Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

The Diptera Of Panama. I. Annotated Catalog Of The Tipulomorpha Of Panama, Brian J. Armitage, Tomas A. Rios Gonzalez

Insecta Mundi

There are 214 species of the suborder Tipulomorpha (Diptera) known from Panama. Of these, 162 species were described by the noted American entomologist, Charles Paul Alexander, from Panama during the period from 1912 through 1979. Panama hosts two of the four families found within the Tipulomorpha: Limoniidae (197 species) and Tipulidae (17 species). We have records of only three species from multiple provinces (n = 2) within Panama and 211 species from just one province. The vast majority of the latter are known from a single location within their respective provinces. There are 142 endemic species (66.4%) included in …

Eraina Chelifera, Nueva Especie Chilena De La Familia Autostichidae (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea), Francisco Urra

Insecta Mundi

Se describe una nueva especie del género Eraina Clarke, 1978 (Lepidoptera: Autostichidae), Eraina chelifera nov. sp., a partir de ejemplares recolectados en la zona central de Chile. Se presentan caracteres de diagnóstico para la especie, fotografías del adulto e ilustraciones de las estructuras genitales del macho y la hembra.

A new species of the genus Eraina Clarke, 1978 (Lepidoptera: Autostichidae), Eraina chelifera nov. sp., is described from specimens collected in central Chile. Diagnostic characters for the species are presented; photographs of the adult and illustrations of male and female genitalia are provided.

Additions To The Plume Moth Fauna Of The Bahamas (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae) With Description Of Four New Species, Deborah L. Matthews, Jacqueline Y. Miller, Mark J. Simon, Gary Goss

Insecta Mundi

Records of Bahamas plume moths (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae) collected since 2011 are summarized and four new species described: Michaelophorus salensis Matthews, new species, Oidaematophorus androsensis Matthews, new species, Hellinsia bahamensis Matthews, new species, and Hellinsia lucayana Matthews, new species. Species accounts including illustrations of adults and genitalia, diagnoses, larval hosts, habitats, and distributions are provided. Of the 23 species found, new larval host associations are reported for two species while the life histories remain unknown for seven species.

New Species Of Ochodaeus Dejean From Madagascar Ii (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Ochodaeidae), M. J. Paulsen

Insecta Mundi

Three new species of Ochodaeus Dejean (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Ochodaeidae) from Madagascar are described that have a strongly granulate pronotum and, unlike all previously described species from the country, possess a clypeal tubercle or minute horn: O. meridialis, O. umbonulus, and O. iniquipes. An update to the key to the species of Ochodaeus from Madagascar is provided.

Three New Tiger Beetle Species Of The Genus Prothyma Hope, 1838, Subgenus Genoprothyma Rivalier, 1964 (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) Described From Myanmar. 152. Contribution Towards The Knowledge Of The Cicindelidae, Jürgen Wiesner, Moe Hnin Phyu, Michio Hori

Insecta Mundi

Prothyma (Genoprothyma) thandamoeae Wiesner, Phyu and Hori, new species, Prothyma (Genoprothyma) sotai Wiesner, Phyu and Hori, new species, and Prothyma (Genoprothyma) asamii Wiesner, Phyu and Hori, new species (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) are described from Myanmar. A key to all members of the genus known to occur in Myanmar is given.

Synonymies, A New Combination, And Four New Species In Amphicnaeia Bates (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), James E. Wappes, Antonio Santos-Silva, Maria Helena M. Galileo

Insecta Mundi

Four new species in the genus Amphicnaeia (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) are described: A. panamensis Wappes, Santos-Silva and Galileo and A. fuscofasciata Wappes, Santos-Silva and Galileo from Panama; A. bezarki Wappes, Santos-Silva and Galileo from Venezuela; and A. rileyi Wappes, Santos-Silva and Galileo from Costa Rica and Panama. Amphicnaeia affinis Breuning, 1940 is placed in synonymy with A. lineata Bates, 1866, and the species newly recorded from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Amphicnaeia cordigera Aurivillius, 1920 is transferred to Rosalba Thomson, 1864, resulting in a new combination, and Rosalba rufescens Breuning, 1940, is found to be a junior synonym of …

