Joseph V. McHugh

University of Georgia | UGA · Department of Entomology

Despite the familiarity and economic significance of Coccinellidae, the family has thus far escaped analysis by rigorous phylogenetic methods. As a result, the internal classification remains unstable and there is no framework with which to interpret evolutionary events within the family. Coccinellids exhibit a wide range of preferred food types sp...

  Phylogenetic relationships of Erotylidae (pleasing fungus beetles) were inferred based on DNA sequence data. Relationships of clades within Erotylidae were examined, as was the relationship of the entire family to Languriidae (lizard beetles). 18S and 28S ribosomal DNA were sequenced for sixty-one taxa representing major erotylid lineages and out...

A phylogenetic analysis of the beetle family Latridiidae was performed based on seven genes (18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, 12S rDNA, 16S rDNA, Cytochrome Oxidase I and II, and Histone 3). Due to the placement of the enigmatic genus Akalyptoischion (formerly Latridiinae), both parsimony and Bayesian analyses of the combined data indicate Latridiidae is paraph...

(Not yet published nor available)

A large-scale phylogenetic study is presented for Cucujoidea (Coleoptera), a diverse superfamily of beetles that historically has been taxonomically difficult. This study is the most comprehensive analysis of cucujoid taxa to date, with DNA sequence data sampled from eight genes (four nuclear, four mitochondrial) for 384 coleopteran taxa, including...

Here we report an incidental observation of migration of the dragonfly Anax junius (Common Green Darner) on Sapelo Island, GA, while conducting field work on 6-7 October 2023. Hundreds of dragonflies were observed moving in a western direction away from the Atlantic Ocean during daylight hours. That evening, ~35 individuals landed on a white sheet...

In 2000, Cleide Costa published a paper presenting the state of knowledge of the Neotropical Coleopte ra, with a focus on the Brazilian fauna. Twenty-four years later, thanks to the development of the Coleoptera section of the Taxonomic Catalog of the Brazilian Fauna (CTFB - Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil) through the collaboration of 100 c...

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian mega...

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian mega...

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian mega...

Forests provide critical habitats for pollinating insects, including forest-dependent and habitat generalist species, yet it is unknown how these assemblages are shaped by overstory tree composition. We sampled bees in closed canopy plots in the southeastern United States representing a continuum of forest age and tree composition, from younger con...

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classification. In this context, the B Brazilian meg...

Insects use their antennae to collect environmental information. While the structural diversity of insect antennae is immediately obvious, the diversity of the minute antennal sensilla that interact with the environmental stimuli and translate them into sensory input, is largely unknown for many insect groups. This includes the beetle family Lampyr...

Forests provide critical habitats for pollinating insects, including forest-dependent and habitat generalist species, yet it is unknown how these assemblages are shaped by overstory tree composition. We sampled bees in closed canopy plots in the southeastern United States representing a continuum of forest age and tree composition, from younger con...

Many forests throughout the world consist of regenerating mature stands. Although these forests differ in many respects from old-growth (with a history of minimal human disturbance), they typically develop similar structural attributes over time. As a result, older mature forests may be of particular conservation value if they contain resources and...

The tumbling flower beetles (Mordellidae) comprise a large family of broad ecological interest. Many adults are commonly found on flowers and contribute to pollination, but surprisingly little is known about the larval biology of the group. Most species are thought to be saproxylic, although only a few scattered records of larval habits exist. Rece...

Old forests are valuable for biodiversity conservation because they provide uninterrupted forest cover over time and late-successional habitat, promoting low-mobility and late-successional species. However, forest age may be less important in highly forested landscapes because dispersal limitation is reduced. We investigated how species richness an...

Burying beetles of the genus Nicrophorus have become a model for studying the evolution of complex parental care in laboratory studies. Nicrophorus species depend on small vertebrate carcasses to breed, which they process and provision to their begging offspring. However, vertebrate carcasses are highly sought after by a wide variety of species and...

Around the world, researchers are reporting declines in insect fauna. Although uncommonly evaluated in high‐profile studies of insect declines, the community context of population trends can facilitate interpretation of the causes and consequences of such losses. Here, we aimed to explore the shifts in a well‐studied invertebrate community of a bla...

Burying beetles of the genus Nicrophorus have become a model for studying the evolution of complex parental care in a laboratory. Nicrophorus species depend on small vertebrate carcasses to breed, which they process and provision to their begging offspring. However, vertebrate carcasses are highly sought after by a wide variety of species and so co...

