tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71716308088665433872024-02-20T09:46:24.827-05:00Rove beetle musingsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-75568292108087387662023-11-17T10:23:00.000-05:002023-11-17T10:23:33.414-05:00Remembering Steve Ashe<p> I am lucky enough to have both of my biological parents still alive but my academic father died almost 18 years ago, and I missed him dearly every day. It’s perhaps odd to write about this in this blog that have been hibernating for a long time, but I had a dream last night that I was talking with Steve and we were discussing Xanthopygina beetles like nothing has happened over these 18 years. It's weird how brains work sometimes.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJl5Ii-InCngPLQm2d_Qrrggu1QcXIbArT1K5pjeWw-i6G7NlF19LOK4A0QbLunJfGN9T9nydptNwTOSNoxPRSI5Grpj02NZ7TKKWWH4dIq0I0YzIIXcsRfny2zSVFQyNaU-qlkly2DWmgzkCXBAj8PANmo-MXnhLgzwbTFU8_QXj6JVUtYvcGFjhq110/s2781/stevegrad.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2220" data-original-width="2781" height="511" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJl5Ii-InCngPLQm2d_Qrrggu1QcXIbArT1K5pjeWw-i6G7NlF19LOK4A0QbLunJfGN9T9nydptNwTOSNoxPRSI5Grpj02NZ7TKKWWH4dIq0I0YzIIXcsRfny2zSVFQyNaU-qlkly2DWmgzkCXBAj8PANmo-MXnhLgzwbTFU8_QXj6JVUtYvcGFjhq110/w640-h511/stevegrad.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve (middle) with Zack Falin (left) and me (right) in May 2004 during the PhD hooding ceremony.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>My interactions with Steve of course were limited to the interactions between a professor and a graduate student but Steve was such a kind person. I miss his guidance so much. </div><div><br /></div><div><div>I think I was a “high maintenance” graduate student, in the sense that every day or every other day I will stop by his office and chat about what was going on: research, news, KU, whatever. I guess it did not occur to me then, but now, with the eyes of a professor, I was probably interrupting Steve’s work more often than I should had. But he never complained and he was always there for his students. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>When I first arrived at KU, I was scheduled to be financially supported as a TA. But I failed the English-language test given to TAs and Steve had to scramble to find me funds. I was able to work as a curatorial assistant for a semester and then became a TA. This is a story I have not told too many times, and knowing a bit about how universities work now, it could not have been easy for Steve to pull that trick. </div><div><br /></div><div>When Steve died, only two Xanthopygina genera had been revised and Steve was working on <i>Ocyolinus</i>. Now I think there are 20 or so revised genera and if Steve had been alive, he might had done most of that work. Finishing the revisions for all genera in this group is my way of saying thanks. </div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-78200182573404581132021-04-12T19:28:00.003-04:002021-04-13T07:59:30.832-04:00It looks like not all Xanthopygina are brightly colored after all<p>A new paper just came out where <a href="https://twitter.com/aj_brunke">Adam Brunke</a> and I describe a new genus and three new species of Xanthopygina rove beetles. What makes this genus different from any other Xanthopygina that I have recently described is they are dull brown, with short elytra and no hind wings (aptery). You can read the whole paper <a href="https://europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ejt/article/view/1303">here</a> (open access)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgalJbW-pSACpDVZIwX_um-e1kGWtHy_yBto0hZjn1LzEvXHDtzgGirOnHVqISkmjgRZzILCsi8V9Q3NX9-px30wwUCU6NWsOXaexiOu_swKFfheLcZdkOBfpj_5iTks1Ove7jFa-vf9Z_6/s1266/Screen+Shot+2021-04-12+at+7.18.31+PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1242" data-original-width="1266" height="629" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgalJbW-pSACpDVZIwX_um-e1kGWtHy_yBto0hZjn1LzEvXHDtzgGirOnHVqISkmjgRZzILCsi8V9Q3NX9-px30wwUCU6NWsOXaexiOu_swKFfheLcZdkOBfpj_5iTks1Ove7jFa-vf9Z_6/w640-h629/Screen+Shot+2021-04-12+at+7.18.31+PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Here is a little bit of background on this paper: many years ago I received a bunch of weird looking rove beetles from Zack Falin at the University of Kansas. Zack is a friend and long term collaborator/enabler of my rove beetle studies. Zack had identified these beetles as Xanthopygina but when I first looked at them, I thought "No way" and left them in a drawer. </p><p>Part of the reason why I am writing this blog post is because sometimes we, taxonomists, tend to ignore some specimens and not wanting really to acknowledge their existence.</p><p>I sort of repeated this exercise (look at the beetles, say no way) every year for a a number of years until last year. I am working on the revision of <i>Xanthopygus</i>, a multi-year project and I was looking for another project that I could finish relatively quickly so I can publish a revision before the <i>Xanthopygus</i> one. As I was browsing through the Xanthopygina specimens in my office, I noticed these little beetles again and I started looking at them under the microscope. I hated to admit it but Zack was right, these specimens were Xanthopygina. It also appeared that they did not belong in any of the existing genera currently in Xanthopygina. Last year, Adam and I finished a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/zsc.12358">paper</a> where we produced a phylogenetic tree of all known genera ofd Xanthopygina. So we reran the analyses with a few more morphological characters (there are no molecular data for <i>Ikaros</i>) and you can see the results below. We can definitely say that they do not belong in some lineages but until we get molecular data we wont's be able to say exactly where they belong.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6vDtvbuLSftrJomsO1OQEuNMOgn8AyNf2pp7ZTEHNRf40ZqEYBLkGg3Xg4C1VgwfprNkCOELkUBGFdBV4nkzjTTJPsx0j40JVIzrzQV2Rgfj8t1HkKM_oSguPpBtqUMZSqj_SoKCL5AWM/s1266/Screen+Shot+2021-04-12+at+7.18.16+PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1242" data-original-width="1266" height="628" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6vDtvbuLSftrJomsO1OQEuNMOgn8AyNf2pp7ZTEHNRf40ZqEYBLkGg3Xg4C1VgwfprNkCOELkUBGFdBV4nkzjTTJPsx0j40JVIzrzQV2Rgfj8t1HkKM_oSguPpBtqUMZSqj_SoKCL5AWM/w640-h628/Screen+Shot+2021-04-12+at+7.18.16+PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>I am particular proud of the etymology for this new genus. As I mentined in the paper: "The word <i>Ikaros</i> is an alternate spelling of the word Icarus, the son of Daedalus who (in the Greek mythology) constructed the Labyrinth. Icarus and Daedalus escaped the Labyrinth by flying with wings made of feathers and glued by wax. However, Icarus flew too close to the sun and the wax melted. The name is rather appropriate for this genus considering these are species found in high altitudes that have lost their wings." </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-55317602207401788592020-11-27T10:00:00.002-05:002020-11-27T10:00:18.043-05:00It's been a long time<p> I have not written anything here for more than two years. I am curious if people are going to read these posts. I feel like people are not really paying attention to blogs anymore, but that may reflect more my tendencies than a genera trend. </p><p>Anyway, here is a picture of <i>Xanthopygus cognatus</i> Sharp. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYMTtccV0XTdCGWeBorZZnWR-4IGVYn-iyPhcyg33H51LeBw4oPO9IbopVIabHJxz_lvBfKf1RSTlfd-D1RGy0n3OhJNkBV5GuYnNIM-t-5waDBGycrqTVF0RfJkSA0fWOkecE9dtVf-jE/s2684/cognatus_habitus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2684" data-original-width="1171" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYMTtccV0XTdCGWeBorZZnWR-4IGVYn-iyPhcyg33H51LeBw4oPO9IbopVIabHJxz_lvBfKf1RSTlfd-D1RGy0n3OhJNkBV5GuYnNIM-t-5waDBGycrqTVF0RfJkSA0fWOkecE9dtVf-jE/w280-h640/cognatus_habitus.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-42103053276974921552018-02-27T07:00:00.000-05:002018-02-27T21:38:43.828-05:00Herman's Catalogue of Staphylinidae<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio7tc_oHwNQmoDUbbpCOF9GLKQi3bJ0aaS4tiHdjgOOQyYreZC9VCIf_Dzml0bvlpn7ykOo8qzOPanV12EuhYGICSeGw61DZYJuRWy7dkBt3L7rCvYpuHfVcvda9-ux-Beq3p36jYlDON9/s1600/IMG_4081.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio7tc_oHwNQmoDUbbpCOF9GLKQi3bJ0aaS4tiHdjgOOQyYreZC9VCIf_Dzml0bvlpn7ykOo8qzOPanV12EuhYGICSeGw61DZYJuRWy7dkBt3L7rCvYpuHfVcvda9-ux-Beq3p36jYlDON9/s640/IMG_4081.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I received my copy of Lee Herman's catalogue in early 2002, while still a graduate student at the University of Kansas. I was actually too shy to write Lee and ask for a copy so Michael Engel did it for me. I remember thinking that there was no reason Lee would send me - a still unknown entity with just one publication - a copy, but of course I was wrong.<br />
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I think it has been by far the most influential publication in my career. Yes, nothing is perfect, and like any paper it has some errors and omission (Aleocharinae, Paederinae...) but I would have been so lost without this, especially early in my life as a graduate student. I still open the volume that contains the Xanthopygina (the one specially bound in the picture) at least once every week. I think it is fair to say that my productivity would have been significantly impacted (in a negative way) if Lee has not published this work.<br />
