Long-term biodiversity monitoring is essential for unveiling the impact of environmental changes on local fauna. Although private local records can contribute significantly to biodiversity evaluation, they are seldom published in scientific journals. In this study, a retired scientist recorded the longhorn beetles (Distiniidae and Cerambycidae) present in Ito on the Izu peninsula, Japan, for 12 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a systemic life-threatening process that can cause thrombosis and hemorrhage. Chronic DIC has been associated with aortic aneurysm/dissection. Aortic aneurysm/dissection should be included in the differential diagnosis of elderly patients with hemorrhagic diathesis due to DIC of uncertain etiology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe genus Anipocregyes Breuning, 1939 is reviewed. Cristipocregyes rondoni Breuning, 1965, Metipocregyes rondoni Breuning, 1965, and Mesosa (Perimesosa) seminivea Breuning, 1965 are transferred to the genus Anipocregyes, and Setomesosa rondoni Breuning, 1968 is synonymized with A. seminivea comb.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMale sexually-selected traits often impose an increased risk of predation on their bearers, causing male-biased predation. We investigated whether males of the sap-feeding Japanese rhinoceros beetle Trypoxylus dichotomus were more susceptible to predation than females by comparing the morphology of beetles caught in bait traps with the remains of beetles found on the ground. The males of this species are larger than the females and have a horn on the head.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdults of the longhorned beetle, Chloridolum loochooanum Gressitt (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) emit a white frothy secretion from their metasternal glands. This defensive substance contains cyclopentanoid monoterpenoids (iridodials), whose structures were elucidated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses that compared the naturally occurring structures with synthesized versions. Optically active citronellals, [(S)-, (R)-, and (S)/(R)- mixture], were used as starting materials for synthesizing the corresponding iridodials for the determination of the absolute configuration of the natural product.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCopris ochus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), an endangered species, is the largest dung beetle in Japan. In C. ochus, males have a long head horn, while females lack this long horn (sexual dimorphism).
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