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

路易斯安那州立大学农业中心的克里斯托弗·卡尔顿博士和安德鲁·克莱恩先生获得了一笔赠款，用于研究甲虫家族Nitidulidae（“树液甲虫”）中的Pocadius属的马勃菌食甲虫。 这将产生的进化关系的第一个分析，使用现代比较方法的任何超过175属的Nitidulidae。 本研究的目的是：1）提供26个已发表的Pocadius种和大约30个新种的描述，2）为所有Pocadius种的识别提供一个插图清晰的检索表，3）定义Pocadius种之间的关系，4）提供Pocadiini族中所有属的描述，5）定义族内属之间的关系，（6）探讨了普卡底属物种的分布格局，分析了它们的地理分布。 为了实现这些目标，比较形态学和系统发育计算机软件将被用来准确地描绘Pocadius和Pocadiini的关系。该项目是一个专门研究一组甲虫的学生，全球的专业知识非常有限，该项目将作为未来分类工作的框架。 这项研究将使该属内的已知物种增加一倍以上，并为未来的工作人员提供一把钥匙，以识别它们并促进对其他新物种的描述。 目标1和目标2将为了解和确定地球生物多样性的一部分提供产品，并为评估特定区域的保护优先事项提供有用的数据。 目标3和目标6密切相关，将有助于建立一个框架，以了解世界各地食真菌甲虫的分布和物种形成模式。 最后，目标4和5是必要的不同nitidulid亚科Nitidulinae，这仍然是有问题的，了解整个家庭的进化关系的假设的发展。

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.