Three beetle families, Sphindidae Jacquelin du Val, Corylophidae LeConte and Latridiidae Erichson, are documented as part of the “Beetles of Peru” project. The checklists are based on fieldwork in Peru, museum specimens, and published literature. Three sphindid genera are indicated as new country records.

Coenosia attenuata is a member of the tigrina-group of Coenosia (sensu Hennig 1964) and is a capable generalist predator in its larval and adult stages. C. attenuata is common in greenhouses worldwide, however, there are few documented cases of its presence in the wild. Here, we estimated C. attenuata presence in the southeastern USA peach orchards...

The southern Appalachian Mountains were intensively logged during the early 1900s, leaving little remaining old-growth forest. Much of the region is now second-growth forest, which may not be suitable to specialist saproxylic species. Moreover, if suitable habitat exists, poorly dispersing species may not be able to colonize it. To investigate this...

We monitored aquatic invertebrate communities in the Ogeechee River (four years) and Carolina bay wetlands (five years) in Georgia, USA. Typically rare, Sisyridae (Neuroptera) larvae were relatively common in both habitats (4-6% sample occurrence). However, different species occurred in each, Climacia areolaris (Hagen, 1861) in the river and Sisyra...

Forest canopies are important habitats for animal biodiversity globally. The structural and compositional components of canopies influence biodiversity, and recent advancements in remote sensing have given insight to these relationships. As invasive shrubs alter both the structure and composition of forests, we use handheld, mobile LiDAR to relate...

Most firefly genera have poorly defined taxonomic boundaries, especially in the Neotropics, where they are more diverse and more difficult to identify. Recent advances that shed light on the diversity of fireflies in South America have focused mainly on Atlantic Rainforest taxa, whereas lampyrids in other biomes remained largely unstudied. We found...

Dere thoracica White, a cerambycine longhorned beetle native to eastern Asia, is newly reported from Georgia, USA, where an established population was detected. A single female was collected in a flight intercept trap in Clarke County during early 2020, and 292 adults were excavated from their pupal chambers or reared from dead branches of mimosa t...

We described the overlap of arthropod communities between agricultural lands and adjacent wetlands using transect sampling, to determine if these juxtapositions might be influencing abundances of beneficial arthropods in agricultural lands. We further assessed experimentally whether these beneficial arthropods migrating from wetlands may potentiall...

Carpophiline-ID is presented, a matrix-based Lucid TM key, for the adult stage of the known species of Carpophilinae (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) of North America, east of the Mississippi River. An overview of the features and technical specifications used to build the key is provided. The list of terminal taxa used in the key represents the most curr...

Bees are the most important pollinators in both managed and natural ecosystems, and yet concerns about bee declines are growing. Unfortunately, only a fraction of the 20,000 known bee species has adequate data to assess the status of species and susceptibility of populations to decline. The iDigBees Thematic Collections Network (TCN), comprised of...

This work provides a preliminary inventory of West African Coccinellidae. This was based on the West African Coccinellidae (WAC) specimens in the holdings of insect collections at the Laboratoire de Zoologie des Invertébrés Terrestres at the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire Cheikh Anta Diop (IFAN), Senegal and the Biodiversity Center at the Int...

Predaceous diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) are well-known for their ability to colonize both permanent and temporary aquatic habitats. They often move predictably between these two habitats, colonizing recently flooded habitat and returning to permanent habitat during the dry-down phase. However, Coptotomus loticus Hilsenhoff does not appea...

1. Trichoptera is an ecologically and taxonomically diverse order, and caddisfly species are under increasing pressure from anthropogenic threats to larval habitats, rivers, and streams. 2. This study evaluated long‐term changes in caddisfly communities of the Ogeechee River, a subtropical blackwater river in the south‐eastern U.S. Coastal Plain, t...

The primary type of Rodolia iceryae Janson in Ormerod, 1887, a species commonly found in the Afrotropical region, is lost. In an effort to stabilize the specific epithet and to fix the taxonomic status and type locality of this economically important species, a neotype is here designated. A species diagnosis, illustrations of the male terminalia, a...

The primary type of Rodolia iceryae Janson in Ormerod, 1887, a species commonly found in the Afrotropical region, is lost. In an effort to stabilize the specific epithet and to fix the taxonomic status and type locality of this economically important species, a neotype is here designated. A species diagnosis, illustrations of the male terminalia, a...

Few efforts have been made to quantify the amount and variety of deadwood in frequently burned ecosystems, particularly the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) ecosystem of the southeastern United States. Moreover, comparisons of coarse woody debris between old-growth and secondary longleaf pine forests are lacking despite the widely recognized v...