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The amount of work required to produce something as massive as this is almost beyond comprehension and this is why other catalogues spend so much time in the [unpublished database] stage.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-57223730720461044142017-11-15T14:45:00.003-05:002017-11-15T14:46:47.839-05:00Then again...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I think I am fairly good in self motivating myself to push through projects to completion. Instead of describing two new genera in a simple Zootaxa-style paper, how about we produce a phylogenetic analysis of Xanthiopygina and add all known genera, including these two new taxa? Sure, it will take a year more or so, but it will keep the engine running.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZKoVrMJeFyDU5aTi3QRjaXpjuqBGVRQsv6o7kbXCTZ6TIVvXbAo7lE4b2qu1GMk8Yc96aGvxTXpjgWqKUbUIzJb5Cs84nUCg6-3ukLX0OwbTjyx9Gzmz1mhwvho0YQWTh1NqAflXo5f-/s1600/2017-11-15+14.30.41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1343" data-original-width="1600" height="536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZKoVrMJeFyDU5aTi3QRjaXpjuqBGVRQsv6o7kbXCTZ6TIVvXbAo7lE4b2qu1GMk8Yc96aGvxTXpjgWqKUbUIzJb5Cs84nUCg6-3ukLX0OwbTjyx9Gzmz1mhwvho0YQWTh1NqAflXo5f-/s640/2017-11-15+14.30.41.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-53166557055894600852017-10-23T08:32:00.000-04:002017-10-23T14:34:07.253-04:00The thrill is gone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One of the biggest challenges for me is to push through a work to publication, when I have figured everything out. Last week I was on Twitter telling the world about how awesome it feels when you finally figure out something -- a unique characteristic that unites a group a three undescribed taxa into a genus.<br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
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That glorious moment when you finally find a unique characteristic for a group of species that you thought belong to a new genus <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/taxonomy?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#taxonomy</a></div>
— Stelio Chatzimanolis (@schatzimanolis) <a href="https://twitter.com/schatzimanolis/status/920682094027792384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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But then the thrill is gone. I have figured out that this is a new genus. I know that there are three new species. Now I have to show this to the rest of the world. But by this point there is nothing (or almost nothing) new to be discovered. I just have to spend endless hours taking photos, drawing and writing descriptions to persuade my peer community that these are indeed new taxa. But there is very little personal satisfaction in the process and this can slow down the process a bit.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd8qBW5vp2cTPmGXrdw4PMJbKL9gHqaRqBg4mB3dC5EesuzEYULH7zNH2d48YOsLE05ZbpNqjs-Cbd3kpN6M9rjITGfQRzhRVdGpi5ClcFO9c63xWBilaY1vrzUAUu-qcJiaBTHwhhf8B9/s1600/IMG_3309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1418" data-original-width="1600" height="564" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd8qBW5vp2cTPmGXrdw4PMJbKL9gHqaRqBg4mB3dC5EesuzEYULH7zNH2d48YOsLE05ZbpNqjs-Cbd3kpN6M9rjITGfQRzhRVdGpi5ClcFO9c63xWBilaY1vrzUAUu-qcJiaBTHwhhf8B9/s640/IMG_3309.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two new genera and at least five new species. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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When I was starting out as a graduate student, I was trying to maximize the number of papers I could get and sometimes published <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrM2FmNjA1ZGItNDNjZi00NDlhLThkNDktZjQyMWQ4NmIwYjMx/view" target="_blank">papers</a> as"least publishable unit". Now I think I am at the opposite spectrum. Last week I submitted a paper where I was reviewing two genera (<i>Dysanellus</i> and <i>Torobus</i>). And for my next paper I seriously consider putting together a description of two NEW genera together. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-58354542402783608772017-10-12T20:33:00.002-04:002017-10-13T08:36:12.817-04:00Figuring things out<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Recently I published an new paper describing the genus <i><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkraVc4alpaS08tVjg/view" target="_blank">Phanolinopsis</a></i> and describing four new species. While writing a paper like that is pretty straight forward once you have figured things out, it usually takes a lot of time to figure things out.<br />
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Many many years ago I was visiting a natural history museum examining their collection of Xanthopygina beetles. Among the materials was a specimen of <i>Phanolinopsis erythros</i>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcPA6RpTJlk9q1Fb7nkOZ9P2KqURJRSIpxhZXMIiGjoEsyUhT_b23bho4renpgLee0TAG7mg25D1PBfKX_fVA7z5EjnkdFaYV_TzmP1KNrSN7FInX0KHRDqmkyJtqq_t8miu0A6XQGMS4/s1600/phanolinopsis_pdf_-_Google_Drive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="214" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcPA6RpTJlk9q1Fb7nkOZ9P2KqURJRSIpxhZXMIiGjoEsyUhT_b23bho4renpgLee0TAG7mg25D1PBfKX_fVA7z5EjnkdFaYV_TzmP1KNrSN7FInX0KHRDqmkyJtqq_t8miu0A6XQGMS4/s640/phanolinopsis_pdf_-_Google_Drive.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Phanolinopsis erythros</i> Chatzimanolis</td></tr>
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I was puzzled. At that time, I was working on the revision of <i><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrZWJlNzQ4NmUtMDAzMC00YjI4LTg1MjEtZTg1MDJlZTQwZDRm/view" target="_blank">Nordus</a></i> and <i><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrYjljYjQ5NDMtNDAwOC00MDQ3LWE0NTktOGRjMjg3ZDBhMjNm/view" target="_blank">Philothalpus</a></i> and had finished the revision of <i><a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/22663#page/3/mode/1up" target="_blank">Elmas</a></i>. Let just say that my understanding of Xanthopygina was limited. I asked a Very Important Rove beetle systematist at the museum there what they thought of the specimen and they looked at it and said: "Yes, I have examined it, I could not figure it out, I doubt you will".<br />
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Well, they were right in a sense, it took me 11 years to figure it out. I guess what I am trying to say is that figuring out things in taxonomy sometimes takes a very long time. So while writing a taxonomic paper is 'easy', deciding what goes in that paper may take a lifetime. I have been lucky to be able to work with Xanthopygina for ~17 years now, so I had the time to "figure things out". But I am afraid, the way we do science nowadays does not usually allow for having that much time of working uninterrupted* on a project or taxonomic group.<br />
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On an unrelated note, on the same paper I named a new species after my daughter.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC_yMUfz5paHV7BCHm_waTEcZWfG72g5nYTK3LLu4Ie0e0Fa9GwIZM0mj6CKTu85srmkyjSU7VXgrresHO0C5zKzqq91T-5_qksiSbg_RWnWSlNFVZ-yYFk7grN_BZWv9MeSHQ2gg1YIgl/s1600/phanolinopsis_pdf_-_Google_Drive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="243" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC_yMUfz5paHV7BCHm_waTEcZWfG72g5nYTK3LLu4Ie0e0Fa9GwIZM0mj6CKTu85srmkyjSU7VXgrresHO0C5zKzqq91T-5_qksiSbg_RWnWSlNFVZ-yYFk7grN_BZWv9MeSHQ2gg1YIgl/s640/phanolinopsis_pdf_-_Google_Drive.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Phanolinopsis norahae</i> Chatzimanolis</td></tr>
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* Over the years, I have worked on other things other than Xanthopygina, from phylogeography to fossils, but I have never stopped looking at these beetles. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-89585611186473429632017-05-04T11:05:00.000-04:002017-05-04T11:06:38.174-04:00The end of Staphylinidae sensu stricto?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I recently submitted a book chapter on fossil rove beetles where I had the following footnote:<br />
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" One could argue that we have overextended the meaning of “Staphylinidae” since the family is not very well defined and the subfamilies themselves can probably be elevated to the family status."<br />
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The editors kindly asked me to remove it from the book chapter because they did not want to open Pandora's box (their expression, not mine).<br />
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So instead, I am just going to put it here, on this blog.</div>
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<div>
Over the last several years more and more ex-families (eg Scydmaeninae) are getting sucked into Staphylinidae and one could argue that Silphidae should be added soon. Have we reached the point where we need to evaluate what Staphylinidae really is and perhaps elevate "Staphylinidae" to a superfamily? Unfortunately, for some people this is a numbers game ("the largest family of animals") and I do not see this happening any time soon.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-18710997923342421562017-01-12T10:11:00.002-05:002017-01-12T10:11:18.649-05:00Xenopygus species<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Back in November I published a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrX1NOY0hWWXhHbTQ/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">paper</a> in <a href="http://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4200.1.5" target="_blank">Zootaxa</a> with new species and synonymies for <i>Xenopygus</i> Bernhauer. There are a lot of stories that can be told about this paper and if you are skilled in reading between the lines you can probably guess some by reading the paper itself.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA9AE5IT60HLHAygW2D4-87aCIN-DbDoZ7Uy7Ju7eE7oh3xSy4t49zjQe5PL-_g581aluaT7mxn00IWlqQ9ffr_vdreG-tF_364n-nnausDsjbGGenFRxsx3O8ZbCRKsB7aXeendmCRm7E/s1600/Figs3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA9AE5IT60HLHAygW2D4-87aCIN-DbDoZ7Uy7Ju7eE7oh3xSy4t49zjQe5PL-_g581aluaT7mxn00IWlqQ9ffr_vdreG-tF_364n-nnausDsjbGGenFRxsx3O8ZbCRKsB7aXeendmCRm7E/s400/Figs3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Xenopygus davidi Chatzimanolis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But I want to tell one of the stories here. This is the story of how sometimes we are unable to deal with the backlog of specimens (perhaps data in general) until something happens. For many years I had two new species of <i>Xenopygus</i> awaiting description in my Xanthopygina cabinet. This is not unusual. By a quick count, I probably have ~100 new undescribed species of rove beetles trapped in the cabinet in front of my desk. But taxonomists do not spit out species description despite being urged <a href="http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=2216" target="_blank">to</a> <a href="http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347(11)00319-3" target="_blank">do</a> <a href="http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/pdf/S0169-5347(12)00101-2.pdf" target="_blank">so</a> <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v467/n7312/full/467154a.html" target="_blank">many</a> <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534711003302" target="_blank">times</a> because we want to put these new species into context. That context is typically a revision of a genus, a phylogenetic analysis or fauna checklist.<br />
