The complete mitochondrial genome of Aegialites californicus (Motchoulsky, 1845) (insecta: coleoptera: salpingidae).

The flightless intertidal beetle genus Aegialites (family Salpingidae) is distributed along the Northern Pacific coasts, from California to Alaska and from Northern Japan to Kamchatka. Systematics of Aegialites and its phylogenetic relationships to other members of Salpingidae are unclear, and little genetic information is available. We here present the first complete mitochondrial genome of this genus, represented by Aegialites californicus (Motchoulsky, 1845) from Sonoma County, California, U.S.A. The complete mitochondrial genome of A. californicus is 15,899 bp long and comprises 13 protein-coding (PCG), two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes. The phylogenetic analysis places A.californicus as sister to other members of family Salpingidae. The mitochondrial genome sequence of A. californicus will contribute to future phylogenetic and taxonomic studies of genus Aegialites, family Salpingidae and superfamily Tenebrionoidea.

Changes in Biomass and Diversity of Soil Macrofauna along a Climatic Gradient in European Boreal Forests.

Latitudinal gradients allow insights into the factors that shape ecosystem structure and delimit ecosystem processes, particularly climate. We asked whether the biomass and diversity of soil macrofauna in boreal forests change systematically along a latitudinal gradient spanning from 60° N to 69° N. Invertebrates (3697 individuals) were extracted from 400 soil samples (20 × 20 cm, 30 cm depth) collected at ten sites in 2015-2016 and then weighed and identified. We discovered 265 species living in soil and on the soil surface; their average density was 0.486 g d·w·m-2. The species-level diversity decreased from low to high latitudes. The biomass of soil macrofauna showed no latitudinal changes in early summer but decreased towards the north in late summer. This variation among study sites was associated with the decrease in mean annual temperature by ca 5 °C and with variation in fine root biomass. The biomass of herbivores and fungivores decreased towards the north, whereas the biomass of detritivores and predators showed no significant latitudinal changes. This variation in latitudinal biomass patterns among the soil macrofauna feeding guilds suggests that these guilds may respond differently to climate change, with poorly understood consequences for ecosystem structure and functions.

Climate shapes the spatiotemporal variation in color morph diversity and composition across the distribution range of Chrysomela lapponica leaf beetle.

Color polymorphism offers rich opportunities for studying the eco-evolutionary mechanisms that drive the adaptations of local populations to heterogeneous and changing environments. We explored the color morph diversity and composition in a Chrysomela lapponica leaf beetle across its entire distribution range to test the hypothesis that environmental and climatic variables shape spatiotemporal variation in the phenotypic structure of a polymorphic species. We obtained information on 13 617 specimens of this beetle from museums, private collections, and websites. These specimens (collected from 1830-2020) originated from 959 localities spanning 33° latitude, 178° longitude, and 4200 m altitude. We classified the beetles into five color morphs and searched for environmental factors that could explain the variation in the level of polymorphism (quantified by the Shannon diversity index) and in the relative frequencies of individual color morphs. The highest level of polymorphism was found at high latitudes and altitudes. The color morphs differed in their climatic requirements; composition of colour morphs was independent of the geographic distance that separated populations but changed with collection year, longitude, mean July temperature and between-year temperature fluctuations. The proportion of melanic beetles, in line with the thermal melanism hypothesis, increased with increasing latitude and altitude and decreased with increasing climate seasonality. Melanic morph frequencies also declined during the past century, but only at high latitudes and altitudes where recent climate warming was especially strong. The observed patterns suggest that color polymorphism is especially advantageous for populations inhabiting unpredictable environments, presumably due to the different climatic requirements of coexisting color morphs.

Finding Evolutionary Processes Hidden in Cryptic Species.

Cryptic species could represent a substantial fraction of biodiversity. However, inconsistent definitions and taxonomic treatment of cryptic species prevent informed estimates of their contribution to biodiversity and impede our understanding of their evolutionary and ecological significance. We propose a conceptual framework that recognizes cryptic species based on their low levels of phenotypic (morphological) disparity relative to their degree of genetic differentiation and divergence times as compared with non-cryptic species. We discuss how application of a more rigorous definition of cryptic species in taxonomic practice will lead to more accurate estimates of their prevalence in nature, better understanding of their distribution patterns on the tree of life, and increased abilities to resolve the processes underlying their evolution.

The importance of tracking introduced species: nine synonyms of Atheta (Dimetrotina) pasadenae Bernhauer, 1906 (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae).

Five species names are placed in synonymy with Atheta (Dimetrotina) pasadenae Bernhauer, 1906: Dimetrota vaniuscula Casey, 1911; Atheta pseudocoriaria Bernhauer, 1943 (non Cameron, 1939); A. zealandica Cameron, 1945; A. aucklandensis Pace, 1987 and A. pseudoinsulana Klimaszewski in Klimaszewski et al., 2002. Four names are confirmed to be junior synonyms of A. pasadenae: Atheta pseudolaticollis Erber & Hinterseher, 1992 (non Bernhauer, 1936, non Cameron, 1944); A. immucronata Pace, 1999; A. gulosa Tronquet, 2000 and A. atlantidum Smetana, 2004. Lectotypes are designated for A. pseudocoriaria Bernhauer, 1943; A. zealandica Cameron, 1945 (both designations are to be attributed to Richard A.B. Leschen); and A. pasadenae Bernhauer, 1906. Relationships among the subgenera Xenota Mulsant & Rey, 1874, Dimetrotina Casey, 1911, Oxypodera Bernhauer, 1915 and Mycetota Ádám, 1987 of the genus Atheta Thomson, 1858 are discussed. The name Mycetota Ádám, 1987 is placed in synonymy with Dimetrotina Casey, 1911 (treated as valid subgenus of Atheta), resulting in three new subgeneric assignments: Atheta (Dimetrotina) laticollis (Stephens, 1832), A. (D.) mucronata (Kraatz, 1859), and A. (D.) pasadenae Bernhauer, 1906. Atheta pasadenae is a species with almost cosmopolitan distribution, most likely originating from Africa and (unintentionally) introduced to Europe, North and South America, New Zealand, the Macaronesian islands, Tristan da Cunha archipelago, Juan Fernandez archipelago and Hawaii.

