Species trees, temporal divergence and historical biogeography of coastal rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) reveal their early Miocene origin and show that most divergence events occurred in the early Pliocene along the Pacific coasts

Integrative taxonomy of coastal Cafiusbistriatus (Erichson) species complex (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae)

A systematic review of the marine littoral Cafiusbistriatus (Erichson) along the eastern Pacific and the western Atlantic coasts including the Caribbean Sea is presented based on morphological and molecular (COI and 28S) characters. Specimens of the Cafiusbistriatus species complex [C.bistriatus, C.rufifrons Bierig, and C.sulcicollis (LeConte)] are similar to each other, including the form and structure of the aedeagus, and they can be treated as cryptic species. Detailed micromorphological characters (SEM) and molecular analyses support the validity of these three species. Intraspecific genetic divergence of COI using uncorrected p-distance among individuals of Cafiusbistriatus ranged from 0% to 1.56%, while interspecific divergence among three species ranged from 4.90% to 14.59%. All three species were each supported as a single lineage using COI and 28S on both parsimony and maximum likelihood trees. Morphological characters among C.bistriatus, C.rufifrons, and C.sulcicollis are compared. Cafiusbistriatusfulgens Frank is synonymized under C.bistriatus and Cafiusbistriatus is redescribed with illustrations of diagnostic characters.

A new species of Galleria Fabricius (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae) from Korea based on molecular and morphological characters

The greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella Linnaeus, is well known as a pest of honey bees and for the biodegradation of wax and polyethylene by their larvae. The genus Galleria has long been considered monotypic and found worldwide. A taxonomic study of the genus Galleria is presented based on morphological and molecular characters (COI, CAD, wg). A new species (Galleria similis Roh & Song, sp. nov.) is recognized on the Korean peninsula. The new species is superficially similar to G. mellonella but they can be separated by the structures of hindwing venation and male genitalia. Habitus photographs and illustrations of diagnostic characters are provided.

Phylogenomic analyses and divergence time estimation of Elateroidea (Coleoptera) based on RNA-Seq data

Bioluminescence, the emission of visible light in a living organism, is an intriguing phenomenon observed in different species and environments. In terrestrial organisms, the bioluminescence is observed mainly in beetles of the Elateroidea superfamily (Coleoptera). Several phylogenetic studies have been used different strategies to propose a scenario for the origin and evolution of the bioluminescence within this group, however some of them showed incongruences, mainly about the relationship of the bioluminescent families. In order to increase the number of molecular markers available for Elateroidea species and to propose a more accurate phylogeny, with high supported topology, we employed the Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) methodology to perform the RNA-Seq analysis of luminescent (Elateridae, Phengodidae, Rhagophthalmidae, and Lampyridae) and non-luminescent (Cantharidae) species of Neotropical beetles. We used the RNA-Seq data to construct a calibrated phylogeny of Elateroidea superfamily using a large number of nuclear molecular markers. The results indicate Lampyridae and Phengodidae/Rhagophthalmidae as sister-groups, suggesting that the bioluminescence evolved later in Elateridae than other families (Lampyridae, Phengodidae, and Rhagophthalmidae), and indicating the Upper Cretaceous as the period for the main diversification of Elateroidea bioluminescent species.