Bees of the tribes Biastini, Neolarrini, and Townsendiellini are cleptoparasites in the subfamily Nomadinae (Hymenoptera, Apidae) and parasitize solitary bees. Understanding their phylogenetic relationships has proven difficult for many decades. Previous research yielded ambiguous results because of conflicting phylogenetic signals of larval and adult morphological characters. Molecular data settled some of this disparity but our knowledge remains fragmented due to limited taxon sampling and the discovery of a new lineage associated with Biastini: the enigmatic Schwarzia Eardley, 2009. Schwarzia has unusual morphological features and seems transitional between previously established taxa. This puts limits on our ability to diagnose the groups, understand their antiquity and biogeography, and study the evolution of host-choice. To address this, we integrate phylogenomics and morphology to establish a fossil-calibrated phylogeny for the tribes Biastini, Neolarrini, and Townsendiellini. We show that Schwarzia is indeed closely related to Biastes Panzer, 1806, but Biastes itself is paraphyletic in respect to Neopasites Ashmead, 1898, and even Biastini is paraphyletic due to Townsendiella Crawford, 1916, which is sister to Rhopalolemma Roig-Alsina, 1991. To ensure monophyly, we lower Neopasites to subgeneric rank within Biastes and resurrect Melittoxena Morawitz, 1873 as a third subgenus. We then assess the diagnosability of different tribal concepts and establish an expanded tribe Neolarrini that includes Biastini and Townsendiellini as new synonyms for Neolarrini. Neolarrini in this new, expanded sense likely originated in the Nearctic in the mid-Eocene and is, as far we know, composed exclusively of parasites of oligolectic hosts. Lastly, our continued efforts to find the rare Schwarzia in Eastern Africa led to the discovery of three new species, which are described herein.

In this study, we describe a new Lampyridae subfamily, Chespiritoinae new subfamily, its sole genus Chespirito new genus, and three new species: Chespirito zaragozai new species, Chespirito lloydi new species, and Chespirito ballantyneae new species from the Neotropical portions of Mexico. Chespirito can be readily separated from all other known Lampyridae by the unique prosternum, characterized by being very wide, divided in the middle by a distinct suture forming two plates, with the anterior margin bearing a narrow inter-coxal process, the strongly setose filiform antennae, with antennomere III much smaller than all other antennomeres, the pronotum medially constricted (not in C. ballantyneae), with area adjacent to disc strongly punctate and with the presence of a strongly developed longitudinal carina. To test the placement of the genus within the Lampyridae, we obtained three genetic markers (18S rRNA, 28SrRNA, and cox1 mitochondrial DNA) from C. zaragozai and performed a maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) analysis. Our analyses rendered nearly identical tree topologies, with C. zaragozai new species recovered as an independent lineage as sister to Pollaclasis bifaria (Say) (Coleoptera, Lampyridae) + Cyphonocerus ruficollis Kiesenwetter (Coleoptera, Lampyridae)+Luciolinae, with a posterior probability of 96 for the BI analysis and UFBoot respectively of 91 for the ML analysis with the entire clade sister to Pterotus obscuripennis LeConte (Coleoptera, Lampyridae). A detailed examination of the morphology of Chespirito indicates that this lineage is divergent from all other known Lampyridae, which combined with the results of our analyses supports the erection of a new subfamily.

En este estudio se describe una nueva subfamilia de Lampyridae, Chespiritoinae subfamilia nueva, su único género Chespirito género nuevo, y tres especies nuevas: Chespirito zaragozai especie nueva, Chespirito lloydi especie nueva, and Chespirito ballantyneae especie nueva de la región Neotropical de México. Chespirito se puede separar fácilmente de todos los otros miembros conocidos de Lampyridae por su único prosternum, caracterizado por ser muy ancho, dividido en el medio por una sutura distintiva formando dos placas, con un margen anterior que posee un proceso inter-coxal estrecho, las antenas filiformes densamente cerdosas, con antenómero III mucho más pequeño que el resto de los antenómeros, el pronoto constringido medialmente (no en Chespirito ballantyneae), con área adyacente al disco fuertemente puntuada y con la presencia de una cariba longitudinal fuertemente desarrollada. Para evaluar la posición del género dentro de Lampyridae obtuvimos tres marcadores genéticos (18S rRNA, 28SrRNA y cox1 ADN mitocondrial) de C. zaragozai y realizamos análisis de Maximum Likelihood (ML) y Bayesian Inference (BI). Nuestros análisis produjeron arboles con topologías casi idénticas, donde Chespirito zaragozai especie nueva se recuperó como un linaje independiente, hermano de Pollaclasis bifaria (Say) (Coleoptera, Lampyridae) + Cyphonocerus ruficollis Kiesenwetter (Coleoptera, Lampyridae)+Luciolinae con un PP de 96 y un UFBoot 91 respectivamente, y con este clado como hermano de Pterotus obscuripennis LeConte (Coleoptera, Lampyridae). El detallado examen de la morfología de Chespirito indica que este linaje diverge del resto de los miembros conocidos de Lampyridae, lo cual junto a los resultados de nuestros análisis apoyan la creación de una nueva subfamilia.