<br />
But back to <i>Xenopygus</i>. I was sitting on these two new species because properly revising the genus meant dealing with thousands of specimens of one of the most common xanthopygine rove beetles, <i>Xenopygus analis</i>. It also meant changing the generic concept of <i>Dysanellus</i> (one of the described species there belonged in <i>Xenopygus</i>). And it also meant dealing with some bad taxonomic decisions made in the 70s-80s.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_JCNuHHr9ajskn3KROyKW1g2akge0dxX7DkemBuwG7JpymqXCXcMIFWaV3sIIoMciccSDoktuO3OECuF5E2tj9q8bs24oxhhaiwstqhsFI9n4DIybIX2kKkaLu0vjrusTiHTe10Ptrg9V/s1600/Figs7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_JCNuHHr9ajskn3KROyKW1g2akge0dxX7DkemBuwG7JpymqXCXcMIFWaV3sIIoMciccSDoktuO3OECuF5E2tj9q8bs24oxhhaiwstqhsFI9n4DIybIX2kKkaLu0vjrusTiHTe10Ptrg9V/s400/Figs7.jpg" width="341" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Xenopygus pycnos Chatzimanolis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
So I was waiting until, I do not know, I was ready to deal with them. The <i>Xenopygus</i> manuscript was probably no. 7 in my "in preparation" manuscripts. Well, that changed when Caron et al (2016) published a <a href="http://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4138.1.2" target="_blank">paper</a> revising <i>Xenopygus</i>. I was not aware of that paper until it came out in Zootaxa. Which was unfortunate, because I would have told Caron et al. about all the problems mentioned above. Caron et al. published two new species that ended up being synonyms of taxa that had been described before. To their defense, it was almost impossible to figure this out unless they had seen photos (or examined) of every single species in Xanthopygina. But on the plus side, they dealt with the revisionary aspects of<i> X. analis</i> and that allow me quickly to publish the two new species and regrettably to synonymize the species they described as new. <br />
<br />
I guess the story here is that we all need motivation in our lives. Sometimes motivation to finish <i>that</i> manuscript comes from places we do not expect.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-69192217076377576012016-09-09T11:27:00.000-04:002016-09-09T19:50:17.674-04:00It’s not a plant!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It started as a joke. For a couple of years it was the number 1 item in my to do list on the lab whiteboard: “Revision of <i>Smilax</i>”. My botany colleagues would come in and start asking me if I got tired of rove beetles (never!) and wanted to switch to plant systematics. You see, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilax" target="_blank">Smilax</a></i> L. is a cosmopolitan plant genus. My typical response was “It’s not a plant!”<br />
<br />
So here it is: <i>Smilax deineinephyto </i>sp. n. described in the recently published revision of <i><a href="http://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4162.2.5" target="_blank">Smilax</a></i> (pdf <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrN0Nkcm95M185NzQ/view" target="_blank">here</a>), the myrmecophilous rove beetle genus. The epithet translates in Greek “It’s not a plant”.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvBT9bVgMyyphQaPaMX8VFkMYnzo8RKcvVvXpRAPc000gXNpoDX10TGrSPnWatzSBh5cnOEXuM9YiNUV8nCFfQ9BsKCL3ESMZQ5uQEJ0oCFPByH9O6ZJ0obwXx9j4W4k6IV687D-nekmxI/s1600/Smilax_deneinephyto_habitus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvBT9bVgMyyphQaPaMX8VFkMYnzo8RKcvVvXpRAPc000gXNpoDX10TGrSPnWatzSBh5cnOEXuM9YiNUV8nCFfQ9BsKCL3ESMZQ5uQEJ0oCFPByH9O6ZJ0obwXx9j4W4k6IV687D-nekmxI/s640/Smilax_deneinephyto_habitus.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Sometimes we go collect in a rainforest and come back with many new species, species that we knew in the field that were new. Or, we visit a natural history museum and look through their unsorted specimens and we immediately know that there is a new species there. Well, this is not one of these stories. The funny (or annoying, disturbing, same old - depending on who you ask) story is that the species I described as new in this paper had actually been illustrated before.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUxFODUQoH2hQlyuuM4j8zll83f9ZmVZfvGa7PNjeqxyVFmCnkAaSMwWOsGqq7ZDvptS04-zXfgc5RLEiItjCfGSXAoL0hyGANoKXEGgz3wat7GS1urG3qHgLO3vG5PLW1IhhsRmAL001_/s1600/Scheerpeltz1936-Staphyliniden-Brasilien-gesammelt_von-Eidmann_pdf__page_7_of_30_.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUxFODUQoH2hQlyuuM4j8zll83f9ZmVZfvGa7PNjeqxyVFmCnkAaSMwWOsGqq7ZDvptS04-zXfgc5RLEiItjCfGSXAoL0hyGANoKXEGgz3wat7GS1urG3qHgLO3vG5PLW1IhhsRmAL001_/s640/Scheerpeltz1936-Staphyliniden-Brasilien-gesammelt_von-Eidmann_pdf__page_7_of_30_.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Scheerpeltz 1936.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Scheerpeltz in his 1936 paper, compared the species of <i>Smilax</i> <i>pilosa</i> with <i>Smilax cyanea </i>(then in <i>Cordylaspis</i>). Unfortunately, it seems that he did not study the type specimens for these taxa because what he identified as <i>Smilax pilosa</i> was (mostly) <i>Smilax lynchi</i> (Bruch). Also the type species for <i>Smilax cyanea</i> is conspecific with <i>Smilax pilosa</i>, and does not match what he illustrated as <i>Smilax cyanea</i> above. And thus, here is a new species, hidden in a collection for several decades, masqueraded as a previously described species.<br />
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References<br />
<br />
Chatzimanolis, S. 2016. A revision of the myrmecophilous genus <i>Smilax</i> Laporte (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae). Zootaxa 4162(2): 283-303<br />
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Scheerpeltz, O. 1936. Die von Prof. Dr. H. Eidmann gelegentlich seiner im Jahre 1933 nach Brasilien unternommenen Studienreise aufgesammelten Staphyliniden. I. Die in den Nestern von <i>Atta sexdens</i> L. aufgefundenen Staphyliniden, nebst einigen Bemerkungen über die Gattung <i>Scariphaeus</i> Er. Archiv für Naturgeschichte, N.F. 5 (4), 483–540.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-40013223492704964372016-08-02T07:11:00.001-04:002016-08-10T13:40:09.091-04:00Remembering Tom Taylor<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I found out the other day that one of my graduate school professors had passed away. Tom Taylor was a paleobotanist at KU and member of the National Academy of Sciences. When I arrived in KU in 1999 as a starting graduate student, Tom was the department chair of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. My advisor Steve Ashe (probably realizing how "green" I was) recommended that I should take a class offered by Tom called "The art of becoming a professional scientist". To this day, I do not think any other activity as a graduate student influenced more my trajectory as an academic. His class really helped me and dozens of other students over the years to realize what it takes to be a graduate student, to start networking with colleagues (as an exercise we had to send five reprint requests per week), and to start publishing early and consistently.<br />
<br />
There were many times in my graduate career that I barged into Tom's office to ask him questions [and remember this guy was the department chair] and he was always welcoming. I remember one particular afternoon in my third year that he spent a good hour talking with me [without scheduling a meeting with him] about career and life in general, trying to help me in a particular difficult spot in my life. I look back now [with a better understanding of time constraints and work load] and I am both surprised and grateful of how open Tom was to impromptu meetings like that.<br />
<br />