Descriptions Of Two New Elateroid Beetles (Coleoptera: Eucnemidae, Elateridae) From Burmese Amber, Robert L. Otto

Insecta Mundi

Two new elateroid taxa are described from amber deposits excavated from the northern region of Myanmar. Two genera, Cenomana gen. nov. (Coleoptera: Eucnemidae), and Cretopityobius gen. nov. (Coleoptera: Elateridae) are described for the first time from Burmese amber. The following new species are described: Cenomana clavata sp. nov. and Cretopityobius pankowskiorum sp. nov. Each new species is diagnosed and illustrated.

The Trichoptera Of Panama. Xii. Contributions To The Family Glossosomatidae (Insecta: Trichoptera) In Panama, Roger J. Blahnik, Brian J. Armitage

Insecta Mundi

Herein we describe five new species in the trichopteran family Glossosomatidae Wallengren (Insecta: Trichoptera) from Panama: Mortoniella calovebora Blahnik and Armitage, n. sp., M. yayas Blahnik and Armitage, n. sp., Protoptila inflata Blahnik and Armitage, n. sp., P. totumas Blahnik and Armitage, n. sp., and P. rambala Blahnik and Armitage, n. sp. Three of the species were collected as part of ongoing biological surveys of Panama’s national parks. We also record three new country records for Panama for this family: Culoptila costaricensis Flint, 1974, Mortoniella opinionis Blahnik and Holzenthal, 2008, and Protoptila spirifera Flint, 1974. Thirty-one …

Shaping The Tools Of Battle : Sexual Selection, Contest Dynamics, And Weapon Divergence In The Asian Rhinoceros Beetle Trypoxylus Dichotomus, Jillian F. Del Sol

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Exaggerated weapons of sexual selection often diverge more rapidly and dramatically than other body parts, suggesting that relevant agents of selection may be discernible in contemporary populations. I examined the ecology, reproductive behavior, and strength of sexual selection on horn length in five recently diverged beetle populations that differ in relative horn size. I show that mating system ecology differs between these locations and corresponds with the local strength of contemporary selection on horn length. Comparisons of ecological conditions and selection strength across populations offer a critical first step towards meaningfully linking mating system dynamics, selection patterns, and diversity in …

Intraguild Predation: Interactions Between Predators, Pathogens, And Their Shared Resources In Crop Pest Communities, Andrew Jason Flick

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Crop pest management requires an understanding of the complex interactions among pest species that potentially damage crop yield and species that may be crucial for controlling pest species outbreaks. For example, predators, parasitoids, and pathogens are constantly interacting via their shared prey or hosts. Predators may prefer infected prey, which can be easier to catch; however, infected prey may be less nutritious or even lethal for predators. These interactions then dictate the short-term dynamics of host and pathogen as well as between prey and predator. "How these dynamics change as the species in the system change either empirically or theoretically?" …

A Change In Grain? Diet Induced Plasticity In The Generalist Grasshopper Melanoplus Differentialis, Austin M. Culotta

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Phenotypic plasticity is favored in heterogeneous environments in which alternative phenotypes can exploit alternative resources. However, it’s not clear whether phenotypic plasticity is useful in environments that become more homogenous over an organism’s life cycle. I studied a population of grasshopper Melanoplus differentialis that experiences high resource diversity as nymphs but low resource diversity as adults to determine if individuals can undergo diet-induced morphological plasticity in head shape to increase biting ability and ingestion of hard diets. Insects on a soft diet were larger and had greater bite force than those on a hard diet. Head structures related to chewing …

The Evolution Of Diet Breadth In Melissodes Bees (Apidae: Eucerini), Karen W. Wright

Biology ETDs

The relationship between phytophagous insects and their host plants has interested scientists since Darwinian times. Using modern phylogenetic inference, we are able to investigate these patterns using, not only the phylogenies of the insects, but the evolutionary relationships among the plants they feed on as well. The relationships between bees and the plants they pollinate were traditionally seen as mutualistic and were treated separately from the research investigating the antagonistic relationships between phytophagous insects and their host plants. However, recent phylogenetic studies have made great progress including bee-host relationships in with the larger body of work on phytophagous insects.

