Omar Ávalos-Hernández

National Autonomous University of Mexico | UNAM · School of Science

Forensic entomology plays a crucial role in estimating the minimum postmortem interval through the study of insect larvae found at crime scenes. The precision of this estimation relies on various biotic and abiotic elements that simultaneously influence insect growth and development, encompassing factors such as temperature, humidity, photoperiod,...

Endemic species are biological singularities whose relevance lies in their unique history and the information they provide about the history of the area where they are distributed. This is the first compilation study that brings together all the available information on endemics of butterflies, a highly diverse insect group in Mexico. Based on the...

El Bosque de Chapultepec ha pasado por múltiples transformaciones socioambientales a lo largo de su historia. Fue considerado como un lugar sagrado, fue residencia de gobernantes, fuente de abastecimiento de agua, coto de caza y fortaleza; actualmente es sitio de cultura y recreación. La pérdida y cambios en la vegetación original, las construccion...

Animals in urban forests provide ecological and cultural services, but the quality of these services often depends on floral diversity and animal diversity. In turn, animal diversity in urban forests is influenced by various aspects of habitat quality, in spatial scale- and taxon-dependent ways. Understanding the effect of individual habitat factor...

Se presentan los primeros registros formales de dos especies de anfibios (dos salamandras) y 11 especies de reptiles (una lagartija, tres serpientes y siete tortugas) para el Bosque de Chapultepec, Ciudad de México; además se incluyen cuatro registros de confirmación de una especie de anfibio y tres de reptiles (una rana, una lagartija y dos serp...

Introduction: The Loxicha Region of Oaxaca, Mexico, has been historically important for the study of Nymphalidae, second in the Papilionoidea for species richness. Describing the diversity patterns of this butterfly clade in Loxicha can improve our understanding of the evolutionary history of the Sierra Madre del Sur, the Mexican Pacific slope, and...

La región Loxicha en el sur de Oaxaca, México, presenta gran riqueza específica y endemismo de mariposas. Se realizó un estudio faunístico sistemático que incluyó siete años de recolecta durante el período 2005 a 2014. Se describe la diversidad de cuatro familias de Papilionoidea en la región Loxicha, respecto a la riqueza y endemismo del estado y...

We present a synthesis of the existing information on the genus Emesis Fabricius in Mexico concerning biogeographical patterns and taxonomical aspects. Emesis is the most diverse genus of Emesidini with 57 species and subspecies, with Mexico as the northern limit of this Neotropical genus. We analyzed 5434 specimens of the Lepidoptera Collection of...

Tribe Emesidini Seraphim, Freitas & Kaminski (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae) is distributed in America from southwest Canada to Brazil and Paraguay, and includes 57 species and 54 subspecies (Callaghan & Lamas 2004; Penz & DeVries 2006; Gallard 2008; Pelham 2008; De la Maza & De la Maza 2017 a,b; Kaminski et al. 2017; Seraphim et al. 2018; Trujano-Ortega...

We transfer Apodemia planeca R. de la Maza E. & J. de la Maza E. 2017 to Emesis as Emesis planeca (R. de la Maza E. & J. de la Maza E.) n. comb. based on phylogenetic hypotheses estimated with one mtDNA and two nDNA markers. This is a rare and poorly known metalmark, endemic to the central region of Balsas Basin in Michoacán, Mexico, originally des...

Introduction: A reliable list of species and the analysis of diversity patterns of hyperdiverse taxa, like butterflies, are fundamental for monitoring and managing biological resources. Oaxaca is one of the most diverse states in Mexico for many groups including Lepidoptera and most of its diversity is unknown. Objective: To estimate and describe...

We analyse the spatio-temporal diversity patterns of five families of bees (Andrenidae, Apidae, Colletidae, Halictidae and Megachilidae) and two families of flower-visiting flies (Bombyliidae and Syrphidae) in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB). Pollination by insects is one of the most important ecological processes in an ecosystem, maintaining plant...

We describe and compare the patterns of species richness, species abundance, and species composition in space and time of butterflies (Papilionoidea sensu lato) in seven localities of the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB) in northeast Mexico. Although the basin is one of the most important wetlands in Mexico, due to the endemism rate, the knowledge of it...

