New subgenera of Ellipteroides Becker (Tipuloidea: Limoniidae) and their phylogenetic implications.

A new subgenus of Ellipteroides-Jantares subgen. nov.-is reported from Eocene Baltic amber with one new species Ellipteroides (Jantares) hansi sp.

Evolution of wing scales in Diptera documented by fossils.

Among the insects with wings clad in scales, the butterflies are the best known and those showing greatest variety of scale types. In the Diptera, some families or particular genera of two large groups are known to bear scales on wings, i.e.

Vertical stratification of insect abundance and species richness in an Amazonian tropical forest.

Tropical forests are among the most biodiverse biomes on the planet. Nevertheless, quantifying the abundance and species richness within megadiverse groups is a significant challenge. We designed a study to address this challenge by documenting the variability of the insect fauna across a vertical canopy gradient in a Central Amazonian tropical forest.

BuM 2.0: Software for online generation of matrices for Brooks Parsimony Analysis.

Brooks Parsimony Analysis is a cladistic biogeographic method that aims to extract biogeographic information from phylogenetic trees, depicting from a group of cladograms a general pattern of relationships among the areas the taxa inhabit. We present here BuM 2.0, an online framework to automatically create matrices for Brooks Parsimony Analysis (BPA) using Baum Ragans algorithm for Matrix Representation with Parsimony.

Systematics of the genus Maietta Alexander with description of three new species (Diptera: Tipulomorpha: Limoniidae).

The Neotropical genus Maietta Alexander (Diptera: Limoniidae), endemic to Southern South America (Chile), is revised. Three new species, M. dextra sp.

Building combined MRP-matrices with BuM, an automated web-tool.

The most common methods for combining different phylogenetic trees with uneven but overlapping taxon sampling are the Matrix Representation with Parsimony (MRP) and consensus tree methods. Although straightforward, some steps of MRP are time-consuming and risky when manually performed, especially the preparation of the matrix representations from the original topologies, and the creation of the single matrix containing all the information of the individual trees. Here we present Building MRP-Matrices (BuM), a free online tool for generating a combined matrix, following Baum and Ragan coding scheme, from files containing phylogenetic trees in parenthetical format.

Systematics of the genus Aphrophila Edwards with description of fifteen new species (Diptera: Tipulomorpha: Limoniidae).

The genus Aphrophila (Diptera: Limoniidae) is revised. All previously described species are redescribed and illustrated, along with fifteen new species. From the Campbell Island (New Zealand): A.

A non-destructive enzymatic method to extract DNA from arthropod specimens: Implications for morphological and molecular studies.

There is a growing necessity to integrate morphological and genetic studies. This paper proposes a new technique that allows DNA extraction of arthropods while still keeping intact the entire morphology of the specimens. The technique uses Proteinase K to dissolve protein tissues and preserve the chitinous exoskeleton of specimens.

FAMILIES TIPULIDAE AND LIMONIIDAE.

A catalogue of the Colombian crane flies (Tipulomorpha, families Tipulidae and Limoniidae) is provided, based on updated information from the Catalogue of the Crane flies of World, with additional data on the geographical distribution of the species in Colombia taken from the primary literature. A total of 131 valid species are recorded for Colombia, 38 in the family Tipulidae and 93 in the family Limoniidae.

The world's biogeographical regions revisited: global patterns of endemism in Tipulidae (Diptera).

This paper explores the distributional data of 4,224 Tipulidae (Insecta: Diptera) species to search for endemism patterns in a worldwide scale and to test the extent to which the global patterns of endemism of the group fit into previously proposed regionalization schemes, particularly Wallace's system and recent revisions of it. Large scale areas of endemism are assessed using the grid-based method implemented in VNDM. VNDM depends on the prior definition of the grid size for analysis, but a criterion for choosing beforehand a particular grid size is not clear.