Distribution of the genus Platycerus Geoffroy (Coleoptera, Lucanidae) in Italy.

Background: Stag beetles are saproxylic species that are associated with deadwood in the larval stage and play an important role in forest ecosystem dynamics. In Italy, Platyceruscaprea and Platyceruscaraboides are two small, elusive stag beetle species, whose known distribution is often limited or referring to old records. New information: The present contribution increases the knowledge on the Italian distribution of P.caprea and P.caraboides, adding 70% more sites when compared to previously published records. Ecological traits, especially related to the altitude-elevation distribution in Italy, are also described for these saproxylic beetles.

The complete mitochondrial genome of stag beetle Lucanus cervus (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) and phylogenetic analysis.

BACKGROUND: The stag beetle Lucanus cervus (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) is widely distributed in Europe. Habitat loss and fragmentation has led to significant reductions in numbers of this species. In this study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of L. cervus and reconstructed phylogenetic relationships among Lucanidae using complete mitochondrial genome sequences. METHODS: Raw data sequences were generated by the next generation sequencing using Illumina platform from genomic DNA of L. cervus. The mitochondrial genome was assembled by IDBA and annotated by MITOS. The aligned sequences of mitochondrial genes were partitioned using PartitionFinder 2. Phylogenetic relationships among 19 stag beetle species were constructed using Maximum Likelihood (ML) method implemented in IQ-TREE web server and Bayesian method implemented in PhyloBayes MPI 1.5a. Three scarab beetles were used as outgroups. RESULTS: The complete mitochondrial genome of L. cervus is 20,109 bp in length, comprising 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNAs and a control region. The A + T content is 69.93% for the majority strand. All protein-coding genes start with the typical ATN initiation codons except for cox1, which uses AAT. Phylogenetic analyses based on ML and Bayesian methods shown consistent topologies among Lucanidae.

A revisit to the Melitaea taxon nigrogygia Verity, 1939 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) and designation of a Lectotype.

The two syntypes of Melitaea phoebe nigrogygia Verity, 1939 present in the Florence University Natural History Museum are examined from high quality photographs of both sides. It is concluded that there is a high probability that they represent two different species: M. phoebe ([Denis Schiffermüller], 1775) and M. ornata Christoph, 1898. Alternatively one or both could be hybrids between the two species; hybrids have been encountered nearby in Slovenia. In order to solve the nomenclatural problem, a Lectotype has been chosen, which fixes the name nigrogygia Verity, 1939 to be associated with Melitaea ornata.

Brentidae of Peru (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea).

Eighty-four species of Brentidae (not including Apioninae) are listed from Peru, 13 presently only known from this country. Stereodermus platycornis Mantilleri, sp. nov. and Teramocerus spathulifer Mantilleri, sp. nov., are described from Tambopata Province. A micropterous species, Stereodermus micropterus Mantilleri, sp. nov., is described from Alto Madre de Dios River. Stereodermus barbirostris Sharp, 1895, S. breviceps Sharp, 1895, S. nigriceps Sharp, 1895, Pertusius errabundus (Kleine, 1927), Rugosacratus punctirostris (Boheman, 1840), Teramocerus appendiculatus (Soares & Scivittaro, 1972), T. eletus Kleine, 1927, and T. suturalis (Lund, 1800), are newly recorded from Peru.

Revision of the Australian species of Figulus MacLeay, 1819 (Coleoptera: Lucanidae).

The Australian species of the genus Figulus MacLeay, 1819 (Coleoptera: Lucanidae: Lucaninae: Figulini) are reviewed. Four new synonymies are established: F. howei De Lisle, 1967 and F. tambourinensis Mjöberg, 1916 are junior synonyms of F. nitens Waterhouse, 1874 (new synonymy); F. laevithorax Bomans is a junior synonym of F. regularis Westwood, 1834 (new synonymy); F. mento Albers, 1883 and F. mento foveatus Kriesche, 1922 are junior synonyms of F. sulcicollis Hope in Westwood, 1845 (new synonymy). The number of Figulus species known from Australia thus decreases to seven, four of which are endemic to Australia and one to Christmas Island. Lectotypes are designated for F. australicus Thomson, 1862, F. clivinoides Thomson, 1862, F. nitens Waterhouse, 1874, F. rossi Gahan, 1900, and F. tambourinensis Mjöberg, 1916. All the seven valid species are redescribed and a key is given for their identification. Photographs of the habitus, the mentum and illustrations of the aedeagus for all the taxa are also included. New unpublished data on the host plants and habitats for some of the Australian species are included.