Notomicrinae (Coleoptera: Noteridae) is a subfamily of minute and ecologically diverse aquatic beetles distributed across the Southeast Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. We investigate the evolution of Notomicrinae and construct the first species-level phylogeny within Noteridae using five nuclear and mitochondrial gene fragments. We focus on the genus Notomicrus Sharp (Coleoptera: Noteridae), sampling 13 of the 17 known Notomicrus species and an additional 11 putative undescribed species. We also include Phreatodytes haibaraensis Uéno (Coleoptera: Noteridae). Datasets are analyzed in Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian frameworks. With these, we 1) estimate divergence times among notomicrine taxa and reconstruct the biogeographical history of the group, particularly testing the hypothesis of Gondwanan vicariance between Old World and New World Notomicrus; 2) additionally, we assess ecological plasticity within Notomicrinae in the context of the phylogeny; and 3) finally, we test the monophyly of tentative species groups within Notomicrus and place putative new taxa. We recover a monophyletic Notomicrinae, with Phreatodytes sister to Notomicrus. We estimate the crown age of Notomicrinae to be ca. 110 Mya. The crown age of Notomicrus is recovered as ca. 75 Mya, there diverging into reciprocally monophyletic Old and New World clades, suggesting Gondwanan vicariance. Our phylogenetic estimate indicates a strong degree of ecological plasticity within Notomicrinae, with habitat switching occurring in recently diverging taxa. Finally, we recover five main species groups in Notomicrus, one Old World, Four New World, with tentative affirmation of the placement of undescribed species.

A taxonomic revision of all Australian species of Metopia Meigen (Sarcophagidae: Miltogramminae) is completed using an integrated approach combining molecular and morphological data. Metopia nudibasis (Malloch) is redescribed as a species complex and a new endemic Australian species, Metopia sputnik sp. n., is described. Evidence is presented that Metopia sauteri (Townsend) is absent from Australia and this species is therefore removed from the known Australian fauna. Molecular phylogenetics is used to reconstruct interspecific and generic relationships and support morphology-based species hypotheses. Phylogenetic analysis splits Metopia Meigen into two clades, separated by Aenigmetopia Malloch, rendering the former genus nonmonophyletic. The implications of this are discussed.

Animals that exploit living spaces of other animals (inquilines) may have specialized traits that adapt them to extended phenotypes of their ‘hosts’. These adaptations to host traits may incur fitness trade-offs that restrict the host range of an inquiline such that shifts to new hosts might trigger inquiline diversification. Speciation via host shifting has been studied in many animal parasites, but we know less about the role of host shifts in inquiline speciation. Synergus Hartig (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Synergini) is a speciose but taxonomically challenging genus of inquilines that feed inside galls induced by oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini). Here, we report on a large collection of Synergus reared from galls of 33 oak gall wasp species in the upper Midwestern United States. We integrated DNA barcodes, morphology, ecology, and phenology to delimit putative species of Synergus and describe their host ranges. We find evidence of at least 23 Synergus species associated with the 33 gall wasp hosts. At least five previously described Synergus species are each complexes of two to five species, while three species fit no prior description. We find evidence that oak tree phylogeny and host gall morphology define axes of specialization for Synergus. The North American Synergus have experienced several transitions among gall hosts and tree habitats and their host use is correlated with reproductive isolation. It remains too early to tell whether shifts to new hosts initiate speciation events in Synergus inquilines of oak gall wasps, or if host shifts occur after reproductive isolation has already evolved.

The systematic placement of an enigmatic psocid family restricted to Africa, Lesneiidae, was estimated by using a multiple gene data set. The candidates for its close relatives are now classified under two different infraorders, the family Archipsocidae of the infraorder Archipsocetae or the families Elipsocidae/Mesopsocidae of the infraorder Homilopsocidea. The maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of the molecular data set strongly suggested that the Lesneiidae belongs to Homilopsocidea and forms a clade with Elipsocidae/Mesopsocidae/Eolachesillinae (Lachesillidae). However, the relationships among these (sub)families and Lesneiidae, including the monophyly of Elipsocidae and Mesopsocidae, were ambiguous or questionable, showing the necessity of further investigations for elucidating their relationships and validating the status of these families. Two species, L. johnsoni Yoshizawa & Lienhard, n. sp. and L. testudinata Yoshizawa & Lienhard, n. sp. (Psocodea: Lesneiidae), were described from South Africa. There appears to be a tight association between the reproductive biology and morphological specialization of this group.