The …

The Biological Significance And Utility Of Feeding By Dermestes Maculatus, Braymond Adams

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

With their efficient feeding habits and tolerance to very low moisture and humidity, beetles in the Family Dermestidae are especially adapted to variable environments and habitats. Dermestid cultures have been in use since 1922 in cleaning tissue and flesh from bones, and proven benefit in multiple fields, including zoology, ornithology, and forensics. Dermestid feeding behaviors when coupled with known life stage and insect succession information aids in providing significant entomological evidence. However, the feeding activities of insects, like those of vertebrate scavengers and predators, change remains and may leave artifacts that can be sometimes be difficult to assign to a …

Patterns Of Authorship In Ecology And Evolution: First, Last, And Corresponding Authorship Vary With Gender And Geography, Charles W. Fox, Josiah P. Ritchey, C. E. Timothy Paine

Entomology Faculty Publications

The position of an author on the byline of a paper affects the inferences readers make about their contributions to the research. We examine gender differences in authorship in the ecology literature using two datasets: submissions to six journals between 2010 and 2015 (regardless of whether they were accepted), and manuscripts published by 151 journals between 2009 and 2015. Women were less likely to be last (i.e., “senior”) authors (averaging ~23% across journals, years, and datasets) and sole authors (~24%), but more likely to be first author (~38%), relative to their overall frequency of authorship (~31%). However, the proportion of …

A Tale Of Two Butterflies: The Effect Of Larval Social Environment And Circadian Rhythms On Mating Behavior In Bicyclus Anynana And Heliconius Hewitsoni, Deonna Nicole Robertson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Two key components of mate choice research focus on: 1) who an organism mates with, which may be influenced by any number of factors from sexual ornamentation to male-male competition; and, 2) when an organism courts, be it daily, monthly, or seasonally. Both aspects are especially important for gregarious species as mistakes in either can incur high costs to overall fitness. My research focuses on using butterflies to explore kin recognition from the larval stage and its possible impacts on adult mate choice and if courtship is circadian in Heliconius hewitsoni. My first experiment concerned kin recognition. When inbred, Bicyclus …

Revision Of The Genus Monatractides (Parasitengona, Torrenticolidae) Of The United States And Canada: New Species, Re-Descriptions, Phylogenetics, And A Key To Species, Whitney Anne Nelson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The full suite of known Monatractides (Parasitengona, Torrenticolidae) taxa of North America (north of Mexico) are investigated herein using integrative methods. Species hypotheses are supported with morphology, geography, and phylogenetic analysis of the barcoding region of COI for 154 individuals from over 100 localities. Relationships between species are examined with a combined analysis of COI and 28S rDNA for 55 specimens. Previously described species are examined and re-described with color images and updated information, where possible. Our results indicate the need to synonymize two species: M. californica (Marshall, 1943) is a junior synonym of M. geographica (Marshall, 1943). We describe …

Phylogeny And Population Genetic Analyses Reveals Cryptic Speciation In The Bombus Fervidus Species Complex (Hymenoptera: Apidae), Jonathan B. Koch, Juanita Rodriguez, James P. Pitts, James P. Strange

Ecology Center Publications

Bumble bees (Bombus Latrielle) are significant pollinators of flowering plants due to their large body size, abundant setae, and generalist foraging strategies. However, shared setal coloration patterns among closely and distantly related bumble bee species makes identification notoriously difficult. The advent of molecular genetic techniques has increased our understanding of bumble bee evolution and taxonomy, and enables effective conservation policy and management. Individuals belonging to the North American Bombus fervidus species-complex (SC) are homogenous in body structure but exhibit significant body color phenotype variation across their geographic distribution. Given the uncertainty of the genealogical boundaries within the SC, some …

Wild Bees Of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: Richness, Abundance, And Spatio-Temporal Beta-Diversity, Olivia Messinger Carril, Terry Griswold, James Haefner, Joseph S. Wilson

