Chewing through challenges: Exploring the evolutionary pathways to wood-feeding in insects.

Decaying wood, while an abundant and stable resource, presents considerable nutritional challenges due to its structural rigidity, chemical recalcitrance, and low nitrogen content. Despite these challenges, certain insect lineages have successfully evolved saproxylophagy (consuming and deriving sustenance from decaying wood), impacting nutrient recycling in ecosystems and carbon sequestration dynamics. This study explores the uneven phylogenetic distribution of saproxylophagy across insects and delves into the evolutionary origins of this trait in disparate insect orders.

Oficanthon Paulian, 1985, a junior synonym of Lepanus Balthasar, 1966 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), with redescription of Lepanus mirabilis (Paulian, 1985).

The monotypic genus Oficanthon Paulian, 1985 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) is treated as a junior synonym of the genus Lepanus Balthasar, 1966, and L. mirabilis (Paulian, 1985), new combination is proposed for Oficanthon mirabilis Paulian, 1985. Both morphological and molecular evidence support this synonymy.

Revision of Australian species of the dung beetle genus Lepanus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae): review of the L. ustulatus, L. storeyi, and L. nitidus species groups and description of eight new species.

This publication is the third part of an ongoing revision of Australian species of the genus Lepanus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) and revises three species groups. Keys to species within the L. ustulatus, L.

Revision of Australian species of the dung beetle genus Lepanus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae): description of 10 new species from the L. australis, L. monteithi, and L. villosus species groups.

This publication is part in an ongoing revision of the Australian species of the genus Lepanus Balthasar, 1966 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) and revises the three species groups with simple pygidia. Keys to species within the L. australis Matthews, 1974, L.

Revision of Australian species of the dung beetle genus Lepanus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae): key to species groups and description of 14 new species from the L. pygmaeus species group.

Lepanus Balthasar, 1966 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) is one of the most diverse genera of dung beetles in Australasia and includes large numbers of undescribed species. This publication is the first part in an ongoing revision of the Australian members of this genus and outlines ten informal species groups. Fourteen new species that are similar to Lepanus pygmaeus (Macleay, 1888) are described here: Lepanus mckenziei new species from the Pilbara region of Western Australia; Lepanus sauroni new species from coastal regions of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia; Lepanus gubara new species, Lepanus pecki new species, Lepanus podocarp new species and Lepanus pungalina new species from the Top End, Northern Territory; Lepanus lentil new species from the Top End, Northern Territory and central Queensland; Lepanus crenidens new species, Lepanus lingziae new species, and Lepanus menendezae new species from northern Queensland; Lepanus andersonorum new species, and Lepanus tozerensis new species from Cape York Peninsula, far north Queensland; Lepanus feehani new species from the Australian Wet Tropics; and Lepanus guthrieae new species from the east to west coast of northern Australia.

If Dung Beetles (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) Arose in Association with Dinosaurs, Did They Also Suffer a Mass Co-Extinction at the K-Pg Boundary?

The evolutionary success of beetles and numerous other terrestrial insects is generally attributed to co-radiation with flowering plants but most studies have focused on herbivorous or pollinating insects. Non-herbivores represent a significant proportion of beetle diversity yet potential factors that influence their diversification have been largely unexamined. In the present study, we examine the factors driving diversification within the Scarabaeidae, a speciose beetle family with a range of both herbivorous and non-herbivorous ecologies.

Towards a phylogeny of the Tenebrionoidea (Coleoptera).

The phylogenetic relationships of the beetle superfamily Tenebrionoidea are investigated using the most comprehensive genetic data set compiled to date. With ∼34,000 described species in approximately 1250 genera and 28 families, Tenebrionoidea represent one of the most diverse and species-rich superfamilies of beetles. The interfamilial relationships of the Tenebrionoidea are poorly known; previous morphological and molecular phylogenies recovered few well-supported and often conflicting relationships between families.

Re-establishment of the family Coccomyxidae and description of five novel species of Auerbachia and Coccomyxa (Myxosporea: Bivalvulida) parasites from Australian fishes.

Five novel species, Auerbachia scomberoidi n. sp., Auerbachia chaetodoni n.

Morphometric and molecular characterisation of four new Ceratomyxa species (Myxosporea: Bivalvulida: Ceratomyxidae) from fishes off Lizard Island, Australia.

Four new species of Ceratomyxa Thélohan, 1892 are described from the gall bladders of fishes collected off Lizard Island, Australia. These species are characterised using a combination of morphometric and molecular data. Ceratomyxa bartholomewae sp.

The demise of Leptotheca Thélohan, 1895 (Myxozoa: Myxosporea: Ceratomyxidae) and assignment of its species to Ceratomyxa Thélohan, 1892 (Myxosporea: Ceratomyxidae), Ellipsomyxa Køie, 2003 (Myxosporea: Ceratomyxidae), Myxobolus Bütschli, 1882 and Sphaerospora Thélohan, 1892 (Myxosporea: Sphaerosporidae).

A revision of Leptotheca Thélohan, 1895 is presented. The boundaries that separate Leptotheca from Ceratomyxa Thélohan, 1892 and Sphaerospora Thélohan, 1892 are vague and have been highlighted as an area of concern within myxosporean classification. A survey of the literature revealed 63 species that are currently assigned to Leptotheca and a further 11 species that have been relegated as synonyms in Ceratomyxa, Sphaerospora or Myxobolus Bütschli, 1882.

Ceratomyxa (Myxozoa: Bivalvulida): robust taxon or genus of convenience?

The genus Ceratomyxa (Myxozoa: Myxosporea: Bivalvulida) contains parasites that typically infect the gall bladders of marine teleosts. Species of this genus have also been recorded from elasmobranchs, while the best known species (Ceratomyxa shasta) is a systemic pathogen of fresh water salmonid fishes. Here we characterise 10 new species of Ceratomyxa from marine teleosts using morphometric and rDNA sequence data.

Seven new species of Ceratomyxa Thélohan, 1892 (Myxozoa) from the gall-bladders of serranid fishes from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Ceratomyxa spp. from the gall-bladder of five members of the family Serranidae were examined for their taxonomic identity. This paper describes seven new ceratomyxid species, i.

Relationships between four novel ceratomyxid parasites from the gall bladders of labrid fishes from Heron Island, Queensland, Australia.

Ceratomyxid parasites from the gall bladder of fishes from the family Labridae were examined for their taxonomic identity and their relatedness to other species of myxozoans. This paper describes four novel species Ceratomyxa choerodonae n. sp.

Characterization of Kudoa monodactyli n. sp. (Myxosporea: Multivalvulida) from the Muscle of Monodactylus argenteus (Teleostei: Monodactylidae) from Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia.

Kudoa monodactyli n. sp. is described from the somatic musculature of Monodactylus argenteus from several localities in southern Queensland, Australia.