I do not know how well liked Tom was as a department chair; the few departmental meetings that I attended as a graduate student were l e g e n d a r y. But I have come to realize that no department chair is ever liked by his/her faculty. And I know many graduate students that found their footings in their professional life because of Tom's class and I am deeply grateful for the impact he had in my life. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-37512845723554466202016-06-20T09:31:00.001-04:002016-06-21T09:49:20.430-04:00Plociopterus ain't no myrmecophile!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieaLNz27f-BaB_dgOmhnfNgTjG461y73Anoh_7cNiKEcwyYwu0zK5HLl2IGvOmdRq8KP751EMH2Kf7mpEZ7tM0-tDbo5PKdt7IC6OAU_8eV2iuvbzRvzZjasvNH2T1FLrhWNt8GVehZw_5/s1600/Plociopterus_myrmecophiles_pdf_-_Google_Drive.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieaLNz27f-BaB_dgOmhnfNgTjG461y73Anoh_7cNiKEcwyYwu0zK5HLl2IGvOmdRq8KP751EMH2Kf7mpEZ7tM0-tDbo5PKdt7IC6OAU_8eV2iuvbzRvzZjasvNH2T1FLrhWNt8GVehZw_5/s400/Plociopterus_myrmecophiles_pdf_-_Google_Drive.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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In a paper just published in <a href="http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1649/0010-065X-70.2.214" target="_blank">Coleopterists Bulletin</a> (pdf <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrT0x5SlhiSDRWR00/view" target="_blank">here</a>), <a href="http://personal.cricyt.edu.ar/mchani/" target="_blank">Mariana Chani-Posse</a> and I moved two myrmecophilous species of “Xanthopygina” in Philonthina. Both species had been described by Wasmann 1925 in the genus <i>Plociopterus</i>. And so for the last 90 or so years, <i>Plociopterus</i> was known to have two myrmecophilous species. Unfortunately, several authors discussing the origin of myrmecophily in Staphylinidae (or at least specifically for Staphylinini) was using this as an example of independent evolution of myrmecophilous life style. The problem was that nobody had checked the specimens since the original description, because none of those species belonged in <i>Plociopterus</i>. They are <i>Belonuchus</i> (at least until the genus is revised) and for those keeping score at home, this is also the wrong subtribe…<br />
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The moral of the story is this: people make mistakes and generic concepts change over time, as well as our understanding or higher level relationships. As I have mentioned <a href="http://xanthopygina.blogspot.com/2016/06/thoughts-on-studies-using-taxonomic-data.html" target="_blank">earlier</a>, If somebody described a taxon 100 years ago, chances are that this taxon now belongs in a different genus or is a synonym of something else. Using raw data in biodiversity studies without going through the lens of a revision is almost guaranteed to lead to erroneous results.<br />
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As a side note, <i>Plociopterus</i> is in terrible need of a revision. There are multiple new species awaiting description and many taxa that have to be placed in synonymy. But the genus has an infamous history among Xanthopygina workers: at least twice people have started its revision (both in the lab of my late PhD advisor, <a href="http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1649/889.1?journalCode=cole" target="_blank">Steve Ashe</a>) and both times people abandoned the effort. Perhaps third time’s the charm?<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-34310986799746046342016-06-08T11:14:00.001-04:002016-06-09T08:42:32.852-04:00Thoughts on studies using taxonomic data<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
tl;dr version: Your results are mostly wrong. Unless someone has revised (in a taxonomic sense) the species you are using in your study.<br />
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Longer version: People make mistakes. When we describe a new species, or a group of new species, we sometimes place them in a taxonomic rank (let’s say genus for argument’s sake) we think is correct but we cannot be absolutely sure, unless we have a very thorough phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetic analyses are awesome, but in the age of genomics they cost a lot of money. And in many cases (incorrectly in my view), building that phylogeny is beyond the interest of the person describing these taxa.<br />
<br />
Now consider that the majority of species were described a long time ago, long before people were thinking about phylogenetic relationships. Also, some of the early (we are talking 19-early 20th century here) taxonomists were not specialist per se, and would describe species among many different families of insects, thus not really knowing where those species belong. So, in many cases, if during the last 40 years nobody has taxonomically checked (=revise) the species you are are using, chances are that these species are: (a) synonyms of another species; (b) placed in the wrong genus or (c) placed in the wrong higher rank.<br />
<br />
Example: in 2004 I published with several colleagues a study on when (day or night) rove beetles were active on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. If you want to read the details, the paper is <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrMGE4NDFiODAtZjNlMS00MzExLWJmMzgtY2ZmZmQxN2VhZDkx/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>, but to save you from a lot of trouble, I just set up a flight intercept trap and for a period of 12 days I was sampling at dawn and dusk. Here is part of table 1:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnch0fUGBk22anklkunCR5d7dhiE-IP6shGqsIbr4OUkdJyXEm03GtwIXcZtoIzE_TndXbz8048rTR0i9GzjPKk5tgsCQPpOzz-F5WFKfxtixfvehKHHtfE7a8Sga0FjQm7F9ONhSsjMKf/s1600/BCIstaphs_pdf_-_Google_Drive.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnch0fUGBk22anklkunCR5d7dhiE-IP6shGqsIbr4OUkdJyXEm03GtwIXcZtoIzE_TndXbz8048rTR0i9GzjPKk5tgsCQPpOzz-F5WFKfxtixfvehKHHtfE7a8Sga0FjQm7F9ONhSsjMKf/s640/BCIstaphs_pdf_-_Google_Drive.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
My 2004 self made <strike>two</strike> three mistakes there. What we thought was <i>Dysanellus</i> ended up being a new genus of rove beetles described as <i><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrOHNSbWJJLWZCREk/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Zackfalinus</a></i> and <i>Dysanellus</i> is restricted to the southern part of South America. Likewise, what we thought was <i><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrYjljYjQ5NDMtNDAwOC00MDQ3LWE0NTktOGRjMjg3ZDBhMjNm/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Philothalpus</a></i> ended up being <i>Oligotergus</i>, because nobody had looked up before how messed up the generic limits were in <i>Philothalpus. </i>UPDATE: Adam Brunke correctly reminded me that all specimens identified as <i>Quedius</i> were indeed <i>Cyrtoquedius</i> based on this <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cla.12139/abstract" target="_blank">paper</a>.<br />
<i><br /></i>
What I am saying is this: if you are pulling data out of a digitized collection of GBIF, good luck. I hope a taxonomist was interested in the taxa you want to use.<br />
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Of course, this idea is not new. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2004.00233.x/full" target="_blank">Meier and Dikow </a>(2004) have said this much more eloquently. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-74037398532079009232016-06-06T13:26:00.001-04:002016-06-06T13:26:13.877-04:00Hiding place<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLedGHKMc3PaN63bU98UXFFA0geVb4_DiNRo5RVR3ABpuqmYOETNZIxlvJt7xVEWUoCfBbwOLPV2I4J4tXc745TNVazgFY-h2y0aS7orBAYX4uEWVeM_y7MEHCG3XtUIjev9u0K74V0EeT/s1600/IMG_1303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLedGHKMc3PaN63bU98UXFFA0geVb4_DiNRo5RVR3ABpuqmYOETNZIxlvJt7xVEWUoCfBbwOLPV2I4J4tXc745TNVazgFY-h2y0aS7orBAYX4uEWVeM_y7MEHCG3XtUIjev9u0K74V0EeT/s640/IMG_1303.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Every time I need to finish a manuscript I have to find a hiding place: a place where I am going to take my laptop and a bunch of papers and write. Although I can write in my office or at home, when I need to really focus to finish <i>that</i> paragraph in either a paper or a proposal, I have to get away. No matter how much I clean my office from distractions, there is always something: a specimen, a knock on the door, a stupid post-it note on my computer screen. Today my hiding spot is in unused biology lab. The gentle him of the refrigerator and the mowers outside provide enough white noise to write and even take breaks from <i>writing</i> to write this little note. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-1967740799176486072016-05-31T11:06:00.000-04:002016-05-31T11:06:14.445-04:00Celebrating TN Valley beetles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
During the spring semester a super dedicated team of undergraduate students and I curated (pin, label, database and identify) nearly 5000 specimens of beetles from the Tennessee Valley. Our main field sites are in the <a href="http://www.trgt.org/#homepage" target="_blank">Tennessee River Gorge Trust</a> and <a href="http://lulalake.org/" target="_blank">Lula Lake Land Trust</a>. Over the next several weeks, I will start posting on my <a href="https://twitter.com/schatzimanolis" target="_blank">Twitter</a> account several photographs of charismatic beetles from these two locations.<br />
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All of beetle photographs can be found online on this <a href="http://symbiota4.acis.ufl.edu/scan/portal/imagelib/photographers.php?phuid=353&imgcnt=227" target="_blank">page</a>. Below is a just small screenshot of that page.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEictuxxwtaxQjHV23PrPdSrjfYQCabG2W8YPAgHox5RSF_b4X_JvPAKi4CKev_mozim-MYqrrishTKFENNZzW1hmPg6EfPeDQzrUUiuZtBIiTNFbXjM5Rg2zbSDYXQGpN7MMyGut2xGYpFo/s1600/SCAN_Photographer_List.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEictuxxwtaxQjHV23PrPdSrjfYQCabG2W8YPAgHox5RSF_b4X_JvPAKi4CKev_mozim-MYqrrishTKFENNZzW1hmPg6EfPeDQzrUUiuZtBIiTNFbXjM5Rg2zbSDYXQGpN7MMyGut2xGYpFo/s640/SCAN_Photographer_List.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Stay tuned for more photographs!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-73763006237773008272016-02-16T21:22:00.002-05:002016-02-16T21:22:40.956-05:00Collecting in Winter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
For the past several months I have been collecting beetles at <a href="http://lulalake.org/" target="_blank">Lula Lake Land Trust</a> and at the <a href="http://www.trgt.org/#homepage" target="_blank">Tennessee River Gorge Trust</a>. I started near the end of spring and I plan to do a full year of collecting in each site. Winter is here and even though it is not really cold (by midwest standards) the temperature is hovering below zero Celsius for many days in a row.<br />
