Christine L. Lambkin

Queensland Museum · Department of Entomology

Members of the megadiverse insect order Diptera (flies) have successfully colonized all continents and nearly all habitats. There are more than 154 000 described fly species, representing 10–12$0 of animal species. Elucidating the phylogenetic relationships of such a large component of global biodiversity is challenging, but significant advances ha...

Many surveys around the world have examined the altitudinal or seasonal variation of invertebrate biodiversity but few have concentrated on the fly fauna because of difficulties with the amount of material and identification. We examined family-level assemblages of flies collected in Malaise traps from rainforest at Lamington National Park, south-e...

Partitioned Bremer support (PBS) is a valuable means of assessing congruence in combined data sets, but some aspects require clarification. When more than one equally parsimonious tree is found during the constrained search for trees lacking the node of interest, averaging PBS for each data set across these trees can conceal conflict, and PBS shoul...

Almost half of the 4547 described bee flies (Bombyliidae: Diptera) in the world belong to the subfamily Anthracinae, with most of the world's diversity in three cosmopolitan tribes: Villini, Anthracini and Exoprosopini. Molecular data from 815 base pairs of 16S mitochondrial DNA and morphological characters from species-groups of these tribes in Au...

Almost half of the 4,822 described bee flies in the world belong to the subfamily Anthracinae with most of the diversity found in three cosmopolitan tribes: Villini, Anthracini, and Exoprosopini. The Australian Exoprosopini previously contained three genera, Ligyra Newman, Pseudopenthes Roberts and Exoprosopa Macquart. Pseudopenthes is an Australia...

The Taenogera genus group represents several genera of agapophytine stiletto flies in the Australian Region, although it has been a poorly defined and with fluctuating membership since inception. Based on recent phylogenetic studies the group is redefined and member genera diagnosed. New species are described in Taenogera Kröber (Ta. memnonia Winte...

The Entomological Society of Queensland has always been inclusive, with women encompassing fifteen Presidents and currently almost a third of its members. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the many women over the years who have allowed this Society to prosper from outside the limelight of Presidency. Those that have sat on Council; been Tr...

Why do we collect insects? Usually, to increase our knowledge of what they are, where they live, and what they do. The history of insect collecting in Queensland is presented, from Banks and Solander in 1770 to iNaturalist in 2023. We discuss specimens collected by amateur and professional entomologists, dealers, and museums, and the use of novel c...

Report to Department of Environment and Science, Queensland Government: Brisbane on Bushfire Recovery in Lamington and Main Range National Parks following Bushfires in 2019 and 2020.

Report to Department of Environment and Science, Queensland Government regarding recovery in Bulburin National Park following bushfires in 2020.

Assessment of effect of bushfires on threatened species in Gondwana Rainforests following 2019-2020 bushfires.

The highly distinctive stiletto fly genus Medomega Winterton & Lambkin, 2012 is revised. Thirteen new species are described including: Medomega badius sp. n.; M. blothrocybe sp. n.; M. ephydropsis sp. n.; M. helvolifrons sp. n.; M. irwini sp. n.; M. karijini sp. n.; M. megasathe sp. n.; M. pilofrons sp. n.; M. prolixa sp. n.; M. propepilofrons sp....

The bushfires of late 2019 to early 2020 had extensive ecological impacts across Australia. The most fire-impacted threatened species in Queensland were prioritised for recovery efforts through an expert evaluation process led by the Department of Environment and Science (DES), in collaboration with the Australian Government’s ‘Wildlife and Threate...

The species- and genus-level taxonomy of Australian species assigned to Opilo Latreille is assessed and revised in the context of a morphological species concept. Australian species are deemed not congeneric with Opilo mollis (Linnaeus), the type species of Opilo Latreille. Species are grouped into genera by degree of difference observed in states...

Bombyliidae is a very species‐rich and widespread family of parasitoid flies with more than 250 genera classified into 17 extant subfamilies. However, little is known about their evolutionary history or how their present‐day diversity was shaped. Transcriptomes of 15 species and anchored hybrid enrichment (AHE) sequence captures of 86 species, repr...

Exoprosopini is one of the largest tribes of bee flies (Diptera: Bombyliidae). It is divided into 21 genera of which only Ligyra has a cosmopolitan distribution. The genus Ligyra s.l. has 111 species, 20 of which have been recorded in the New World. A cladistic analysis was implemented with aims to establish the phylogenetic relationships of Ligyra...

A photograph of organisms collected by Shawn Depper in a night-time plankton sample from near Orpheus Island were sent to the Discovery Centre at Queensland Museum (QM) in September 2019 for identification. They triggered a memory of beautiful images and an amazing video taken at sunset in Pottsville NSW by Carolin Jericho from way back in May 201...

Lampyridae Luciolinae

Presentation to the Notes & Exhibits ESQ meeting December 2018 published in Entomological Society of Queensland News Bulletin Jan/Feb 2019.

