Cladistic analysis based on internal male female reproductive characters and external characters is used to group exemplar taxa in the carabid tribe Platynini. A classification, key to genera in North America, and a key to species groups of Agonum in North America north of Mexico are presented. The Agonum extensicolle species group comprises seven species: A. cyanope (Bates); A. extimum Liebherr, n.sp.; A. parextimum Liebherr n. sp.; A. texanum (LeConte); A. extensicolle (Say); A. decorum (Say); A. elongatulum (Dejean). Analyses of infraspecific geographic variation show: 1 ) A. texanum is biometrically uniform over the center of its range whereas individuals from outlying populations deviate in several measurements; 2) A. extensicolle is a variable species, with clinal changes in biometry and color ocurring across its range; 3) A. decorum is polymorphic for color and setation, and clinally variable in biometric characters. Across the group, flight apparatus development is inversely correlated with the amount of genetic heterogeneity measured by starch-gel electrophoresis. Electrophoretic, qualitative morphological, and biometric data are used to estimate phylogenetic relationships in the A. extensicolle group. The electrophoretic and morphological data produce compatible estimates of phylogeny. The biometric data are incompatible with the other data and are judged less useful for estimation of affinities. Distributional data are utilized in conjunction with the proposed phylogeny to investigate speciation events in the group. The principal mechanism is allopatric speciation brought about by vicariance across the lowlands of southeastern Arizona; the Cochise filter barrier. A second pattern involves a peripheral isolate of Antillean stock diverging on the Florida peninsula. A third speciation event involves a habitat shift in which a lowland desert form produced a species which now inhabits the pine-oak zone in the Sierra Madre Occidental. The area-taxon relationships are compared with those in other groups. Based on an electrophoretic clock calibrated using data from Drosophila, the timing of the initial speciation event in the group is estimated at 6-12 million years b.p. Other speciation events occurred throughout the Pliocene and Pleistocene, with the most recent divergence of A. decorum and A. elongatulum estimated at less than two million years b.p.

This publication provides a comprehensive review of the nomenclature and distribution of the Geadephaga of America, north of Mexico. Overall 2439 valid species-group taxa in 208 genera are catalogued along with their synonyms. Besides the usual information pertaining to author(s), date and page of publication, the type locality, location of name-bearing type, first reference establishing each synonym, and etymology for many patronymic names are provided for species-group names. Genus-group names are listed with the author(s), year of publication, page citation, type species with manner of fixation and etymology for most. The geographical distributions of all species-group taxa are briefly summarized and their state and province records are indicated. About 2500 references are listed with publication dates for many in order to assess priority of names.Several new nomenclatural acts are introduced including one new genus-group taxon, one new replacement name, three changes in precedence, five new genus-group synonymies, 65 new species-group synonymies, one new species-group status, and 12 new combinations.The work includes also a discussion of the notable private North American carabid collections, a synopsis of all extant world geadephagan tribes and subfamilies, a brief faunistic assessment of the fauna, a list of North American fossil Geadephaga, a list of North American Geadephaga larvae described or illustrated, a list of species described from specimens mislabeled as from North America, and a list of unavailable names listed from North America.

This new edition of a foundational text presents a contemporary review of cladistics, as applied to biological classification. It provides a comprehensive account of the past fifty years of discussion on the relationship between classification, phylogeny and evolution. It covers cladistics in the era of molecular data, detailing new advances and ideas that have emerged over the last twenty-five years. Written in an accessible style by internationally renowned authors in the field, readers are straightforwardly guided through fundamental principles and terminology. Simple worked examples and easy-to-understand diagrams also help readers navigate complex problems that have perplexed scientists for centuries. This practical guide is an essential addition for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in taxonomy, systematics, comparative biology, evolutionary biology and molecular biology.

A thorough update of Arnett's The Beetles of the United States, American Beetles, Volumes I and II cover the genera of beetles that occur in Alaska, Canada, and the contiguous United States. Built on the foundation of the original work and almost completely rewritten with contributions from more than 60 coleopterists, these volumes describe each fa

Reflects on insect pests' evolution by evaluating existing theories, documenting case studies of diverse pest species and presenting new concepts regarding the problem of variation and implications for pest management strategies. Leading experts offer contributions which deal with variations in genetic markers and ecologically meaningful traits as well as future perspectives in entomology and biosystematics.

