DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Systematics and Biogeography of Pocadius and Related Genera (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)

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A grant has been awarded to Dr. Christopher Carlton and Mr. Andrew Cline at the LSU Agricultural Center to study puffball mushroom-feeding beetles in the genus Pocadius within the beetle family Nitidulidae (the "sap beetles"). This will produce the first analysis of evolutionary relationships using modern comparative methods for any of the more than 175 genera in the Nitidulidae. The goals of this research are 1) provide descriptions of the 26 published Pocadius species and approximately 30 new species, 2) produce a well-illustrated key for identification of all Pocadius species, 3) define relationships among Pocadius species, 4) provide descriptions of all genera contained in the tribe Pocadiini, 5) define relationships among genera within the tribe, and 6) discuss distributional patterns of Pocadius species and analyze their biogeography. To accomplish these goals comparative morphology and phylogenetic computer software will be employed to accurately depict the relationships in Pocadius and the Pocadiini.These funds will facilitate training of one Ph.D. student specializing on a group of beetles for which global expertise is severely limited and the project will serve as a framework for future taxonomic work. The research will more than double the known species within the genus and provide a key for future workers to identify them and facilitate descriptions of additional new species. Goals 1 and 2 will provide products for understanding and identifying a portion of the Earth's biodiversity and provide useful data for assessing conservation priorities in particular regions. Goals 3 and 6 are intimately linked and will help to establish a framework for understanding patterns of distribution and speciation in fungus-feeding beetles worldwide. Finally, goals 4 and 5 are necessary for the development of hypotheses of evolutionary relationships within the diverse nitidulid subfamily Nitidulinae, which remains problematic and essential for understanding the entire family.