Matrix, Nexus file, morphology data with polymorphisms, 158 taxa, maximum parsimony, consensus tree

Tree file, molecular data, 25 taxa, maximum parsimony, equate, most parsimonious tree

Matrix, Nexus file, morphological and molecular data, 25 taxa, maximum parsimony, equate

Matrix, Nexus file, morphological and molecular data, 25 taxa, Baysian Inference

Matrix, Nexus file, molecular data for 25 taxa, maximum parsimony, equate

Matrix, Nexus file, molecular data for 25 taxa, Baysian Inference

Matrix, Nexus file, morphological data for 158 taxa with molecular data for 25 taxa, maximum parsimony, equate

Matrix, Nexus file, morphology data with NO polymorphisms, 158 taxa, Baysian Inference, majority rule consensus tree

Matrix, Nexus file, morphology data with NO polymorphisms, 158 taxa, maximum parsimony, consensus tree

Tree file, molecular data, 25 taxa, Baysian Inference, consensus tree

Tree file, morphological and molecular data, 25 taxa, maximum parsimony, equate, most parsimonious tree

Tree files, morphological data for 158 taxa and molecular data for 25 taxa, maximum parsimony, equate, 593 most parsimonious trees

Tree file, morphological and molecular data, 25 taxa, Baysian Inference, majority rule consensus tree

Tree file, morphological data for 158 taxa and molecular data for 25 taxa, Baysian Inference majority rule consensus tree

Matrix, Nexus file, morphological data for 158 taxa and molecular data for 25 taxa, Baysian Inference

The synchronous firefly genus Pteroptyx Olivier is reassessed from morphological, molecular, and habitat perspectives in Malaysia, and includes some reliably associated females described from morphological features and internal female reproductive anatomy. Phylogenetic analyses using combined morphological and molecular data (where available) for 1...

The Quinkan Bush Blitz generated 1545 registered insect specimens for QM, including dragonflies and damselflies, butterflies, flies, cicadas, ants, and moths. Material was collected from 34 sites in six properties including Bonnyglen, Crocodile, Kings Plains, Springvale, Welcome and West Quinkan. Many collecting methods were used including day hand...

A new Biodiversity Exhibition for Queensland Museum

The Olkola lands of Cape York were surveyed for selected groups of insects using a wide variety of collecting techniques. Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata), butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperiodea and Papilionoidea), ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and flies (Diptera) from the lower Brachycera (Asilidae, Bombyliidae, Therevidae, Tabanidae) and hov...

Sclerotia Ballantyne gen. nov. is established for seven species. Sclerotia aquatilis (Thancharoen, 2007), Scl. brahmina (Bourgeois, 1890), Scl. carinata (Gorham, 1880), Scl. flavida (Hope, 1845), Scl. seriata (Olivier, 1891), and Scl. substri-ata (Gorham, 1880) are transferred from Luciola Laporte. Sclerotia fui sp. nov. from China is described as...

The therevoid clade represents a group of four families (Apsilocephali-dae, Evocoidae, Scenopinidae and Therevidae) of lower brachyceran Diptera in the superfamily Asiloidea. The largest of these families is that of the stiletto flies (There-vidae). A large-scale (i.e. supermatrix) phylogeny of Therevidae is presented based on DNA sequence data fro...

344 species of insect were collected in 2014 at Carnarvon Station with 102 fly, 151 ant, 4 cicada, 4 cockroach, 13 dragonfly, 17 beetle, 2 bee, 13 moth, and 38 butterfly species. Of which 173 are recognised as described species (41 fly, 55 ant, 1 cicada, 3 cockroach, 13 dragonfly, 8 beetle, 2 bee, 13 moth, and 37 butterfly species). 170 species of...

This first Australian Guide to Running a BioBlitz (the Guide) has been designed to encourage and support those who wish to run BioBlitzes in Australia. BioBlitzes are fun, engaging and deliver meaningful outcomes to individuals and organisations but they are also complex and multifaceted events. To be effective, the event’s processes and managemen...

The Luciolinae firefly genus Pyrophanes is redescribed and a key is provided for 7 species, viz. appendiculata Olivier, beccarii Olivier, quadrimaculata Olivier, semilimbata (Olivier) and similis Olivier, with Py. elongata Ballantyne sp. nov. and Py. similisimma Ballantyne sp. nov. described as new. Macropterous females associated for several speci...

Aim Recent progress in island biogeography indicates that classical island biogeography alone cannot encapsulate the complex and dynamic nature of island biogeographical processes. Factors such as habitat complexity and connectivity, and in the face of the Anthropocene, human disturbance and invasive species, may influence insular communities. The...

Recent progress in island biogeography indicates that classical island biogeography alone cannot encapsulate the complex and dynamic nature of island biogeographical processes. Factors such as habitat complexity and connectivity, and in the face of the Anthropocene, human disturbance and invasive species, may influence insular communities. The rela...

Coordinated by the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS), the Bush Blitz project documents the plants and animals in Australia's National Reserve System, with the core focus on nature discovery – identifying and describing new species. The Queensland Museum (QM) is a key partner in the Bush Blitz project together with the Australian Governme...

