval period having evolved during phylogenetic diversification of the radiation. This extension in larval duration is associated with vestigialisation of the metathoracic flight wings. Egg size is larger in those brachypterous species with slower developing larvae, reflecting pervasive ecological specialisation of these taxa in the isolated, favourable, and temporally stable habitats of Hawaiian montane forests. First instar egg bursters are also compared across these taxa, with evolution of a keel-like egg burster congruently defining a clade also characterised by longer larval duration and larger egg size. A functional linkage between egg burster configuration and egg size is rejected by lack of any association betwee...
Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 1985
ABSTRACT Agonum decorum (Say) and A. elongatulum (Dejean) are sibling sister species. Discriminan... more ABSTRACT Agonum decorum (Say) and A. elongatulum (Dejean) are sibling sister species. Discriminant function analysis based on 13 mensural characters was used to ordinate 10 population samples of A. decorum and 7 samples of A. elongatulum. The discriminant function scores on function 1 were analyzed using the simultaneous test procedure UNIVAR algorithm. Results support circumscription of A. elongatulum as a peninsular Floridian species and A. decorum as a wide-ranging species found throughout North America, Mexico, and the Greater Antilles. Morphometric, electrophoretic, and ecological preference data support the hypothesis that A. elongatulum arose as a peripheral isolate of A. decorum, which colonized Florida from an Antillean source during the Pleistocene. Present distributions indicate that this complex represents a case of circular overlap with speciation. Comparison with other carabid taxa shows that 1) the Straits of Florida serve as a potent force delimiting species distributions, 2) speciation in Florida from a southern source is not currently recognized as a general pattern.
Journal of the New York Entomological Society, Jun 1, 2002
ABSTRACT Carabid beetle communities were compared for adjacent marsh and bog biotopes at the McLe... more ABSTRACT Carabid beetle communities were compared for adjacent marsh and bog biotopes at the McLean Bogs Preserve, Tompkins Co., New York by means of pitfall-trap sampling. Though the sampled marsh and bog habitats were only 200 m distant, with the umbrotrophic bog isolated from the marsh/fen complex by a Wisconsin-aged glacial esker of only 7 m elevation, the resident wetland carabid species assemblages differed significantly between the sites during the spring and summer seasons. Of 62 species observed in the wetlands, 36 were found exclusively in the marsh biotope, 17 were exclusive to the bog site, and only 9 were found at both sites. This level of wetland habitat fidelity was maintained in spite of potential colonization of the two sites each spring by adult beetles dispersing from overwintering sites in surrounding forest edge habitats. Pitfall sampling found 59 native carabid species, of which 52 were found during a survey conducted from 1916–1925, suggesting that the McLean Bogs Preserve supports locally resident populations for the vast majority of carabid species found during this study. The McLean Bogs Preserve supports geographically southern, peripheral populations of the bog-specialist Platynus mannerheimii Dejean, as well as four marsh/fen-inhabiting species—Trechus crassiscapus Lindroth, Bembidion muscicola Hayward, B. praticola Lindroth, and Bradycellus semipubescens Lindroth—emphasizing the role this preserve plays in maintaining the distributional ranges of both bog- and marsh-resident taxa. The distinct faunas observed in these two proximate biotopes clearly illustrate that comprehensive conservation of the carabid beetle fauna of northeastern North America should involve preservation of a variety of wetland types.
The Australian genus Theprisa Moore, 1963, is taxonomically revised to comprise five species, two... more The Australian genus Theprisa Moore, 1963, is taxonomically revised to comprise five species, two newly described: Theprisa darlingtoni Liebherr & Porch, sp. nov. of Tasmania, and Theprisa otway Liebherr, Porch & Maddison, sp. nov. from the Otway Ranges, Victoria. Two previously described species, T. australis (Castelnau) and T. montana (Castelnau), are distributed in the mountains of Victoria. The third previously described species, T. convexa (Sloane) is found in Tasmania. A lectotype is designated for T. convexa because the various syntypes are ambiguously labelled. Cladistic analysis based on morphological characters establishes monophyly of Theprisa relative to the Australian genera Sitaphe Moore and Spherita Liebherr. This and a second clade of Australian genera (Pterogmus Sloane, Thayerella Baehr, and Neonomius Moore) do not form a natural group, but are cladistically interdigitated among two monophyletic New Zealand lineages (Tarastethus Sharp, and Trichopsida Larochelle and...
