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The genus Aeneolamia includes eight described species and 32 subspecies widely distributed in America. In Mexico, two species (A. contigua and A. albofasciata) and one subspecies (A. contigua campecheana) are recognized. In a recent study... more
The genus Aeneolamia includes eight described species and 32 subspecies widely distributed in America. In Mexico, two species (A. contigua and A. albofasciata) and one subspecies (A. contigua campecheana) are recognized. In a recent study of Cercopidae in Mexico, a new species of Aeneolamia was noted from Oaxaca, Mexico based on body color and the ornamentation patterns of tegmen, without a formal taxonomic description. To test the hypothesis of an extant new taxon within the genus a comprehensive analysis of intraspecific morphological variation from 46 morphological features was performed, four related to tegmen color patterns in both sexes, six to male genitalia, and 36 continuous characters measured in specimens of both sexes of Mexican Aeneolamia from several geographical localities using traditional univariate, multivariate morphometric, and geometric morphometric methods. This is the first time that this approach has been used in Cercopidae. Aeneolamia danpecki Castro, Armend...
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The Cercopidae family constitute the largest group of xylem sap-sucking insects. Several species are important pests of sugar cane and grasses. In America there are 460 species and 65 subspecies in 60 genera. In Mexico, the total number... more
The Cercopidae family constitute the largest group of xylem sap-sucking insects. Several species are important pests of sugar cane and grasses. In America there are 460 species and 65 subspecies in 60 genera. In Mexico, the total number of species is unknown and there is no inventory of specimens in the collections or taxonomic keys. In the present research, we study entomological collections to trace the distribution of genera and species and constructed taxonomic keys for their identification, based on external morphology and male genitalia. The Cercopidae of the country included 3 recognized tribes, Neaenini Fennah, 1968, Ischnorhinini Schmidt, 1920 and Tomaspidini Schmidt, 1922, in addition to the recently proposed Microsarganini Hamilton, 2016. We reported 39 described species, 1 subspecies and 1 undescribed, belonging to 10 genera. The most diverse genera were Ocoaxo Fennah with 16 species and Prosapia Fennah with 8. Aeneolamia Fennah includes 3 species and 1 subspecies, Iphir...
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The western pine beetle (WPB), Dendroctonus brevicomis LeConte, is a major mortality agent of pines in North America. A total of 706 adults of WPB from 81 geographical sites were analyzed with traditional and geometric morphometric... more
The western pine beetle (WPB), Dendroctonus brevicomis LeConte, is a major mortality agent of pines in North America. A total of 706 adults of WPB from 81 geographical sites were analyzed with traditional and geometric morphometric methods to evaluate the variation of discrete and quantitative morphological characters with particular attention to the antenna, spermatheca, and seminal rod. Principal coordinates and canonical variate analyses supported three geographical groups in WPB: (1) West, from British Columbia to southern California along the Pacific coast, Idaho, and Montana; (2) East-SMOC, including Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Chihuahua, and Durango; and (3) SMOR, including Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas. The pubescence length on the elytral declivity was a robust character for separating West specimens from the other groups. Additionally, the genitalia shape both female and male in dorsal view was a reliable character for discriminating among gr...
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We compared the antennae of two sibling bark beetle species, Dendroctonus rhizophagus Thomas and Bright and Dendroctonus valens LeConte, to identify biologically and taxonomically relevant differences. Specifically, we characterized the... more
We compared the antennae of two sibling bark beetle species, Dendroctonus rhizophagus Thomas and Bright and Dendroctonus valens LeConte, to identify biologically and taxonomically relevant differences. Specifically, we characterized the diversity of sensilla types by using environmental scanning electron microscopy, quantified the abundance and distribution of the different types of sensilla on the antennal club, and characterized club shape through multivariate and geometric morphometric analyses. We identified four classes of sensilla in both species: chaetica, fluted, trichodea (three distinct types), and basiconica (long and short). ANOVA and MANOVA demonstrated that the number and distribution of sensilla with the potential for chemoreception (i.e., short and long basiconica) differed between species and sexes. Notably, the long sensilla basiconica in the third sensory band were clustered in D. rhizophagus but not in D.valens. Geometric morphometric analysis using 27 landmarks ...