We gathered and analyzed the current knowledge of the amphibians and reptiles of the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB), including their biogeographical affinities and the historical and ecological importance of the basin to the diversity of these groups in the Chihuahuan Desert (CD). The CCB has a characteristic topography with alternating highlands and...

We propose a revised classification for the genus Elzunia Bryk, 1937, with four species and 20 subspecies. We describe two new subspecies, Elzunia humboldt carlosi Le Crom and Llorente, ssp. nov., and Elzunia humboldt willmotti Le Crom, Llorente and Andrade, ssp. nov. We recognize five additional unnamed subspecies but do not describe them because...

Two new genera of Riodinidae (Insecta: Lepidoptera) are described, Neoapodemia Trujano-Ortega, gen. n. (Neoapodemia nais (W. H. Edwards, 1876), comb. n., N. chisosensis Freeman, 1964, comb. n.) and Plesioarida Trujano-Ortega & García-Vázquez, gen. n. (Plesioarida palmerii palmerii (W. H. Edwards, 1870), comb. n., P. palmerii arizona (Austin, [1989]...

Specimens examined for morphological revision

Maximum likelihood tree of the relationships among Apodemia and selected species in the Riodinidae inferred with gene Elongation factor 1 α (EF-1a). Numbers near branch nodes are bootstrap branch support

Data of the photographs shown in the Figure 6

Collection and voucher data for Riodinids genetic samples used in this study

Maximum likelihood tree of the relationships among Apodemia and selected species in the Riodinidae inferred with Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI). Numbers near branch nodes are bootstrap branch support

Maximum likelihood tree of the relationships among Apodemia and selected species in the Riodinidae inferred with Wingless (wg). Numbers near branch nodes are bootstrap branch support

Bees and flies are the main pollinators responsible for the maintenance of plant diversity and crop production. Studies of pollinator communities have focused on bees; however, community structures may vary among groups of pollinators. We describe and compare the diversity and resource use patterns of six Apoidea and two Diptera anthophile families...

A list of 1331 butterfly taxa of specific level from Oaxaca is presented, which comprise 68% of the recorded taxa in Mexico of these taxonomic levels. These taxa belong to 462 genera, 24 subfamilies, and six families of Papilionoidea (sensu lato). The list of butterflies of this state is updated with the inclusion of 165 new records at specific and...

Forty one new records of species of Bombyliidae are reported for Coahuila in northeastern Mexico. Nine of these species are reported for the first time for the country. The specimens were collected in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin and Sierra La Madera mountains during 2007–2013. The modified distributions of species are discussed. The gaps in the distr...

This is the first record of the association between Walkeromya plumipes (Philippi) (Diptera: Bombyliidae) and Xylocopa Latreille (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Argentina. The pupal development and morphology of Walkeromya plumipes, a parasitoid of Xylocopa splendidula Lepeletier, are described. A parasitized nest was collected from Santiago del Estero pr...

The biodiversity loss makes the species inventories a priority. It is better to direct the sample effort to poor known areas with high biological diversity. The relation between the number observed species and the number of estimated species can be used to decide where to direct the sampling effort. This study takes the subfamily Biblidinae (Lepido...

Twenty-three North American species of the genus Hemipenthes Loew are reviewed. Two new species are described (type locality in parentheses): Hemipenthes albus (Mexico, Zacatecas: 25 mi NW Zacatecas), n. sp. and H. translucens (Mexico, Morelos: Quilamula), n. sp. The following synonymies were founded: H. eumenes (Osten Sacken, 1886) is a synonym of...

Twenty-three North American species of the genus Hemipenthes Loew are reviewed. Two new species are described (type locality in parentheses): Hemipenthes albus (Mexico, Zacatecas: 25 mi NW Zacatecas), n. sp. and H. translucens (Mexico, Morelos: Quilamula), n. sp. The following synonymies were founded: H. eumenes (Osten Sacken, 1886) is a synonym of...

FIGURES 29 – 30. Hemipenthes bigradata male terminalia. 29, lateral view; 30, ventral view.

FIGURES 31 – 32. Hemipenthes blanchardiana male terminalia. 31, lateral view; 32, ventral view.