All PIRU Publications

Interest in bees has grown dramatically in recent years in light of several studies that have reported widespread declines in bees and other pollinators. Investigating declines in wild bees can be difficult, however, due to the lack of faunal surveys that provide baseline data of bee richness and diversity. Protected lands such as national monuments and national parks can provide unique opportunities to learn about and monitor bee populations dynamics in a natural setting because the opportunity for large-scale changes to the landscape are reduced compared to unprotected lands. Here we report on a 4-year study of bees in Grand …

Identification Of Microbiota Associated With The Ectosymbiotic Community Structure Of The Appalachian Brook Crayfish (Cambarus Bartonii), Matthew M. Cooke 6268927, Luke T. Fischer, Taylor Griffin, Sherrie Jeffers

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

Microbes play a significant role in ecosystems, effecting the vital functions of other organisms, interspecies relationships, and population sizes. Based upon previous research (Skelton et al., 2016), it has been hypothesized that crayfish symbionts (branchiobdellidans) play a significant role in regulating the amount of microbiota associated with the host. A growing body of knowledge is known regarding both the condition of gill fouling and the annelid worm’s symbiotic relationship with the crayfish (Skelton et al., 2016; Skelton et al., 2016). However, there is little to no evidence available concerning the bacteria’s role in the process (Skelton et al., 2016). Microbial …

Confirming World-Wide Distribution Of An Agriculturally Important Lacewing, Chrysoperla Zastrowi Sillemi, Using Songs, Morphology, Mitochondrial Gene Sequencing, And Phylogenetic Reconstruction, Zoe Mandese

Honors Scholar Theses

The Chrysoperla carnea-group of green lacewings is a cryptic species complex. Species within the group are morphologically similar, yet isolated from one another via reproductive mating song. Chrysoperla zastrowi, a species within the carnea-group, is currently described with a distribution ranging from South Africa to the Middle East and India. However, recent collections of carnea-group lacewings from Guatemala and California were preliminarily identified as Chrysoperla zastrowi based upon similarities in their vibrational courtship songs. This analysis aims to place six specimens, collected by collaborators in Guatemala, Armenia, Iran, and California, into a pre-existing phylogeny of the …

An Inventory Of Cicadellidae, Aphrophoridae, And Delphacidae (Hemiptera) In The Alvar Grasslands Of The Maxton Plains, Michigan, Max W. Spencer, James P. Dunn, Evan M. Szymczak

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Alvars are rare grassland communities found in the North American Great Lakes Region consisting of thin mineral soil over limestone bedrock and act as refugia for many unique and threatened endemic species. Few studies have catalogued Hemiptera species present in the alvars of the Maxton Plains on Drummond Island, MI. We aimed to add to these species lists, compare species diversity between alvar sites with varying levels of exposed bedrock, and test if an unpaved limestone road running through our sample sites influenced Hemipteran populations. We collected several prairie endemic species of Cicadellidae (Hemiptera), including a new record for the …

Japanese Beetles’ Feeding On Milkweed Flowers May Compromise Efforts To Restore Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Adam M. Baker, Daniel A. Potter

Entomology Faculty Publications

The eastern North American migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) is in serious decline. Habitat restoration, including adding millions of host plants to compensate for loss of milkweed in US cropland, is a key part of the international conservation strategy to return this iconic butterfly to sustainable status. We report here that Popillia japonica, a polyphagous, invasive beetle, aggregates and feeds on flowers of Asclepias syriaca, the monarch’s most important larval food plant, reducing fruiting and seed set by >90% and extensively damaging milkweed umbels in the field. The beetle’s ongoing incursion into the monarch’s …

Crop Pests And Predators Exhibit Inconsistent Responses To Surrounding Landscape Composition, Daniel S. Karp, Julie A. Peterson, 155 Other Co-Authors

Faculty Publications: Department of Entomology

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop …

Competition Among Three Forensically Important Blow Fly Species (Diptera: Calliphoridae): Phormia Regina, Lucilia Sericata, And Chrysomya Rufifacies, Amber Macinnis