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As reported recently by the authors, the third and fourth antennomeres of the antennal club of the bark beetleDendroctonus viteiWood (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) possess conoid sensilla clustered inside spherical or bulb-shaped... more
As reported recently by the authors, the third and fourth antennomeres of the antennal club of the bark beetleDendroctonus viteiWood (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) possess conoid sensilla clustered inside spherical or bulb-shaped invaginations of the cuticle that resemble geological pit craters. These structures are novel relative to otherDendroctonusErichson species examined. The morphology and ultrastructure of different sensilla types on the antennal club and within the pit craters ofD. viteiare herein described in detail with the aid of light, environmental scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy. Five types of sensilla were found: fluted, basiconica type I, and trichodea types I, II, and III. The pit craters were composed of clusters of multiporous sensilla basiconica arising from the inner surface of the concavities, and the morphology and ultrasructure of these sensilla are consistent with an olfactory function. The presence of pit craters in theD. viteion the anterior side of the antennal club is an diagnostic character for this species and an autapomorphy of great taxonomic importance within theDendroctonus frontalisZimmermann species complex.
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We evaluated the biotic and abiotic conditions related to the presence of Phloeosinus tacubayae Hopkins, 1905, to update its distribution and explore new areas to collect the species from potential distribution models and establish its... more
We evaluated the biotic and abiotic conditions related to the presence of Phloeosinus tacubayae Hopkins, 1905, to update its distribution and explore new areas to collect the species from potential distribution models and establish its host range. Our results support that P. tacubayae is an oligophagous species distributed mostly in five provinces from the Mexican Transition Zone; its distribution pattern belongs to the Nearctic cenocron and is related to the distribution pattern of its principal host. The modeling and distribution of its hosts suggest invadable zones where new records may exist.
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In most members of the genus Dendroctonus, the usefulness of the spermatheca for taxonomic purposes has not been evaluated in depth; therefore, the aim of this study is to describe and compare the elements that integrate the female... more
In most members of the genus Dendroctonus, the usefulness of the spermatheca for taxonomic purposes has not been evaluated in depth; therefore, the aim of this study is to describe and compare the elements that integrate the female reproductive apparatus among Dendroctonus species, clarify their nomenclature and evaluate their interspecific variation to propose useful characteristics for their identification. In addition, we evaluated whether there is a structure between the shape of the receptacle and the phylogenetic relatedness of the species. The spermatheca consists of a sperm duct, a receptacle, and a gland; of these elements, the receptacle is the most taxonomically informative structure. The most closely related species of the D. frontalis complex show wide intraspecific variation in the shape and size of this structure, which precludes recognition of diagnostic features. However, there are differences among species groups in both shape and size in less closely related speci...
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El complejo Ocoaxo de los pinos está integrado por 3 especies (O. assimilis, O. cardonai, O. varians) que se alimentan de la savia de las acículas de Pinus spp. provocando clorosis y su eventual caída. Los crecimientos poblacionales de... more
El complejo Ocoaxo de los pinos está integrado por 3 especies (O. assimilis, O. cardonai, O. varians) que se alimentan de la savia de las acículas de Pinus spp. provocando clorosis y su eventual caída. Los crecimientos poblacionales de estos insectos han provocado la defoliación de grandes superficies de bosque en varias localidades del país, por lo cual se les ha dado el estatus de plaga, a pesar de que aún se desconocen aspectos básicos de su biología y distribución. En el presente trabajo se analizaron los registros de especímenes depositados en colecciones entomológicas y bases de datos en línea, que permitieron definir el espacio geográfico donde estas especies están presentes en interacción con los ecosistemas de México, además de proporcionar el espectro alimenticio de su estado adulto, identificar los factores ambientales que potencialmente están asociados a su presencia, así como conocer el periodo en el que se encuentran a lo largo del año. Los análisis de estos datos tamb...