Western Australian populations of Mecyclothorax punctipennis (MacLeay) exhibit chiral polymorphis... more Western Australian populations of Mecyclothorax punctipennis (MacLeay) exhibit chiral polymorphism for male genitalic asymmetry. The plesiomorphic genitalic enantiomorph, wherein the male aedeagal median lobe is left side superior when retracted in the abdomen, is rotated 180° to a right side superior position in 23% of males from Western Australia. Conversely, population samples from eastern Australia are monomorphic for the plesiomorphic left side superior condition. Western Australian population samples are significantly heterogeneous for the percentages of chirally reversed males, with right side superior frequencies ranging 0–58%. Conversely, asymmetry of the M. punctipennis female reproductive tract, wherein the apex of the bursa copulatrix is distally expanded toward the right side of the individual, is shown to be monomorphic within the species. Based on the vast disparity in frequencies of left versus right enantiomorphs among populations of Western Australian M. punctipenn...
Vanuatu supports 11 resident species of the carabid beetle tribe Platynini: five indigenous speci... more Vanuatu supports 11 resident species of the carabid beetle tribe Platynini: five indigenous species shared with other Pacific islands and Australia and six newly described precinctive species. Notagonum delaruei, sp. nov. represents a single descendant species of one colonisation event. Helluocolpodes, gen. nov. (type species Colpodes helluo Darlington of New Guinea) is proposed to accommodate a monophylum comprising the type species plus Helluocolpodes discicollis, sp. nov., H. mucronis, sp. nov., H. multipunctatus, sp. nov., H. sinister, sp. nov. and H. vanemdeni, sp. nov., all from Vanuatu. Generic assignments are informed by cladistic analysis of anatomical characters for a variety of Pacific platynine taxa. Metacolpodes Jeannel is redefined cladistically to include seven Pacific and Asian species. Biogeographic relationships among island areas housing platynine taxa on the Australian and Pacific Plates are investigated using a chrono–area cladogram, i.e. a taxon–area cladogram ...
... JAMES K. LIEBHERRI AND QUENTIN D. WHEELER' 'Department of Entomology, Corne... more ... JAMES K. LIEBHERRI AND QUENTIN D. WHEELER' 'Department of Entomology, Cornell Uniunsily, Ithaca ... distance between arrays), HAP (based on Rogers' distance; see Rogers, 1984), OBA ... or beyond the expertise of the authors, including those by Roger Hansell, Leonard P ...
Tropopterus Solier, 1849, precinctive to southern South America, is taxonomically revised. Six ne... more Tropopterus Solier, 1849, precinctive to southern South America, is taxonomically revised. Six new species are described: T. peckorumsp. nov., T. robustussp. nov., T. canaliculussp. nov., T. trisinuatussp. nov., T. minimucrosp. nov., and T. fieldianussp. nov.Merizodus catapileanus Jeannel, 1962, is synonymized with T. montagnei Solier, 1849. Lectotypes are designated for T. montagnei, T. giraudyi Solier, T. duponchelii Solier, and T. nitidus Solier (= T. duponchelii). Tropopterus peruvianus Straneo is noted as a nomen dubium, with its identity and taxonomic placement to be substantiated via neotype designation. Phylogenetic relationships among Tropopterus spp. are hypothesized based on 37 morphological characters, the distributions of which are analyzed under the parsimony criterion, with the cladogram root established between Tropopterus and its adelphotaxon from New South Wales, Australia. Speciation in the group has occurred predominantly at a limited geographical scale relative ...
The 15 species of Mecyclothorax Sharp precinctive to New Caledonia are revised and shown by cladi... more The 15 species of Mecyclothorax Sharp precinctive to New Caledonia are revised and shown by cladistic analysis to comprise a monophyletic lineage, here treated as subgenus Phacothorax Jeannel. The New Caledonian species of subgenus Phacothorax include Mecyclothoraxfleutiauxi (Jeannel), M.najtae Deuve, and 13 newly described species: M.jeanneli sp. n., M.laterobustus sp. n., M.laterorectus sp. n., M.laterosinuatus sp. n., M.laterovatulus sp. n., M.manautei sp. n., M.megalovatulus sp. n., M.octavius sp. n., M.paniensis sp. n., M.picdupinsensis sp. n., M.plurisetosus sp. n., and two jointly authored species; M.kanak Moore & Liebherr sp. n., and M.mouensis Moore & Liebherr sp. n.. subgenus Phacothorax is one of five subgenera recognized within genus Mecyclothorax based on cladistic analysis of 65 exemplar taxa utilizing information from 137 morphological characters. The four other monophyletic subgenera include the precinctive Australian Eucyclothorax subgen. n. (type species Mecyclotho...