"Taxa comprising the Anchomenus clade within the carabid tribe Platynini, subtribe Platyni, possess the synapomorphy of a female spermatheca with a basal reservoir and a long apical filament. As presently constituted, this clade comprises 29 species arrayed in four genera; the monotypic Tetraleucus Casey in eastern North America, the Holarctic Anchomenus Bonelli with 10 species, the Holarctic Sericoda Kirby with 7 species, and the Mexican Elliptoleus Bates with 11 species. Seven species are newly described; Anchomenus capensis, n. sp. from Baja California Sur, Sericoda montana, n. sp. from Cuba, Elliptoleus corvus, n. sp. from México state, Elliptoleus zapotecorum, n. sp. from Oaxaca, Elliptoleus whiteheadi, n. sp. from Guerrero, Elliptoleus balli, n. sp. from Jalisco and Michoacan, and Elliptoleus tequilae, n. sp. from Jalisco. New combinations proposed include: Tetraleucus picticornis Newman (removed from Agonum Bonelli); Anchomenus virescens Motschulsky (removed from Chlaeniomimus Semenow, 1889, as that generic name is a new synonym of Anchomenus Bonelli, 1810); Anchomenus yukihikoi (removed from Agonum (Nipponanchus) Habu, 1978, as that subgeneric name is a new synonym of Anchomenus); Sericoda ceylonica (removed from Agonum Bonelli), and Sericoda lissoptera (removed from Anchomenus Bonelli). Species-level names placed into synonymy within Anchomenus, followed by their respective senior synonyms, include: Dohrni diana Sahlberg = dohrnii Fairmaire, discophorus Chaudoir = dorsalis Pontoppidan, cyaneus asturicus Heinz = cyaneus Dejean, gracilicollis Jakowleff = virescens Motschulsky. Batenus? borealis Motschulsky is removed from synonymy under Sericoda bogemannii, and is recognized as a junior synonym of Agonum consimile Gyllenhal. Lectotypes are designated for Anchomenus dohrnii diana Sahlberg, Anchomenus virescens Motschulsky, A. leucopus Bates, A. funebris LeConte, Sericoda lissoptera Chaudoir, S. ceylonica Motschulsky, Elliptoleus acutesculptus Bates, E. olisthopoides Bates, E. curtulus Bates, E. vixstriatus Bates, E. luteipes Csiki, and E. crepericornis Bates. A cladistic hypothesis of the phylogenetic relationships among the species is formulated based on 65 potential synapomorphies of adults, represented by 54 characters. The genera Sericoda and Elliptoleus are hypothesized as sister genera, with Anchomenus their sister group. Tetraleucus is the outgroup for the rest of the clade. The amount of character evolution is heterogeneous across the clade, with significantly less anagenetic change per internode of the cladogram within Elliptoleus compared to its sister group Sericoda. Elliptoleus species possess limited powers of dispersal and exhibit very restricted geographic ranges, whereas Sericoda species readily fly and possess some of the largest geographic ranges observed within Carabidae. Thus, relatively less anagenetic change is associated with speciation in the less vagile more endemic Elliptoleus, and extensive anagenesis occurs during the history of the vagile, widespread Sericoda species. First-instar larvae of 6 of the 29 species are described, and a cladistic hypothesis of relationships based on six larval characters is proposed. This hypothesis supports the monophyly of the sister genera Sericoda and Elliptoleus, but is otherwise discordant with the cladistic hypothesis based on adult characters. Autapomorphies of the first-instar larvae of the six taxa are listed in order to facilitate comparison of derived states in newly discovered larvae. The biogeographic patterns within the individual genera are analyzed using cladistic biogeographic methodology. The entire clade is hypothesized as Eocene in age, with the basal taxon Tetraleucus isolated from Old World progenitors of the rest of the clade due to amphi-Atlantic vicariance. Anchomenus is divisable into two clades; four New World species distributed along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California, and six Old World species distributed from Japan to western Europe. Beringian vicariance in the Miocene is the likely cause of this pattern. Sericoda species exhibit a collective Holarctic distribution, with one species found in montane regions of southeast Asia and Indomalaya. Beringian vicariance has occurred at least twice during the diversification of the seven species leading to divergence of: (1) S. ceylonica from its sister group of S. bembidioides plus S. montana, (2) the sister species S. bogemannii and S. obsoleta. These vicariant events are hypothesized to have occurred in late Miocene or Pliocene times. Elliptoleus was probably isolated in México from its more northern sister group, Sericoda, in late Miocene. Cladistic biogeographic analysis allows derivation of a fundamental area cladogram for the temperate humid montane forest habitats occupied by Elliptoleus species. The Sierra Madre Occidental is hypothesized as the sister area of the Transvolcanic Sierra plus the more southerly Sierra de Oaxaca and Sierra Madre del Sur. Biotic connections of the Transvolcanic Sierra with montane regions to the south are via a filter bridge along the Atlantic versant, running from Pico de Orizaba to the Sierra de Oaxaca. Divergence events at the species level are geographically associated with river valleys, or regions of geological uplift near major volcanoes"--P. 5.