Karen Salazar

volunteer staff Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle

Spermatozoa may occur as physical aggregates of two or more cells, which is an array that frequently occurs in Adephaga. We investigated the spermatozoa of Gyretes sp. using light, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The spermatozoa of this whirligig beetle were approximately 850 μm in length and mainly exhibit a three-layere...

We reconstruct a comprehensively sampled molecular phylogeny for the second most species-rich tribe of the ladybird beetle family Coccinellidae, the charismatic Coccinellini. We analysed a dataset consisting of five nuclear and three mitochondrial gene fragments from 150 taxa to provide a detailed phylogeny and estimates of historical divergence ti...

Xylophagous beetles (Ptinidae) are pests fed on dried and manufactured products from plants or animals. The tobacco weevil, Lasioderma serricorne (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Ptinidae: Xyletininae) is cosmopolitan, polyphagous and damages stored products, including flour, tobacco and spices. This study describes the morphology of the male reproductive...

Natural history collections house an important source of genetic data from yet unexplored biological diversity. Molecular data from museum specimens remain underexploited, which is mainly due to the degradation of DNA from specimens over time. However, Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology can now be used to sequence "old" specimens. Indeed,...

This article presents an intriguing new cricket species of the tribe Xenogryllini discovered in Northern Malawi. This is the first case of mute and deaf species in the subfamily Eneopterinae; it shows no stridulatory apparatus on short male forewings and no tympana on either side of fore tibiae in both sexes. We introduce the new species and its co...

We assembled and annotated the first complete mitochondrial genome of a species from the subfamily Microweiseinae, Coccidophilus cariba Gordon, a predator of scale insect pest. The circular mitogenome consists of 15,343 bp in length, including 13 PCGs, 22 tRNA, and 2 rRNA genes, and exhibits the typical ladybird mitogenome structure. A phylogenetic...

1. Termitophily in some rove beetles is commonly attributed to the striking termite worker resemblance that is provided by the beetles' hypertrophic (‘physogastric’) abdomen. However, a termite nest may offer to a termitophile additional benefits, such as a continuously repaired shelter. 2. This could apply to Corotoca melantho (Aleocharinae: Corot...

New data are provided on 24 known and five new species in three subgenera of Veturius Kaup (Proculini), from Central and South America. Veturius s. str.: V. hincksi Boucher, 2006 (wing polymorphism, Colombia: Nariño), V. perecasi Boucher, 2006 (Colombia: Boyacá, Santander, perhaps Risaralda), V. montivagus Boucher, 2006 (first precise location, Col...

This study provides data on the phylogeny, taxonomy and distribution of 14 known and five new species of the Neotropical genus Veturius Kaup (Proculini), belonging to various subgenera and species groups: V. (Veturius) latissimus n. sp. (Colombia, Central Andes) and V. (V.) calimanus n. sp. (Pacific slope of the Occidental Cordillera) are separated...

Three species of Hyperophora Brunner von Wattenwyl have a tubercle on the second abdominal tergite with different external appearance among species. We predicted that the tubercles are a glandular structure for their morphology and anatomical position. In H. major Brunner von Wattenwyl and H. brasiliensis Brunner von Wattenwyl the tubercle is low a...

The morphoanatomy of the ovary in Veturius sinuatus (Eschscholtz) was studied by light and transmission electron microscopy. Data from the female gonad of this species provides more extended and precise knowledge regarding the organization of the ovary in Passalidae. Ovaries are composed of a pair of long telotrophic meroistic ovarioles, with some...

The morpho-anatomy of the reproductive tract and of the germ cells has been useful to establish phylogenetic relationships in many insects. However, these elements remain little known in the Coleoptera Passalidae. Here, the male reproductive tract, the spermatogenesis and the sperm structure are described in the South American Spasalus silvarum Kuw...

A new species of Veturius (Veturius) Kaup from southern Colombia, Putumayo, lowland forests, is described and illustrated. V. paya n. sp. belongs to the South American “cephalotes” species group and is sister species of V. cephalotes (Le Peletier & Serville, 1825). Both species are distinguished by few characters of the head and thorax. They seem t...

Spasalus robustus (Percheron, 1835), s. auct., is a chimerical concept, further to old confusions between several names and species of Spasalus Kaup, 1869, and of Passalus Fabricius, 1792. However, the original description is precise, illustrated and types are identified. Passalus robustus Percheron, 1835, comb. rev. (Tetraracus variiphyllus Kuwert...

Estudio faunístico regional de los Passalidae orinocenses de Colombia

The third instar of Veturius aspina Kuwert, V. assimilis (Weber), V. simillimus Kuwert, V. sinuatocollis Kuwert, V. sinuatus (Eschscholtz), V. crassus (Smith), V. impressus Hincks (as well as pupal stage), V. negroensis Boucher, and the first instar of V. oberthuri (Hincks) (Coleoptera: Passalidae) are described for the first time based on specimen...

Based on field collections, museum specimens and literature review, we present a checklist of Argentine Passalidae, with a key to their identification. A total of five genera and 24 species are listed, including Passalus quadricollis, Passalus perplexus and Passalus elfriedae as first records for the country.