The Hawaiian Archipelago is the most isolated oceanic island system in the World, separated from ... more The Hawaiian Archipelago is the most isolated oceanic island system in the World, separated from the nearest source areas by more than 4000 km. Five independent colonization events have resulted in diversification of a native carabid beetle fauna in excess of 400 known species. This diverse assemblage is disharmonic, with the major radiations restricted to the platynine genus Blackburnia Sharp (139 species), the subgenus Nesocidium Sharp of Bembidion Latreille (21 species), and the moriomorphine genus Mecyclothorax Sharp (239 species). Biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary attributes of these three radiations are compared in order to determine factors crucial to carabid beetle diversification in this most-isolated situation. Biogeographical attributes include the age of origin of the constituent radiation, the island likely colonized by its common ancestor, and the biological characteristics, where known, of the colonizing ancestors for each independent radiation. Ecological...
Life history information and first instar egg bursters are compared for larvae of 25 species acro... more Life history information and first instar egg bursters are compared for larvae of 25 species across the monophyletic radiation of Hawaiian Platynini (Coleoptera : Carabidae). The plesiotypic larval duration is approximately five weeks, with derived extension of the larval period having evolved during phylogenetic diversification of the radiation. This extension in larval duration is associated with vestigialisation of the metathoracic flight wings. Egg size is larger in those brachypterous species with slower developing larvae, reflecting pervasive ecological specialisation of these taxa in the isolated, favourable, and temporally stable habitats of Hawaiian montane forests. First instar egg bursters are also compared across these taxa, with evolution of a keel-like egg burster congruently defining a clade also characterised by longer larval duration and larger egg size. A functional linkage between egg burster configuration and egg size is rejected by lack of any association betwee...
Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 1985
ABSTRACT Agonum decorum (Say) and A. elongatulum (Dejean) are sibling sister species. Discriminan... more ABSTRACT Agonum decorum (Say) and A. elongatulum (Dejean) are sibling sister species. Discriminant function analysis based on 13 mensural characters was used to ordinate 10 population samples of A. decorum and 7 samples of A. elongatulum. The discriminant function scores on function 1 were analyzed using the simultaneous test procedure UNIVAR algorithm. Results support circumscription of A. elongatulum as a peninsular Floridian species and A. decorum as a wide-ranging species found throughout North America, Mexico, and the Greater Antilles. Morphometric, electrophoretic, and ecological preference data support the hypothesis that A. elongatulum arose as a peripheral isolate of A. decorum, which colonized Florida from an Antillean source during the Pleistocene. Present distributions indicate that this complex represents a case of circular overlap with speciation. Comparison with other carabid taxa shows that 1) the Straits of Florida serve as a potent force delimiting species distributions, 2) speciation in Florida from a southern source is not currently recognized as a general pattern.
Journal of the New York Entomological Society, Jun 1, 2002
ABSTRACT Carabid beetle communities were compared for adjacent marsh and bog biotopes at the McLe... more ABSTRACT Carabid beetle communities were compared for adjacent marsh and bog biotopes at the McLean Bogs Preserve, Tompkins Co., New York by means of pitfall-trap sampling. Though the sampled marsh and bog habitats were only 200 m distant, with the umbrotrophic bog isolated from the marsh/fen complex by a Wisconsin-aged glacial esker of only 7 m elevation, the resident wetland carabid species assemblages differed significantly between the sites during the spring and summer seasons. Of 62 species observed in the wetlands, 36 were found exclusively in the marsh biotope, 17 were exclusive to the bog site, and only 9 were found at both sites. This level of wetland habitat fidelity was maintained in spite of potential colonization of the two sites each spring by adult beetles dispersing from overwintering sites in surrounding forest edge habitats. Pitfall sampling found 59 native carabid species, of which 52 were found during a survey conducted from 1916–1925, suggesting that the McLean Bogs Preserve supports locally resident populations for the vast majority of carabid species found during this study. The McLean Bogs Preserve supports geographically southern, peripheral populations of the bog-specialist Platynus mannerheimii Dejean, as well as four marsh/fen-inhabiting species—Trechus crassiscapus Lindroth, Bembidion muscicola Hayward, B. praticola Lindroth, and Bradycellus semipubescens Lindroth—emphasizing the role this preserve plays in maintaining the distributional ranges of both bog- and marsh-resident taxa. The distinct faunas observed in these two proximate biotopes clearly illustrate that comprehensive conservation of the carabid beetle fauna of northeastern North America should involve preservation of a variety of wetland types.
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