New environmental metabarcodes for analysing soil DNA: potential for studying past and present ecosystems.

Metabarcoding approaches use total and typically degraded DNA from environmental samples to analyse biotic assemblages and can potentially be carried out for any kinds of organisms in an ecosystem. These analyses rely on specific markers, here called metabarcodes, which should be optimized for taxonomic resolution, minimal bias in amplification of the target organism group and short sequence length. Using bioinformatic tools, we developed metabarcodes for several groups of organisms: fungi, bryophytes, enchytraeids, beetles and birds. The ability of these metabarcodes to amplify the target groups was systematically evaluated by (i) in silico PCRs using all standard sequences in the EMBL public database as templates, (ii) in vitro PCRs of DNA extracts from surface soil samples from a site in Varanger, northern Norway and (iii) in vitro PCRs of DNA extracts from permanently frozen sediment samples of late-Pleistocene age (~16,000-50,000 years bp) from two Siberian sites, Duvanny Yar and Main River. Comparison of the results from the in silico PCR with those obtained in vitro showed that the in silico approach offered a reliable estimate of the suitability of a marker. All target groups were detected in the environmental DNA, but we found large variation in the level of detection among the groups and between modern and ancient samples. Success rates for the Pleistocene samples were highest for fungal DNA, whereas bryophyte, beetle and bird sequences could also be retrieved, but to a much lesser degree. The metabarcoding approach has considerable potential for biodiversity screening of modern samples and also as a palaeoecological tool.

Molecular phylogeny of the Athetini-Lomechusini-Ecitocharini clade of aleocharine rove beetles (Insecta).

Elven, E., Bachmann, L. & Gusarov V. I. (2012) Molecular phylogeny of the Athetini-Lomechusini-Ecitocharini clade of aleocharine rove beetles (Insecta). -Zoologica Scripta, 41, 617-636.It has previously been shown that the Aleocharinae tribes Athetini and Lomechusini form a well-supported clade, which also includes the small Neotropical tribe Ecitocharini. However, neither Athetini nor Lomechusini were recovered as monophyletic. In this study, we addressed the basal phylogenetic relationships among the three tribes using sequence data from (i) a mitochondrial fragment covering the COI, Leu2 and COII genes; (ii) a mitochondrial fragment covering part of the 16S gene, the Leu1 gene and part of the NADH 1 gene; and (iii) a part of the nuclear 18S gene, for 68 Athetini, 33 Lomechusini and 2 Ecitocharini species, plus representatives from 10 other tribes. The athetine subtribe Geostibina was recovered as sister group to the 'true Lomechusini', which included the type genus Lomechusa. The two clades formed a sister group to the main Athetini clade, which also included Ecitocharini and the 'false Lomechusini', a group of New World genera normally placed in Lomechusini. The following changes in classification are proposed: (i) Geostibina Seevers, 1978 is raised to tribal rank, and 13 Athetini genera are placed in Geostibini; (ii) Ecitodonia Seevers, 1965; Ecitopora Wasmann, 1887, and Tetradonia Wasmann, 1894 are moved from Lomechusini to Athetini; (iii) Ecitocharini Seevers, 1965 is placed in synonymy with Athetini; (iv) Discerota Mulsant & Rey, 1874 is tentatively included in Oxypodini; (v) Actocharina Bernhauer, 1907 is placed in synonymy with Hydrosmecta Thomson, 1858.

Phylogeny of the tribe Athetini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data.

The Athetini are the largest and taxonomically most challenging tribe in the subfamily Aleocharinae. We present the first molecular phylogeny of Athetini. Nucleotide sequences were obtained from three genome regions for 58 athetine and 23 non-athetine species. The sequenced genes are cytochrome oxidase subunits 1 and 2 (2030bp), tRNA-Leucine 1 and 2 (154bp), 16S (628bp, partial sequence), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (54bp, partial sequence), and the nuclear 18S gene (999bp, partial sequence). The Athetini were recovered as paraphyletic with respect to Lomechusini and Ecitocharini. Lomechusini were recovered as polyphyletic, with Myrmedonota grouping separately from Pella and Drusilla. The basal topology of Athetini remained largely unresolved but many apical clades were well supported, e.g. Geostiba+Earota, Pontomalota+Tarphiota, Mocyta+Atheta (Oxypodera)+Atheta (Mycetota), Liogluta+Atheta (Thinobaena)+Atheta (Oreostiba), and Lyprocorrhe+Atheta (Datomicra). The monophyly of Atheta was refuted, as several species of Atheta formed well supported clades with members of other genera. Additionally, the following groups were rejected: Strigotina (=Acrotonina) and Dimetrotina sensu Newton et al. (2000), Acrotona sensu Brundin (1952), Liogluta series (Yosii and Sawada, 1976), Atheta (Dimetrota) and Atheta (Alaobia) sensu Smetana (2004). New tribal placements are proposed for four genera: Halobrecta is removed from Athetini and provisionally placed in Oxypodini; Thendelecrotona is removed from Athetini and treated as Aleocharinae incertae sedis; Meronera and Thamiaraea are included in the Athetini.