Research Interests: Humanities and Hemiptera
The use and characterization of cuticular attributes for separation and description of species has been traditionally used in heterotardigrades; however, despite that eutardigrades show structures in the cuticle with this potential use,... more
The use and characterization of cuticular attributes for separation and description of species has been traditionally used in heterotardigrades; however, despite that eutardigrades show structures in the cuticle with this potential use, the intra and interspecific variation of these characters using multivariate analysis (e.g., PCA, CVA) had not been analyzed. In this present study, the shape and size of the star-shaped pores of four Minibiotus species were analyzed under univariate and multivariate morphometric analysis of six morphological characters. Our approach to evaluate the variation of pores indicate the presence of species-specific cuticular phenotypes among M. citlalium, M. constellatus, M. sidereus and M. pentannulatus. The morphological differences in these elements of sculpture allowed us to acknowledge their range of variation, as well as the identification of new potential characters o recognize these taxa, which are included in a taxonomic key to identify them toget...
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The study of tardigrade diversity in Mexico is at early stage of development, to date, 56 extant species have been reported. To identify the tardigrade fauna associated with mosses in the Iztaccíhuatl volcano, we performed a systematic... more
The study of tardigrade diversity in Mexico is at early stage of development, to date, 56 extant species have been reported. To identify the tardigrade fauna associated with mosses in the Iztaccíhuatl volcano, we performed a systematic sampling along an altitudinal and multi-habitat gradient. A total of 57 moss samples were collected, 233 adults, 20 exuviae, and 40 free-laid tardigrade eggs were extracted from them. Five species were identified, and three putative species were determined. Diphascon mitrense and Minibiotus sidereus represents new records for Mexico and North America, while Adropion scoticum is a new record for Mexico. Additionally, one new species, Minibiotus citlalium sp. nov. was discovered; it resembles to Min. constellatus, Min. sidereus and Min. pentannulatus by the presence of a similar distribution pattern of star-shaped pores in the dorsal cuticle arranged in 11 transverse rows, which become double in the segments of the legs I–III, and by a very large star-s...
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The first records of outbreaks of the Pine Spittle bug Ocoaxo assimilis Walker were recently identified from Puebla, Mexico, which promoted more than 2600 ha of forest foliar fall. Beyond the taxonomic and distribution information of this... more
The first records of outbreaks of the Pine Spittle bug Ocoaxo assimilis Walker were recently identified from Puebla, Mexico, which promoted more than 2600 ha of forest foliar fall. Beyond the taxonomic and distribution information of this species, the basic traits of its biology remain unknown. This study aims to describe some biological aspects of O. assimilis, in a natural pine forest at Nicolás Bravo, Puebla (NB). Using morphological characteristics and a phylogenetic analysis of a fragment of cytochrome oxidase subunit I mtDNA (COI), immature instars with adults were studied; the instar number was determined by means of a multivariate analysis of 19 morphological characteristics of 121 specimens. The systematic sampling to evaluate the occurrence of nymphal specimens during a year, plus host selection experiments, allowed for determination of the abundance over time, voltism, and host preferences. Phylogenetic analysis of the COI supported that both nymphs and adults collected i...
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Although the number of known tardigrade taxa in Mexico has increased significantly in the last ten years, the knowledge of their diversity faces challenges, as more than half of the Mexican territory has no records of this phylum. Thus,... more
Although the number of known tardigrade taxa in Mexico has increased significantly in the last ten years, the knowledge of their diversity faces challenges, as more than half of the Mexican territory has no records of this phylum. Thus, we developed a strategy to provide a present and future scenario for understanding the Mexican biodiversity of Tardigrada, described the distribution patterns of the current recorded species, calculated the estimated richness, and the estimated taxonomic effort needed to complete the national inventory. We obtained 474 records of 105 taxa, belonging to 42 genera and 75 species, distributed in 12 of the 14 biogeographical provinces of Mexico. We found that 54.72% of the species are present in more than three world regions and 3.79% of species that have been recorded only in Mexican provinces. Distribution patterns could be recognized for 11 species, two of which have a Nearctic distribution, seven are Neotropical and two are distributed in both region...
