Revision of New World Platydracus (Coleoptera:Staphylinidae)

隐翅虫科的甲虫是世界上 已知的多种昆虫家族。 在隐翅虫中， 扁龙属是大型和显眼的掠食者， 苍蝇幼虫和各种森林无脊椎动物。 作为 因此，它们在热带的生态学中起着重要的作用。 森林 阿尔弗雷德·牛顿博士提出完成一个分类学 新大陆代表性的属的专著， 包括描述70个新物种和制作一个 识别键。 进化关系将是 重建使用分支分析，和地理 物种的分布将与它们的进化相比较。 相关性 拟议的专著将找到一个广泛和敏锐的 森林生态学家、系统和 经济昆虫学家、昆虫地理学家和进化生物学家 生物学家 具体来说，生态学家将使用专着作为 社区结构研究中的识别指南; 昆虫学家可能想寻求可能的自然控制 在属内的机制，古地理学家将使用该集团作为 更新世避难所假说的进一步检验， 进化生物学家将利用这本专著作为平台， 来研究生态专业化的进化。

Beetles of the Family Staphylinidae comprise one of the most diverse insect families known. Among the staphylinids, members of the genus Platydracus are large and conspicuous predators on fly larvae and a variety of forest-dwelling invertebrates. As such, they play an important role in the ecology of tropical forests. Dr. Alfred Newton proposes completion of a taxonomic monograph of the New World representatives of the genus, including description of 70 new species and production of an identification key. Evolutionary relationships will be reconstructed using cladistic analysis, and the geographic distribution of species will be compared to their evolutionary relatedness. The proposed monograph will find a wide and keenly interested audience among forest ecologists, systematic and economic entomologists, biogeographers, and evolutionary biologists. Specifically, ecologists will use the monograph as an identification guide in their studies of community structure; entomologists may want to pursue possible natural control mechanisms within the genus, biogeographers will use the group as a further test of the Pleistocene refugium hypothesis, and evolutionary biologists will use the monograph as a platform on which to study the evolution of ecological specializations.