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I have to say I love doing field work during this time of the year. Yes, it is not super-productive but it is so much more pleasant: no ticks or chiggers, no 90% humidity and I am not covered with mosquitoes. And the traps have some very interesting beetles in them. Granted, the diversity is rather low and I have to sort through mountains of flies to actually see the beetles, but I will take it.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjTzVDpRCAyqUNp51qpM0MV1Uqz2r8HZDLDvvPLKG5icKMIFOCi93POJcS9DBdPNKhv2Fi-c6VkJgzee58_HCU9nTMabtI3n-CApRYp5oW0RO3EgT8_p_usFqVnxzLqL3RootsUCOh2ua/s1600/2016-02-05+09.39.22.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjTzVDpRCAyqUNp51qpM0MV1Uqz2r8HZDLDvvPLKG5icKMIFOCi93POJcS9DBdPNKhv2Fi-c6VkJgzee58_HCU9nTMabtI3n-CApRYp5oW0RO3EgT8_p_usFqVnxzLqL3RootsUCOh2ua/s400/2016-02-05+09.39.22.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
<br />
Here is a typical pan (out of eight) of my Flight intercept traps (FIT). This picture shows insects that fell in the pan between January 5 to February 5.<br />
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Collecting with Lindgren traps can be a bit more tricky. During the past month we had some very windy/wet conditions that resulted in having my propylene glycol being washed out of the trap. The water that remained in the collection cup did not play very well with the subfreezing conditions and resulted in this:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CER1Tw13DzrcG9BtNxsS_kiFNInFqdVlCQSunikxjzCmf8QYbMcRParisOR-ocIhjw6Nx_xRzXyrbIqdCeuAPKIw8I4Dd6tISpirXxO9_mnoafCIisriiGHq-e3DFhjlDZaaq9yZo0du/s1600/2016-01-05+11.48.12.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CER1Tw13DzrcG9BtNxsS_kiFNInFqdVlCQSunikxjzCmf8QYbMcRParisOR-ocIhjw6Nx_xRzXyrbIqdCeuAPKIw8I4Dd6tISpirXxO9_mnoafCIisriiGHq-e3DFhjlDZaaq9yZo0du/s400/2016-01-05+11.48.12.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
<br />
However, underneath all this ice, there were beetles, including several rove beetles.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvmwR4AgSJk-pzm7siZeAWo39uCIfU2QxrUg4373BwCBu3i8MSwhQPzah3F2fAVzWB8YLeNi5-zIOWVncb8k2efkR6HRpSErvMuDHj3hMAKl2zsApmQxhfKhj7goSk9SvtnpRrqYZ5UvAP/s1600/2016-01-11+15.15.48.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvmwR4AgSJk-pzm7siZeAWo39uCIfU2QxrUg4373BwCBu3i8MSwhQPzah3F2fAVzWB8YLeNi5-zIOWVncb8k2efkR6HRpSErvMuDHj3hMAKl2zsApmQxhfKhj7goSk9SvtnpRrqYZ5UvAP/s320/2016-01-11+15.15.48.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
<br />
If you are interested in seeing what we have been collecting, all of our specimens are included in our <a href="http://symbiota4.acis.ufl.edu/scan/portal/collections/misc/collprofiles.php?collid=54" target="_blank">Symbiota</a> database that recently surpassed 10,000 beetle specimens. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-85316767927629245272015-10-16T20:50:00.001-04:002015-10-21T20:59:33.030-04:00How do you know a species is new to science?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Students often ask me, how does one go about a describing a new species? It's easy, you just have to know what has been described before! I am kidding, of course. Knowing what has been described before is by far the hardest part of describing a new species.<br />
<br />
Here is an example: I work with a group of rove beetles belonging in the subtribe Xanthopygina, a group of 30 or so genera and ~400 species. To be able to describe a new species with confidence, I need to know how all 30 genera and all 400 species look like. Why? Because the generic limits that we recognize today might have been more relaxed in previous years, and species currently in one genus might actually belong in another (this has happened <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrM2Y2ZDM2N2YtNDlhYi00YTA0LWJmZTYtYmFiYzZlNjA4MTMx/view" target="_blank">multiple</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2uk6nTM_UkrSnh0aEpxSGowczg" target="_blank">times</a> to me in the past). So if somebody wants to describe new species in e.g. the genus <i>Plociopterus</i> Kraatz, seeing just the existing species in <i>Plociopterus</i> is not good enough. People of course describe like that all the time (or by just finding a species in a "new area"), but this leads to sloppy (at best) taxonomic work.<br />
<br />
Over the past few years I have been working with myrmecophile Xanthopygina. One of the most prominent early 20th century myrmecophile entomologist was Wasmann. His collection ended up in Maastricht and this week I was able to finally see all of the Xanthopygina species he described.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz921R2d3PADMPiQKytkjD8Gz1dtthchcMKF0BAzCeNa7QcjBqnBYZsjmUUP54plSj4YP5Mp1qPbNxHO-WH4k9oZap4klgNul5E55ViBJWZNoLu8LOq2d_TSzzqQ0e2I14QxkIkQyvh9Rb/s1600/2015-10-16+12.11.49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz921R2d3PADMPiQKytkjD8Gz1dtthchcMKF0BAzCeNa7QcjBqnBYZsjmUUP54plSj4YP5Mp1qPbNxHO-WH4k9oZap4klgNul5E55ViBJWZNoLu8LOq2d_TSzzqQ0e2I14QxkIkQyvh9Rb/s400/2015-10-16+12.11.49.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
This post-it note was glued on my monitor for the last three years. A constant reminder that there were still species described in Xanthopygina that I had not seen. But now this over and I feel much better describing new species that are in or close to <i>Plociopterus.</i> And I have to say, I did get rewarded for insisting to see these species: <strike>one of the two </strike> both species described by Wasmann probably belong in a different subtribe altogether.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-77377203230839714942015-10-04T11:03:00.000-04:002015-10-04T11:03:33.318-04:00Revision and new species of Trigonopselaphus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I recently published the revision of <i>Trigonopselaphus</i>, a genus that includes some of the largest rove beetles known, with sizes ranging from 30-40 mm (trust me, this is huge size for rove beetles). The paper is available <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrcjIwZEpaMU5fd1U/view" target="_blank">here</a>. Previously I had <a href="http://xanthopygina.blogspot.com/2013/02/finally-rove-beetle-post.html" target="_blank">blogged</a> about the loss of the type for one of the species, <i>Trigonopselaphus herculeanus. </i>That species was described by Laporte and was lost in the Smithsonian fire back in the mid 1800s. So, as a good taxonomist that I am, I designated a new type (called a neotype) for that species.<br />
<br />
I also described a new species from Ecuador and Peru, named <i>Trigonopselaphus diplopegus</i>. The epithet refers (of course) to the specific structure of the genitalia. But while I was working on this paper, these beetle heads looked oddly familiar. And finally, a few days ago, I got it: anybody else see the resemblance?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ6FszQxCB0Ut7oMGWKIc1hw7PbjhzTjlVPhkgt3TGjU5Kyez-nqBTAVGE1UI00WaABWoj7cuWG2gWQ8TEf6D-NiK529YcP3znlFAEzLdiFIV2m87zDF06jxD2mx3fsrqjQZCgASHKox18/s1600/Untitled.001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ6FszQxCB0Ut7oMGWKIc1hw7PbjhzTjlVPhkgt3TGjU5Kyez-nqBTAVGE1UI00WaABWoj7cuWG2gWQ8TEf6D-NiK529YcP3znlFAEzLdiFIV2m87zDF06jxD2mx3fsrqjQZCgASHKox18/s320/Untitled.001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image of Blue alien head from here http://www.zazzle.com/blue_alien_head_poster-228206002344045167</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Maybe little blue aliens do live among us after all. </div>
<div>
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</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-16767877914986452182015-08-12T22:46:00.000-04:002015-08-13T08:40:04.684-04:00Beetling in Tennessee and Georgia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Late last Spring, I finally started doing some serious fieldwork around here. It only took me seven years since arriving at UTC. Don't take me wrong, I had wonderful excuses: came in with two grants that required constant attention, had to do a bunch of new lecture preps, and get tenure. But they were excuses, and now I am kicking myself for not starting earlier.<br />
<br />
At the end of my second post-tenure year, I told myself, "why the hell am I in the lab all day?" And just like that I decided I needed to be more out there. Don't take me wrong, my biology origins are in the field and throughout the (student, postdoc) years I have done a lot of fieldwork. But not as a UTC professor. I can spend decades in the lab examining museum collections for my <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/thechatzimanolislab/home/research/beetle-systematics" target="_blank">revisionary studies</a> of rove beetles, without stepping a foot in the field. But this is not a very satisfying life.<br />
<br />