The endemic Australian flower chafer genus Metallesthes Kraatz, 1880 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) is revised. Metallesthes anneliesae Moeseneder & Hutchinson new species is described from southern Queensland and New SouthWales. Metallesthes unicolor (Macleay, 1863) revised status is raised from synonymy with Metallesthes metallescens (Whi...

We describe, diagnose and illustrate eight new species in the genus Anabarhynchus Macquart, 1848 as follows: Anabarhynchus cretatus sp. n., Anabarhynchus darembal sp. n., Anabarhynchus iancommoni sp. n., Anabarhynchus longiseta sp. n. Anabarhynchus lyncurium sp. n., Anabarhynchus moretonensis sp. n., Anabarhynchus neboensis sp. n. and Anabarhynchus...

Chris Lambkin (Queensland Museum) and Kathy Ebert (University of Queensland) organised the latest ESQ Bug Catch at the Mt Mee QNPWS grounds. ESQ members and 14 visitors used many collecting methods and light sheets were run from dusk.

Members of the curious neuropteran family Ithonidae are known as “moth lacewings” because of their chunky, hairy body and densely hairy wings which fold down alongside the body. There are currently ten genera worldwide: three in Australia, six in the Americas and one from SE Asia. Their subterranean larvae look like scarab grubs, and are now though...

The latest BugCatch event was held at Franke Scrub, on the outskirts of Highfields, 15 km north of Toowoomba and was organised in conjunction with Trish Gardiner (Friends of Franke Scrub, Friends of Peacehaven Botanic Park), Chris Lambkin (Queensland Museum), and Kathy Ebert (UQ School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland). It was a fie...

Abstract. Abscondita, a new genus of fireflies from South-east Asia, is described from males and females of Abs. anceyi (Olivier), Abs. cerata (Olivier), Abs. chinensis (L.), Abs. perplexa (Walker), Abs. promelaena (Walker) and Abs. terminalis (Olivier), all transferred from Luciola Laporte. Both L. dubia Olivier and L. dejeani Gemminger are synony...

The Australian endemic genus Enhypnon Carter (Coleoptera, Zopheridae) is revised, including the description of six new species: E. cordicollis sp. n., E. kosciuszko sp. n., E. simplex sp. n., E. squamosum sp. n., E. latitarsis sp. n., and E. tu-berculatum sp. n., and the re-description of four species: E. costatum (Carter, 1919) comb. n. (from Mnio...

The stiletto fly family Therevidae is diverse and species rich in Australasia, with numerous undescribed species. Ongoing studies of Ectinorhynchus Macquart, 1850 from the Taenogera genus-group indicate that the genus Evansomyia Mann, 1928 stat. rev. is valid and is raised from synonymy for three species: Evansomyia phyciformis (White, 1915) stat....

This revision completes a taxonomic survey of fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) in the area encompassed by Australia, the Republic of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia (West Irian/Papua), Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji. It finalises the taxonomic issues arising from the 1969–70 voyage of the scien...

The IBISCA approach to biodiversity assessment in forests was, initially, the brainchild of Yves Basset, Bruno Corbara and Hector Barrios (Basset et al. 2007). The four IBISCA projects carried out to date have examined selected aspects of beta-diversity in tropical, subtropical and temperate forests. In each case a set of research questions were de...

FLYTREE MORPHOLOGY Matrix and MPT NEXUS file - opens in Mesquite and PAUP* for Lambkin, C. L., Sinclair, B. J., Pape, T., Courtney, G. W., Skevington, J. H., Meier, R., Yeates, D. K., Blagoderov, V. & Wiegmann, B. M. (2013) The phylogenetic relationships among infraorders and superfamilies of Diptera based on morphological evidence. Systematic Ent...

The Backyard Explorer Data Collation Tool simply allows the recording of habitat and environmental details and numbers of organisms collected and identified by a group carrying out an assessment of the environment using the numbers of invertebrates, especially insects. The Excel Spread sheet also automatically analyses and compares the data collati...

The Backyard Explorer leader’s guide carefully outlines the methods needed to lead a group carrying out an assessment of the environment using the numbers of invertebrates, especially insects, collected with readily available, cheap equipment through comparative methods from at least two sites, and includes safe collection methods, identification t...

The Backyard Explorer Collection Manual carefully outlines safe collection methods needed to collect invertebrates with readily available, cheap equipment in a scientific comparative manner from at least two sites for a group carrying out an assessment of the environment. This Collection Manual is part of the Backyard Explorer package developed by...

The previously monotypic genus Manestella Metz, 2003 is revised with a single species, Manestella tristriata (Mann, 1933), redescribed and an additional 14 new species described: Manestella caesiasp. n., Manestella campestrissp. n., Manestella canitiessp. n., Manestella cooloolasp. n., Manestella fumosasp. n., Manestella incompletasp. n., Manestell...