Studies of the saproxylic and predatory beetle family Monotomidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) in the southeastern USA increased the known diversity for the family in the state of Georgia by one genus and nine species. Online records of Monotomidae from Georgia increased from 0 to 885. This work highlights the lack of basic diversity information about...

The fire ants of the Solenopsis geminata species-group of Trager (1991) are revised based on the morphology of worker larvae and of adult forms of workers, males, and gynes (winged or dealated members of the queen caste). The amount of intraspecific variation occurring in the adult males and gynes was equivalent to that of workers, making the taxon...

Georgia's streams and rivers are dependent upon diverse assemblages of aquatic insects and other macroinvertebrates in order to function. However, in this current period of global change, efforts to conserve aquatic biodiversity often require more information than is currently available. Here, we compiled publications featuring studies of aquatic m...

Coexistence of closely related species has long been a focus of biologists in their efforts to explain mechanisms that drive community assembly. Dytiscidae (predaceous diving beetles) are a group that shows a particularly high affinity for sympatry despite their relatedness. Our objective was to investigate the degree of overlap among Neoporus (Gui...

The Lepidoptera of North America Network, or LepNet, is a digitization effort recently launched to mobilize biodiversity data from 3 million specimens of butterflies and moths in United States natural history collections (http://www.lep-net.org/). LepNet was initially conceived as a North American effort but the project seeks collaborations with mu...

A matrix-based LucidTM key is presented for the twelve genera of Monotomidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) represented in the New World. A general overview is given for the features and technical specifications of an original interactive key for the identification of these genera. The list of terminal taxa included with the key provides a current summar...

Antibothrus morimotoi Sasaji, a cocoon-forming beetle (Coccinelloidea: Bothrideridae) native to the Palearctic region, is newly reported from North America. In 2013 and 2015, several series of specimens were collected during an ongoing USDA/APHIS/PPQ exotic bark beetle survey in Franklin County, Ohio, U.S.A. This is the first confirmed record of th...

Of all the superfamilies within the megadiverse order Coleoptera (Insecta), Cucujoidea (Cucujiformia) is arguably the most problematic taxonomically. The families comprising Cucujidae s.l. (Silvanidae, Laemophloeidae, Passandridae and Cucujidae s.s. represent a large portion of cucujoid diversity. Herein we present the results of a rigorous molecul...

Tiger beetles are commonly the focus of conservation and biodiversity studies. Their stable taxonomy and occurrence in diverse habitats make them ideal bioindicators of ecological health and anthropogenic disturbance. Additionally, tiger beetles serve as effective bioindicators because they respond quickly to environmental variability and their pop...

A revision of the genus Deretaphrus Newman, 1842 (Coleoptera: Bothrideridae) is presented. Deretaphrus is a predominantly Australian genus (22 species), although single species are also present in New Caledonia, Bolivia, and the Pacific Northwest USA. Members of the genus are large (5–13 mm) and commonly collected. Deretaphrus larvae are ectoparasi...

A revision of the genus Deretaphrus Newman, 1842 (Coleoptera: Bothrideridae) is presented. Deretaphrus is a predominantly Australian genus (22 species), although single species are also present in New Caledonia, Bolivia, and the Pacific Northwest USA. Members of the genus are large (5-13 mm) and commonly collected. Deretaphrus larvae are ectoparasi...

Using four mitochondrial genes (12S, 16S, COI, & COII) and three nuclear genes (18S, 28S & H3) we tested the monophyly and sister-group relationships of ten different beetle families currently included in the superfamily Cucujoidea. This analysis included eighty Old and New World taxa focusing heavily on the Silvanidae, Laemophloeidae, and traditio...

The first comprehensive investigation of heavy metal incorporation into the mandibles of beetles was conducted via variable pressure environmental scanning electron microscopy (VP-ESEM) and X-Ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Mandibles from all major coleopteran lineages (117 taxa = 4/4 suborders, 16/16 superfamilies, ~25% families) were an...

The first inventory of Rutelinae (shiny chafers) was conducted in the marine and mid altitude regions of Togo (West Africa) from 2004 to 2005. Two of the species recorded, Anomala denuda Arrow 1819 and A. plebeja Olivier 1725, appeared to be pest species of high agricultural importance.

A multi-access LucidTM key is presented for the twelve genera of Monotomidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) in the New World. Each genus is briefly discussed and examples of digital drawings and photomicrographs illustrating representative diagnostic characters and select species are provided. In addition, a graphical demonstration is given for the open-...

Geophysical techniques have been widely employed for the noninvasive location of burial sites in archaeological and forensic investigations. This approach has met with varying degrees of success, depending on factors such as equipment choice, survey methodology, burial type, and geological setting. This paper reports the results of a multitechnique...