My first ever Biology experience as an undergraduate was helping <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/mbgsystematics/home" target="_blank">a-then-PhD student</a> set up some pitfall traps on the slopes of Mt. Giouhtas in Crete, Greece. My first paid job in Biology was sorting bulk pitfall samples for the <a href="http://www.nhmc.uoc.gr/" target="_blank">Natural History Museum of Crete</a> to the various arthropods subgroups. I was getting paid ~$3 per pitfall trap and I remember going home, closing my eyes, and still seeing bulk arthropod samples. As an undergraduate, I was dreaming of a centrifuge-like device to remove floating Springtails from a pitfall sample. I still have the same dream sometimes. But back to the point of this blog post:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Z7gxhtwOlD-G2MjWtg-FPiEEXrbp2tk85SKwmuwSE2iN7RKklpH9n6PCoM8QLLRriQZKsaXr2F9im0l1bcrHH4fcCsVhuP0TrqMsySzoeM7_LdFxjhxoxP1TiLY3VIbl0emPo3mhozsV/s1600/2015-07-26+16.07.08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Z7gxhtwOlD-G2MjWtg-FPiEEXrbp2tk85SKwmuwSE2iN7RKklpH9n6PCoM8QLLRriQZKsaXr2F9im0l1bcrHH4fcCsVhuP0TrqMsySzoeM7_LdFxjhxoxP1TiLY3VIbl0emPo3mhozsV/s640/2015-07-26+16.07.08.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tennessee River and the Tennessee River Gorge photographed from Lookout Point. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I am lucky to have funding this year from an R. Holberg Grant to combine fieldwork, undergraduate training and outreach activities in Tennessee and Georgia. Our focus are two sites, the <a href="http://lulalake.org/" target="_blank">Lula Lake Land Trust</a> on Lookout Mt., Georgia and the <a href="http://www.trgt.org/#homepage" target="_blank">Tennessee River Gorge</a>, near downtown Chattanooga. I am grateful to both of these land trusts for allowing me to set up long term traps on their properties.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR9QDkHwR0BbuXN5VkjGv6sglRtyUiN3BCeS8rJNkPXe9-3DbmmcCWXV3BywUa4pL879aNG_H4qmsbpobfXSk7OdlM81V4HWv26PNSV1jVA_8yRrtXTafrf5tNuKBruImwU8WBrItb2tkH/s1600/2015-05-26+10.54.23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR9QDkHwR0BbuXN5VkjGv6sglRtyUiN3BCeS8rJNkPXe9-3DbmmcCWXV3BywUa4pL879aNG_H4qmsbpobfXSk7OdlM81V4HWv26PNSV1jVA_8yRrtXTafrf5tNuKBruImwU8WBrItb2tkH/s640/2015-05-26+10.54.23.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo taken at Lula Lake</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In both places we have set up a regiment of traps that include a Malaise trap, a flight intercept trap (FIT), a Lindgren trap, and one or more pitfall traps. We frequently collect leaf litter and and pretty soon we will be doing some black lighting. We pick samples from the traps approximately once every month and then everything (i.e. the beetles) get pinned, labelled and <a href="http://symbiota4.acis.ufl.edu/scan/portal/collections/misc/collprofiles.php?collid=54" target="_blank">databased</a>. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDyymP9BkhP2bfwa_ypg_9N7WSUY1EDbQ5embuzImpkV2LYVv9IeSkf3JTkNoBjSwyWvi3xMdsO0MrIbhUAgrlbA4jUlgapXyeE6XAC_gJmBub9up-KquvQ-_ZNUdsah5nxGewrcXYsh98/s1600/2015-05-07+10.10.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDyymP9BkhP2bfwa_ypg_9N7WSUY1EDbQ5embuzImpkV2LYVv9IeSkf3JTkNoBjSwyWvi3xMdsO0MrIbhUAgrlbA4jUlgapXyeE6XAC_gJmBub9up-KquvQ-_ZNUdsah5nxGewrcXYsh98/s640/2015-05-07+10.10.15.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Malaise traps<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGnQYM0En5qDxLrqaRLY3xondsWuxzGNqSb8C7HyiuYZx-FViT57mVJJj6-momf05cQrKEZMPMnyiwd6s39B7h36hkh5v2YpcyUiyLVbqCUqZMrW7fbweXL5EfsPgIwff73A0nNtkLRMR/s1600/2015-05-07+11.13.30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGnQYM0En5qDxLrqaRLY3xondsWuxzGNqSb8C7HyiuYZx-FViT57mVJJj6-momf05cQrKEZMPMnyiwd6s39B7h36hkh5v2YpcyUiyLVbqCUqZMrW7fbweXL5EfsPgIwff73A0nNtkLRMR/s640/2015-05-07+11.13.30.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And one of our FITs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Of course we have had our fair share of trap accidents (see below) but overall collecting has been a blast.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pktDM3xKUJ6bPxM-YSKTzBkMP4u6eLYd9ZhXm5qFFtJ275tYCIbZjBs8uYv5cL77CMkhZF9c2koaaUfEcSYfahLmm4INTMcoEVXZaMXe0XEtmCD-6d-X_LrQHTjCu09O-rpB-1QU83V5/s1600/2015-06-29+10.56.41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pktDM3xKUJ6bPxM-YSKTzBkMP4u6eLYd9ZhXm5qFFtJ275tYCIbZjBs8uYv5cL77CMkhZF9c2koaaUfEcSYfahLmm4INTMcoEVXZaMXe0XEtmCD-6d-X_LrQHTjCu09O-rpB-1QU83V5/s640/2015-06-29+10.56.41.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I have been really amazed with the diversity of things that is flying, crawling, or otherwise finding our traps. There have been several "first" for me on the traps: two different families of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archostemata" target="_blank">Archostemata</a>, adult male <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phengodidae" target="_blank">Phengodes</a></i> (glow worms), several species of <i><a href="http://bugguide.net/node/view/91001" target="_blank">Palaminus</a></i> (common in the tropics, not so much up here) and of course countless other records of rove beetles.<br />
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We are not quite ready yet to give a full report of our summer collecting (a lot of the specimens are still getting pinned etc) but I am looking forward examining all of these specimens. I have to admit that spending time in the field has given me a new and much needed appreciation/admiration of my "surroundings".<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-49850927941004663062015-07-16T21:28:00.000-04:002015-07-16T21:28:13.187-04:00Sabbatical report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, for better or worse my sabbatical has come to an end and the Fall semester is set to begin in ~ four weeks. Earlier I wrote a blog <a href="http://xanthopygina.blogspot.com/2015/01/sabbatical-projects.html" target="_blank">post</a> about my sabbatical projects and now I have the sobering duty to report on it.<br />
<br />
So here is the abbreviated list of what I wanted to do:<br />
<br />
1<i>. </i>NSF pre proposal submission<br />
2. Revision of <i>Smilax</i><br />
3. #365papers<br />
4. Description of a new genus with multiple new species from South America.<br />
5. Research trip to Copenhagen<br />
6. Review of <i>Phanolinopsis</i><br />
7. Allometry in <i>Triacrus</i>?<br />
8. New species in <i>Scaponopselaphus</i><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
Items 1, 3, 5, 7 and 8 were all completed or are going rather well in the case of #365papers. I am particularly proud of 7 that was a student led project and is going to appear soon on PeerJ, but more on that in a couple of weeks.<br />
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Numbers 2, 4 and 6 are not done and they will not be done for a few more months. There are some complications on these projects (like missing types or more new species than expected, and I am going to write more about these in due time).<br />
<br />
But other things happened that were not listed above.<br />
1. I wrote a taxonomic paper on <i>Triacrus</i> (soon to be published in The Coleopterists Bulletin) in addition to the allometry one.<br />
2. I submitted in collaboration with friends in Copenhagen and Austria a great paper on the phylogenetics of Staphylinini.<br />
3. Our collection database was moved to <a href="http://symbiota4.acis.ufl.edu/scan/portal/collections/misc/collprofiles.php?collid=54" target="_blank">Symbiota</a> and now it is available for anybody to explore. <br />
4. And I also applied and received a generous internal grant from the Provost that allowed to kick start an amazing field program near Chattanooga.<br />
<br />
Speaking of field work it has been a blast and I am really enjoying the opportunity to get to know the local beetles. I do not think I would have been able to initiate something like that without a sabbatical. We have been accumulating thousands of specimens and we do expect amazing new discoveries soon. Now, can I submit this blog post as my official sabbatical report to UTC instead of answering their canned questions?</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-49734862519461109412015-06-21T23:02:00.000-04:002015-06-21T23:05:16.058-04:00The 5 most rewarding papers I have ever written<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://xanthopygina.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-5-most-difficult-papers-i-have.html" target="_blank">Last week</a> I wrote about the five most difficult papers I have ever written or had a hard time publishing. So today I am writing about the five "easiest"/rewarding papers I have written. I should be quick to point out that I am not talking here about short notes or small synonymy papers but rather about papers that somehow seem to flow easy, or the writing process was a breeze, or the end result was very rewarding... just read below.<br />
<br />
Papers are in chronological orders.<br />
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1. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrMmZlOGQ1MDktZDhlYi00NWIzLTgwYWUtZTAxZWU5MzdmMGYx/view" target="_blank">Chatzimanolis, S., M. S. Engel, and A. Trichas. 2002. Taxonomic changes for the Aegean species of the Mediterranean darkling beetle genus <i>Dendarus</i> (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 75(4): 259–267.</a><br />
<br />
I still remember with glee the writing process for this paper. I had several new taxa of <i>Dendarus</i> to describe and several subspecies to raise to the species level before submitting the phylogeny paper and I was really not sure how to proceed [this was my first "new species" paper]. I was sitting in my office around 11am and Michael Engel stopped by to say hi. I told him that I was lost and he was like, "well, let's do this". We were writing for about 8 hours straight, we went for dinner, and then came back and finish the paper! To this day, this was one the best writing days ever. As a side note, Michael would often abandon his day plans to help students whenever needed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhspHi5SKEfxnsRlJQqQ8MMFYJIFZQ-vEXnFGKVxu34cz372ri5aplpum3MkWF3MLS4Lakj3DI7u6rnwEW5mzBvmHuSzdR_1kFb5j_hLRZojVfU8TnYtC1Rj97MGGCPMDHXxoxU0ZweZy-d/s1600/nordphyl_pdf__page_2_of_14_.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhspHi5SKEfxnsRlJQqQ8MMFYJIFZQ-vEXnFGKVxu34cz372ri5aplpum3MkWF3MLS4Lakj3DI7u6rnwEW5mzBvmHuSzdR_1kFb5j_hLRZojVfU8TnYtC1Rj97MGGCPMDHXxoxU0ZweZy-d/s200/nordphyl_pdf__page_2_of_14_.png" width="175" /></a>2. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrODI0ZjI1ZGQtY2VjZC00YzA0LTk4YjYtMzA1NGI1ZDIwMWFl/view" target="_blank">Chatzimanolis, S. 2005. Phylogeny of the neotropical rove beetle genus <i>Nordus</i> (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) with a special reference to the evolution of coloration and secondary sexual characters. Systematic Entomology 30: 267–280</a>.<br />