Research Interests: Geography, Diversity, Ecology, Biodiversity, Species Richness, and 3 moreTardigrada, Tardigrade, and Taxon
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Research Interests: Zoology, Biology, Medicine, Mexico, Central America, and 8 moreFemale, Animals, Male, Weevils, Genus, Curculionidae, MEXICO, and Species Specificity
The known distribution of the bark beetle Dendroctonus vitei Wood has been basically restricted to species-type location in Patzun, Guatemala, and in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. There are also reports of the species in... more
The known distribution of the bark beetle Dendroctonus vitei Wood has been basically restricted to species-type location in Patzun, Guatemala, and in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. There are also reports of the species in Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Nuevo Leon, Mexico. This bark beetle cannot be confidently distinguished from its sibling species Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann, Dendroctonus mexicanus Hopkins, and Dendroctonus sp. nov. by morphological characteristics (e.g., color and pronotum width). It has been proposal that the seminal rod is a useful characteristic to distinguish these species; however, its robustness has not been assessed quantitatively. The goal of the present work was to analyze the seminal rod from 601 specimens of the D. frontalis complex, collected in 89 locations from Mexico and Guatemala, using geometric morphometrics to clarify and update the distribution of D. vitei. Our results confirmed the presence of this species not only in the previously...
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Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann is considered one of the most important economic and ecological forest pests in the United States, Mexico, and Central America. Recently, two apparent morphological variants of this species were... more
Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann is considered one of the most important economic and ecological forest pests in the United States, Mexico, and Central America. Recently, two apparent morphological variants of this species were discovered occurring syntopically in Central America and southern Mexico. Morphotype A beetles lack a series of fine parallel ridges on the episternal area of the prothorax that are present on morphotype B. The goal of the present work was to clarify the taxonomic status of the morphotypes of the D. frontalis species complex. Geometric morphometric analyses of seminal rod and spermatheca shape together with the characterization of 16 attributes of external morphology revealed differences in quantitative and qualitative characters that distinguished adults of the two morphotypes from each other as well as from the closely related species Dendroctonus vitei Wood and Dendroctonus mexicanus Hopkins. Karyotype analysis of morphotype B revealed a chromosomal formu...
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The taxonomic status of Dendroctonus vitei Wood (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) and Dendroctonus mexicanus Hopkins is supported by biological and morphological data. However, the differentiation of these species has been extremely... more
The taxonomic status of Dendroctonus vitei Wood (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) and Dendroctonus mexicanus Hopkins is supported by biological and morphological data. However, the differentiation of these species has been extremely difficult because most of the morphological characters have not been well illustrated and some of them are geographically variable. Seminal rod shape has been the only reliable characteristic to identify these species. The main purpose of this study was to look for new morphological characters for the identification of these species as well as to evaluate geographic variation of those previously reported characters in order to produce a comprehensive redescription of D. vitei. A total of 33 morphological characters from antenna, stridulatory apparatus, male and female genitalia, and external morphology were compared between the similar species D. vitei and D. mexicanus, and we identified five novel diagnostic characters and confirmed previously rep...
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The bark beetle Dendroctonus mesoamericanus sp. nov. is described from a population in Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello, La Trinitaria, Chiapas, Mexico. This species belongs to the D. frontalis complex, which includes D. adjunctus... more
The bark beetle Dendroctonus mesoamericanus sp. nov. is described from a population in Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello, La Trinitaria, Chiapas, Mexico. This species belongs to the D. frontalis complex, which includes D. adjunctus Blandford 1897, D. approximatus Dietz 1890, D. brevicomis LeConte 1876, D. frontalis Zimmermann 1868, D. mexicanus Hopkins 1905, and D. vitei Wood 1975. The new species can be distinguished from closely related species D. frontalis, D. mexicanus, and D. vitei by four diagnostic morphological characters: the presence of striations on the preepisternal area of the prothorax (anterolateral pronotum) in both sexes, seminal rod with an approximately linear posterior margin of the dorsal process (in lateral view), irregularly sized ornamentations on the distal edge of squamiform plates present on the eighth abdominal tergite in females, and an inconspicuous pronotal callus in females. Furthermore, the karyotype of D. mesoamericanus sp. nov. (5AAþXyp / XX) d...