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The aim of this study was to use interspecific competition between three species of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) to determine if interspecific competition might explain the successional patterns. A replacement series model was used for three species of blowflies: Phormia regina, Lucilia sericata, and Chrysomya rufifacies. A total of 20 maggots were used for each treatment and the proportion of each species was varied. The graphic evidence and the relative crowding coefficient of P. regina versus L. sericata indicated a significant competitive advantage of P. regina. One of the life history traits of L. sericata is that it oviposits on …

Impact Of Temperature, Plant Species, And Sorghum Cultivar On The Population Dynamics Of Melanaphis Sacchari, Monique Ferreira De Souza

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Sugarcane aphid, Melanaphis sacchari Zehner, is now widely established in sorghum, Sorghum bicolor L., production areas of the United States and is an important economic pest. However, detailed studies of temperature, host range and plant resistance effects on the biology and population parameters of the M. sacchari biotype responsible for the sorghum outbreak in the United States have not been performed previously. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate: 1) How temperatures affect M. sacchari 2) M. sacchari interaction with host plants 3) M. sacchari interaction with sorghum genotypes. The response of M. sacchari to six different constant temperatures (15, …

Population Genetics And Bumble Bee Conservation: Saving Species By Thinking Small, Cady Greenslit

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Pollinators have experienced a severe decline over the last few decades, and this includes bumble bee populations (g. Bombus). Bumble bees are important native pollinators, and here I investigate the health of local populations with molecular tools. The field of conservation genetics has created useful methodology for investigating the health and informing management strategies of threatened populations. This work investigates and describes the applications of population genetics, which uses span across the board. These applications are then brought back into the context of bumble bee conservation, and how they fit into the experimental plan I originally designed. I designed …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

Population Structure, Demographic History, And Environmental Niche Of The Sand Fly Disease Vector Lutzomyia Shannoni (Dyar) (Diptera: Psychodidae) In The U.S., Mexico, And Colombia, Matthew E. Wolkoff

Biology Theses

Lutzomyia shannoni (Dyar, 1929) (Diptera: Psychodidae) is the only known sand fly vector of vesicular stomatitis virus, a putative leishmaniasis vector, and also boasts the widest distribution of any sand fly in the New World. Research on Lu. shannoni in Central and South America has revealed genetically divergent subpopulations; however, tentative analysis of Lu. shannoni in the U.S. has failed to detect any significant population structure, even between specimens collected from highly disparate localities.

The present study used four molecular markers to more closely investigate the population structure of Lu. shannoni in the U.S., and assess the species’ relationships with …

Cloning And Characterization Of A Pyrethroid Pesticide Decomposing Esterase Gene, Est3385, From Rhodopseudomonas Palustris Psb-S, Xiangwen Luo, Deyong Zhang, Xuguo Zhou, Jiao Du, Songbai Zhang, Yong Liu

Entomology Faculty Publications

Full length open reading frame of pyrethroid detoxification gene, Est3385, contains 963 nucleotides. This gene was identified and cloned based on the genome sequence of Rhodopseudomonas palustris PSB-S available at the GneBank. The predicted amino acid sequence of Est3385 shared moderate identities (30–46%) with the known homologous esterases. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Est3385 was a member in the esterase family I. Recombinant Est3385 was heterologous expressed in E. coli, purified and characterized for its substrate specificity, kinetics and stability under various conditions. The optimal temperature and pH for Est3385 were 35 °C and 6.0, respectively. This enzyme could …

Potential Benefits Of Restored Riparian Zones In An Agricultural Matrix For Bat Communities, Matthew T. Harris

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Riparian buffers planted within agricultural matrices for wildlife conservation are expected to support numerous taxa, but a lack of empirical testing has limited evaluation of these practices. It is imperative that biologists and land managers understand how current conservation practices impact bats so that the ecosystem services provided by bats are maintained as farming practices continue to intensify in regions dominated by agriculture. This study evaluates the effects of planted riparian buffers along streams in an agricultural matrix by comparing acoustic bat activity along streams in active cattle pasture with activity at streams where riparian buffers have been planted. Forest …