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I was expecting this paper to have a hard time in review. Not sure why - and don't get me wrong, I think this is a pretty good paper. I just wasn't expecting to hear back from the editor within nine (9!) days after I submitted the paper telling me that both reviewed had positive things to say about it. I think nine days is still the fastest (positive) response time I had from a journal and that beats all the ones claiming fast response times (e.g. Zootaxa, Zonkeys, Biodiversity Data Journal and PeerJ). I don't remember much about writing this paper but it was part of my PhD thesis, so it was written over a period of a couple of years.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjU5Zyc5oK6EHplyW2m_WmDmrQOfb-DCkIweOWp4wzkNylhx8w-L03A0xRQPLzMWtoypXWQVX-iM3w_Ap-adpm-xKlnZpgJMdoblXRlxLtiBbFOnEexdecKjzntl8LiLrhEnDhG_ErSS0c/s1600/philothalpus_pdf__page_4_of_57_.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjU5Zyc5oK6EHplyW2m_WmDmrQOfb-DCkIweOWp4wzkNylhx8w-L03A0xRQPLzMWtoypXWQVX-iM3w_Ap-adpm-xKlnZpgJMdoblXRlxLtiBbFOnEexdecKjzntl8LiLrhEnDhG_ErSS0c/s200/philothalpus_pdf__page_4_of_57_.png" width="119" /></a>3.<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrYjljYjQ5NDMtNDAwOC00MDQ3LWE0NTktOGRjMjg3ZDBhMjNm/view" target="_blank"> Chatzimanolis, S., and J. S. Ashe. 2005. Revision and phylogeny of the neotropical genus <i>Philothalpus</i> (=<i>Eugastus</i> Sharp and <i>Allostenopsis</i> Bernhauer) (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Xanthopygina). Insect Systematics and Evolution 36: 63–119</a>.<br />
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I really miss Steve and I really miss writing papers with him. Steve passed away in 2005 and for a couple of years I have been trying to write a blog post about him, but it is still very hard to do so. Steve was my major professor and (by his request) he did not take automatic authorship in my PhD papers. The few papers we coauthored together are the ones we really worked together. And boy, Steve and I had an awesome co-author relationship: we divided and conquer, splitting the manuscript tasks and we produced (amazing, if I may) papers fast and efficiently. In this paper we described 17 or so new species of <i>Philothalpus </i> and the paper took just a few months to complete (I am not including here the prep work to figure out the new species).<br />
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4.<a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrOHNSbWJJLWZCREk/edit" target="_blank"> Chatzimanolis, S. 2012. <i>Zackfalinus</i>, a new genus of Xanthopygina (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylinini) with description of 20 new species. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 80(4): 261-308. </a><br />
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This was not an easy paper to write (20 new species) but it was a very rewarding experience: publishing color photographs for every single species and really taking the time to illustrate/photograph every single important character. Also, I think this paper more than any other (and for reasons that I do not really understand) established me as an expert in Xanthopygina among my fellow rove beetle systematists. Now, the paper took a year plus from the time it was submitted to publication, but that's not really important here.<br />
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5. <a href="http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=3345&display_type=list&element_type=11" target="_blank">Chatzimanolis, S. 2014. Darwin's legacy to rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae): a new genus and a new species including materials collected on the Beagle's voyage. Zookeys 379: 29-41.</a><br />
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I have written before <a href="http://xanthopygina.blogspot.com/2014/02/working-with-darwin-specimen.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://xanthopygina.blogspot.com/2014/02/rediscovering-darwin-specimen.html" target="_blank">here</a> about how I ended up describing a taxon collected by Darwin. The paper was really straightforward to write (a simple new genus and new species description) with a bit of sauce (what other rove beetles had been collected by Darwin) but it got a lot of media attention (a summary of media mentions is given <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/thechatzimanolislab/home/publications/in-the-news" target="_blank">here</a>). Still, that's not the reason why this paper is here. It's here because I ended up chatting via email with David Sedaris about it (the species epithet is in his honor) and that was enough to make my day/year/decade. <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-44208137951146062802015-06-12T21:11:00.003-04:002015-06-13T11:53:43.706-04:00The 5 most difficult papers I have written so far <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I recently passed the 50 published papers mark (sure, no such benchmark exist, it just feels nice) and looking back at the list I saw some papers that were horrible to write (or the peer review process was awful) and others that were really a piece of cake. Of course, for the majority of the papers the process was fun but… normal. Anyway, I decided to write a couple of posts, first this one about the 5 most difficult papers I have written and another one later about the 5 easier ones.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">First of all, some data: the complete list of my papers can be found <a href="http://www.staphylinini.org/home/publications" target="_blank">here</a> (pdfs included). In the old days of graduate school/postdoc, I used to write my papers using Word. Nowadays, I am using Scrivener and Pages (or Google Docs if I have coauthors). Before I got tenure I was trying to publish my papers in the “best” possible journals. After tenure, I have focused my attention more to open access journals or journals that do not have byzantine instructions to authors (with some exceptions, I am looking at you <a href="http://www.coleoptera.at/instructions_for_authors.php" target="_blank">Koleopterologische Rundschau</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So here is the list of the 5 most difficult papers (in chronological order) to write/take through peer review. As a side note, this list include only papers that I wrote as the first author. Some other papers where I was the second/middle/last author had troubled histories but I do not think it is my place to discuss those.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrMWRkMDRkMmEtNDUzOS00NDFmLTlhMGYtMTIwOGE2Y2RlYmI0/view" target="_blank">Chatzimanolis, S. 2003. Natural history and behavior of <i>Nordus fungicola </i>(Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 96(3): 225–230.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDIRhqB0R1p_c3rldpuw9pyglEa8m_Er6oviZXPiXRik68msoYrEJqbV_AwZ8yNz2r_A8nu-6fv5rlu92DLcIEOtbD_sichCVYIW8DPxjyDiVHvS3pXcfXsufxlUlvF_GTVz4iD5gVqLpe/s1600/nordus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDIRhqB0R1p_c3rldpuw9pyglEa8m_Er6oviZXPiXRik68msoYrEJqbV_AwZ8yNz2r_A8nu-6fv5rlu92DLcIEOtbD_sichCVYIW8DPxjyDiVHvS3pXcfXsufxlUlvF_GTVz4iD5gVqLpe/s200/nordus.jpg" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Nordus fungicola</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I think I lost count how many times this paper was rejected before it found its home in the Annals. The whole process was very discouraging to a young graduate student and there were moments I thought this paper will never get published. But the core of my PhD committee (“the readers” the late Steve Ashe, Michael Engel and Mich (Charles Michener) were very supportive and really helped along. I think some edits by Michael after a few rejections really helped that paper. I believe I was trying to get this out during the second or third year of graduate school, so I really did not know how to write a paper. Also, this was a descriptive natural history paper, and behavioral ecologists that were reviewing this paper really did not like it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2.<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrMzVkYTI3MTgtNmM5Mi00NmJkLWI4NjctOTE5NzFhYjEwMDM1/view" target="_blank"> Chatzimanolis, S., A. Trichas, S. Giokas, and M. Mylonas. 2003. Phylogenetic analysis and biogeography of the Aegean taxa of the genus <i>Dendarus</i> (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Insect Systematics and Evolution 34(3): 295–312.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFMQQA6a1qHOo8hlaO7Q7ZVWEXbNW9p5KAt-E29a6PixhEZUHcbTL8RIIVkr8pbIQbV3lgQsZ2gt7hdk4IKQrwDopYo3oGeGguGMqOw-aDQe0_85Ilrmiv80Gb0IwfPGPi7ZoWcOpoPmIY/s1600/92189_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFMQQA6a1qHOo8hlaO7Q7ZVWEXbNW9p5KAt-E29a6PixhEZUHcbTL8RIIVkr8pbIQbV3lgQsZ2gt7hdk4IKQrwDopYo3oGeGguGMqOw-aDQe0_85Ilrmiv80Gb0IwfPGPi7ZoWcOpoPmIY/s320/92189_1.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dendarus maximus </i>Photo by A. Trichas</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">[<i>I guess 2003 was a bad year?</i>] </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This paper also went through a few rejections before it got published. The problem with this paper was that it started as my undergraduate thesis at the University of Crete. Steve Ashe was really pushing me to send it out even though it was not what I was doing in Kansas (also the paper is on darkling beetles while my PhD was on rove beetles). I started working on this paper the second year I was in Kansas, and by that time I realized that my undergraduate phylogenetic analyses were crap. So I had to borrow many specimens from my undergraduate home (the <a href="http://www.nhmc.uoc.gr/en" target="_blank">Natural History Museum of Crete</a>), recode many characters and redo the analyses. The whole process took more time than I want to admit. I first submitted it for review to the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, where the then editor (long retired now) sent it to just one reviewer who provided a three sentences review… The first sentence was that the phylogenetic part was crap, the second that the biogeographic part was crap and the third that the journal should not publish undergraduate work. How is that for constructive criticism to a graduate student? The next time I sent the paper for review I got smarter and removed any indication that this paper had started as an undergraduate thesis. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">3. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrZWJlNzQ4NmUtMDAzMC00YjI4LTg1MjEtZTg1MDJlZTQwZDRm/view" target="_blank">Chatzimanolis, S. 2004. A revision of the neotropical genus <i>Nordus</i> (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). Entomologische Abhandlungen 62(1): 3–64</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIVQVne0WaDnM88dzWdbQx3ehqa_tmkIod3ua1YvdyrSV1Ucfx6injbXyL0IP4_kLOJYW2JvDbRxi2CDH_LpinFESW2qyBLLxF0lAYxY6OjCRrvchxwYtpYDVeM-tcSz2cU0fiKg8REl8P/s1600/cover_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIVQVne0WaDnM88dzWdbQx3ehqa_tmkIod3ua1YvdyrSV1Ucfx6injbXyL0IP4_kLOJYW2JvDbRxi2CDH_LpinFESW2qyBLLxF0lAYxY6OjCRrvchxwYtpYDVeM-tcSz2cU0fiKg8REl8P/s200/cover_small.jpg" width="145" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The main paper that came out of my PhD, so I guess it really deserves to be up here. It just took forever to put that paper together and it was the first time I was putting together a major monograph as the first author. I went through the 99% rule (when you think you have done 99% of the work, but in reality you still have 99% to do) multiple times. The reviews were fine but the editor made me write a SECOND key for 38 species because he did not like my using of coloration and male-specific characters (whatever, I still hold a grudge, Klaus). That’s the closest I have been to losing it during a manuscript revision process. But to be fair, besides Steve Ashe, I do not think that anybody has ever read this paper as carefully as that editor. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">4. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkrZWQ5NzZjZWItMjg5OC00ZTg0LWE0YTItZTlhNmVmN2RmZGI1/view" target="_blank">Chatzimanolis, S and M. S. Caterino. 2007. Limited phylogeographic structure in a flightless ground beetle, <i>Calathus ruficollis</i>, in southern California. Diversity and Distributions 13: 498–509.</a></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_70TDUADiyoNTAOKd5NkeryqGrSt-aU2z6GVyHE0hr6WK8G7cgIHmqFPbjnIxquETintXHzarXJYfSrr1m_xGlgwVpwLr4ODJ-5YGj6f6YcaiwVpKXMLZ1TqpRHGCU1-riHXyXU4zkrWe/s1600/calathus+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_70TDUADiyoNTAOKd5NkeryqGrSt-aU2z6GVyHE0hr6WK8G7cgIHmqFPbjnIxquETintXHzarXJYfSrr1m_xGlgwVpwLr4ODJ-5YGj6f6YcaiwVpKXMLZ1TqpRHGCU1-riHXyXU4zkrWe/s200/calathus+copy.jpg" width="151" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lot's of resolution, right?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My first paper as a postdoc. It took a long time to become familiar with the phylogeography field before I could write this paper. Also, this is a paper where we reported more or less negative results (no phylogeographic structure - certainly not what we wanted to see). More troublesome was the fact that I had not done any science writing for more than a year. You would not know that by looking at my publication list, but as a (then) Greek citizen I had to do compulsory military service after I finished my PhD and before I started my postdoc (from Sept. 2004 to Sept. 2005). I had worked very hard as a graduate student to make sure that there would be no years without any publications, but when I started in Santa Barbara my writing skills were rusty to say the least. Mike Caterino had to teach me almost from scratch how to produce a sound scientific paragraph. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">5. <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2uk6nTM_UkraHRveHVsLVdKNTQ/edit?pli=1" target="_blank">Chatzimanolis, S., D. Grimaldi, M.S. Engel and N. Frazer. 2012. <i>Leehermania prorova</i>, the earliest staphyliniform beetle, from the Late Triassic of Virginia (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). American Museum Novitates 3761: 1-28.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I started writing this paper in 2009. I could not make one my coauthors respond to me requests/comments for almost a year due to some issues. This paper was in prep stage for almost three years. On top of that, when the paper came out (it got glowing peer reviews) I realized that some people really did not (and still do not) like the paper. Long story short, some folks think that what we described as a rove beetle is not rove beetle. I will not go into the details here (perhaps another blog post) and I still stand by this paper, but those issues almost caused permanent damage to some long collaboration/interactions with colleagues. </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-55710273619670755352015-05-10T17:28:00.000-04:002015-05-11T20:51:50.020-04:00Cannibalistic behavior in Ontholestes cingulatus? [Updated]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghjySanCysgT9ZLbGgUXTmKZiQkNCLIYf3ZrhY-27-OtfMth1LNjz1jTbMXduUTDEx3Dw9aURUIqCWO7i9GTe84NjsT6Tn73jQczzrCv_5BpBIh66Nz3MwKaoSPij59lGahp5AtSek-Fak/s1600/Ontholestes_murinus_Kraatzv2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghjySanCysgT9ZLbGgUXTmKZiQkNCLIYf3ZrhY-27-OtfMth1LNjz1jTbMXduUTDEx3Dw9aURUIqCWO7i9GTe84NjsT6Tn73jQczzrCv_5BpBIh66Nz3MwKaoSPij59lGahp5AtSek-Fak/s640/Ontholestes_murinus_Kraatzv2.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
Few days ago a colleague brought six live specimens of <i>Ontholestes <strike>murinus </strike> cingulatus </i>in a jar. I could not deal with them at that time so I let them be. The next morning there were five beetles in the jar and bits and pieces of a sixth one. I quick search on Google did not bring any hits on cannibalism in this species, but I would guess that this is probably rather common for carnivorous species trapped in a small space with no other food resources.<br />
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<strike>On an unrelated note, I could not find any records of <i>O. murinus</i> (which has its native range in Europe) from TN, at least not in iDigBio, GBIF or Bugguide.net but of course that does not say much. So perhaps this is a first record for the state.</strike><i style="text-decoration: line-through;"> </i>There are records for TN for <i>O. cingulatus</i> from the Smokies, but not from southern TN.<br />
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<u>Update</u>: I should point out that the photograph on the right is from a historical specimen (as evident by the "green rust" near the pin).<br />
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<u>Update 2</u>: Well, crap. I was wrong, It is not <i>O. murinus</i> but rather <i>O. cingulatus. </i>I was fooled by the dirt on the specimens and did not notice that their legs were bicolored instead of solid black as in the picture....<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-77199030720031085682015-05-06T11:13:00.001-04:002015-05-06T11:13:41.975-04:00Unsolicited advice to administrators<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here are my two cents: telling a (bright, charismatic) student in public that he/she is the best thing that will happen to this University in the years to come, makes the rest of the student body and (I would guess) the faculty feel like crap.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171630808866543387.post-29863788768732417442015-04-15T02:00:00.000-04:002015-04-15T02:00:15.550-04:00New species, new characters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK65iijKcsQy4jcEo_7g70s0cPByAfc3lAVY7HtjfTrWVIi7orwoDE2S2ECpNBQEwugbvHV9Grie2YJosyxYAG9P6RV20IwA4fZDf6ig17JUVHthQCp7Gp0T80VtJbnw-0ttZ4A6tnze8O/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK65iijKcsQy4jcEo_7g70s0cPByAfc3lAVY7HtjfTrWVIi7orwoDE2S2ECpNBQEwugbvHV9Grie2YJosyxYAG9P6RV20IwA4fZDf6ig17JUVHthQCp7Gp0T80VtJbnw-0ttZ4A6tnze8O/s1600/3.jpg" height="400" width="348" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Scaponopselaphus diaspartos</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I <a href="http://biodiversitydatajournal.com/articles.php?id=4735" target="_blank">recently</a> described a new species of Xanthopygina rove beetles in the <a href="http://biodiversitydatajournal.com/" target="_blank">Biodiversity Data Journal</a> (I will write another post later to talk about that experience). The species is <i>Scaponopselaphus diaspartos</i> from Colombia. This is the second species in the genus, the first (<i>S. mutator</i>) described by Sharp long time ago (1876) in the genus <i>Trigonopselaphus</i>. The genus <i>Scaponopselaphus</i> was erected by Scheerpeltz (1972) when he realized that <i>mutator</i> was not similar to the other species in <i>Trigonopselaphus</i>.<br />
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The genus is rather easy to tell apart from other Xanthopygina rove beetles thanks to a unique morphological feature: the first tarsomere of the mesotarsus in males has spatulate setae. This is unheard of in other genera of Xanthopygines and that makes it a nice and easy diagnostic feature.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzBYCiqIZegZkVvXeOLuEdNloMhCxbBK6DmGZ1RwcvYwKY5HYHhFjfZOdGaB287X0PUNcaibhhW-RG-fOEewpQUn6lmE-FevEzYXot7dqhGOxMk3abMQ3fid_S9kIAOC2mdxroP5szEzj6/s1600/17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzBYCiqIZegZkVvXeOLuEdNloMhCxbBK6DmGZ1RwcvYwKY5HYHhFjfZOdGaB287X0PUNcaibhhW-RG-fOEewpQUn6lmE-FevEzYXot7dqhGOxMk3abMQ3fid_S9kIAOC2mdxroP5szEzj6/s1600/17.jpg" height="361" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mesotibia and mesotarsus of <i>S. mutator</i>. Arrow indicates the location of the<br />
spatulate tibia on mesotarsus. Scale bar = 0.68 mm. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Spatulate setae are very common on the protarsi of rove beetles, but not so much on meso- or metatarsi. <br />
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The epithet of the new species (<i>diaspartos</i>) means "scattered" and refers to the distribution of the peg setae on the ventral side of the paramere. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0