Warning: potential problems for taxonomy on the horizon?

Whether or not a species might reasonably be described without the preservation of a type specimen is a matter of ongoing discussion among taxonomists (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Minteer et al. 2014; Krell & Wheeler 2014; Löbl et al. 2016; Marshall & Evenhuis 2016; Santos et al. 2016). Here, we attempt to make our own contribution to the topic.

Notes on the genus Echinoaesalus Zelenka, 1993 (Coleoptera: Lucanidae), with the description of a new species from the Malay Peninsula.

Echinoaesalus cechovskyi new species is described from the Malay Peninsula. Echinoaesalus hidakai borneoensis Huang & Imura, 2011 is elevated to the species level as E. borneoensis new status. The male or female genitalia of Echinoaesalus timidus (Krikken, 1975), E. hidakai (Araya, Kon, & Johki, 1993), E. borneoensis, and E. sabahensis Zelenka, 1994 are described and illustrated for the first time. The intraspecific variation of E. timidus is discussed.

A checklist of stag beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Lucanidae) from Iran.

An updated checklist of the Lucanidae (Coleoptera) from Iran is given. New locality records are listed and some dubious distributional records are discussed. Dorcus vavrai Nonfried, 1905 is placed in synonymy with Dorcus peyronis Reiche and Saulcy, 1856 (new synonymy) The female of Lucanus xerxes Král, 2004 is described. A key for the identification of the Iranian stag beetle species is also provided and all the species are figured.

A new genus and species of myrmecophilous brentid beetle (Coleoptera: Brentidae) inhabiting the myrmecophytic epiphytes in the Bornean rainforest canopy.

Pycnotarsobrentus inuiae Maruyama & Bartolozzi, gen. nov. and sp. nov. (Brentinae: Eremoxenini) is described from the Lambir Hills National Park, Borneo (Sarawak, Malaysia) based on specimens collected from Crematogaster difformis F. Smith, 1857 ant nests in the myrmecophytic epiphytic ferns Platycerium crustacea Copel. and Lecanopteris ridleyi H. Christ. A second species of Pycnotarsobrentus is known from Malaysia but is represented by only one female and consequently not yet described pending discovery of a male. Pycnotarsobrentus belongs to the tribe Eremoxenini and shares some character states with the African genus Pericordus Kolbe, 1883. No species of Eremoxenini with similar morphological modifications are known from the Oriental region.

Italian natural history museums on the verge of collapse?

The Italian natural history museums are facing a critical situation, due to the progressive loss of scientific relevance, decreasing economic investments, and scarcity of personnel. This is extremely alarming, especially for ensuring the long-term preservation of the precious collections they host. Moreover, a commitment in fieldwork to increase scientific collections and concurrent taxonomic research are rarely considered priorities, while most of the activities are addressed to public events with political payoffs, such as exhibits, didactic meetings, expositions, and talks. This is possibly due to the absence of a national museum that would have better steered research activities and overall concepts for collection management. We here propose that Italian natural history museums collaborate to instate a "metamuseum", by establishing a reciprocal interaction network aimed at sharing budgetary and technical resources, which would assure better coordination of common long-term goals and scientific activities.

Testing the performance of a fragment of the COI gene to identify western Palaearctic stag beetle species (Coleoptera, Lucanidae).

THE TAXONOMY OF STAG BEETLES (COLEOPTERA: Lucanidae) remains challenging, mainly due to the sexual dimorphism and the strong allometry in males. Such conjecture confounds taxonomic based conservation efforts that are urgently needed due to numerous threats to stag beetle biodiversity. Molecular tools could help solve the problem of identification of the different recognized taxa in the "Lucanus cervus complex" and in some related Palaearctic species. We investigated the potential use of a 670 bp region at the 3' end of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI) for barcoding purposes (different from the standard COI barcoding region). Well resolved species and subspecies were L. tetraodon, L. cervusakbesianus, L. c. laticornis, as well as the two eastern Asian outgroup taxa L. formosanus and L. hermani. Conversely, certain taxa could not be distinguished from each other based on K2P-distances and tree topologies: L. c. fabiani / L. (P.) barbarossa, L. c. judaicus / an unknown Lucanus species, L. c. cervus / L. c. turcicus / L. c. pentaphyllus / L. (P.) macrophyllus / L. ibericus. The relative roles of phenotypic plasticity, recurrent hybridisation and incomplete lineage sorting underlying taxonomic and phylogenetic discordances are discussed.