Understanding basic natural history of insects is crucial to their conservation, especially as they face significant declines in the Anthropocene. Numerous gaps in our knowledge exist, including what time of the day insects are active. Flight intercept traps were run for one month, August through September, to sample insects active during the day and night, respectively, in a longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.; Pinaceae) forest at the Jones Center at Ichauway, Baker County, Georgia, USA. We collected 1,549 beetle (Coleoptera) specimens representing 135 species within 41 families. Beetle species richness, beetle family richness, and arthropod biomass were all significantly higher during the night compared to the day. In contrast, beetle abundance was significantly higher during the day compared to night, due to the influence of two species, Conotelus obscurus Erichson, 1843 (Nitidulidae) and Cryptorhopalum floridanum Casey, 1916 (Dermestidae), which represented 19.2% and 13.9% of all beetles collected, respectively. We identified seven species and six families as indicators of either diurnal or nocturnal activity. We also report four beetle families and 77 beetle species not previously reported in the longleaf pine ecosystem. These findings can help inform conservation and management decisions, especially in the context of climate change, light pollution, and habitat alteration.
We describe two new species of Nordus Blackwelder, 1952: Nordus axioprosektos Chatzimanolis and Brunke, new species from Peru and Nordus cara Klemann-Junior, new species from Brazil (Staphylinidae: Staphylininae: Staphylinini: Xanthopygina). We illustrate major diagnostic features ofthe new species and present arevised key to the species ofNordus. We present the first modem records of Nordus testaceus (Fabricius, 1801), new record for Brazil, and describe the antenna of the male and the secondary sexual characters of the female abdomen. In addition, we present new distributional data for Nordus amphivolos Chatzimanolis, 2004, Nordus cribricollis (Sharp, 1876), Nordus facialis (Erichson, 1839), Nordus gebieni (Bernhauer, 1917),Nordus maculiceps (Sharp, 1876),Nordusmajor(Bernhauer, 1905), NordusstomachoponosChatzimanolis, 2004, and Nordus velitaris (Erichson, 1839) from Brazil.
Systematic changes are made in Entiminae (broad-nosed weevils) as follows: Evotus LeConte, 1874 is transferred from Phyllobiini to Eustylini; Aphrastus Say, 1831 is transferred from Phyllobiini to Geonemini; Miloderoides Van Dyke, 1936 and Trigonoscutoides O'Brien, 1977 are transferred from Tanymecini to Geonemini; Glaphyrometopus Pierce, 1913 is transferred from Naupactini to Geonemini; Amotus Casey, 1888 is placed as a new junior subjective synonym of Stamoderes Casey, 1888 and retained as Geonemini; Pactorrhinus grisescens Ancey, 1881 is formalized as a junior subjective synonym of Ericydeus lautus (LeConte, 1856); Pactorrhinus Ancey, 1881 is therefore considered a new junior subjective synonym of Ericydeus Pascoe, 1880.
Some insects can escape from predators even after being captured. Adults of the water scavenging beetle Regimbartia predators such as frogs and fish. When swallowed by frogs of at least six species, they pass alive through the digestive tract and eventually escape via the vent. When captured by the catfish Silurus asotus Linnaeus, 1758 (Siluriformes: Siluridae), they resist within the mouth and are subsequently spat out alive. Although adult R. attenuata are known to escape from frogs of various sizes and species, it remains unclear whether they can also escape from fish species other than S. asotus. In this study, I investigated whether adult R. attenuata can avoid predation by the freshwater goby Rhinogobius tyoni Suzuki, Kimura, and Shibukawa, 2019 (Gobiiformes: Oxudercidae), which co-occurs with the beetle in the same habitat and is considerably smaller than the previously tested S. asotus. Under laboratory conditions, a single adult beetle was presented individually to each goby in an aquarium. Of the 22 gobies tested, 20 took the beetle into their mouths but spat it out within 3 s of capture. The rejection behavior of R. tyoni was similar to that previously reported for S. asotus, suggesting that adult R. attenuata can escape from multiple fish species of different sizes after capture.
