Phylogeny of a new supertribe Cephenniitae with generic review of Eutheiini and description of a new tribe Marcepaniini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae)

Genera of Eutheiini are reviewed and Eutheimorphus is removed from this tribe of ant‐like stone beetles (Scydmaeninae) and transferred to Cephenniini. A monogeneric Marcepaniini trib.n. is described to accommodate Marcepania gen.n. from Malaysia, with five species: M. semengohensis sp.n. (the type species of Marcepania), M. tuberculata sp.n. , M. seramaensis sp.n. , M. minutissima sp.n. and M. elongata sp.n. A phylogenetic analysis of all genera of Cephenniini, Eutheiini and Marcepaniini based on adult morphological characters resulted in recovering a well‐supported monophyletic clade Eutheiini + (Marcepaniini + Cephenniini) and these tribes are included in Cephenniitae stat.n. (Eutheiini and Cephenniini are therefore removed from Scydmaenitae). Only a weak support for monophyly of Eutheiini was found, but morphological characters allow for maintaining this presumably relic group as a separate tribe. Previously proposed monophyletic groups within Cephenniini were recovered as such, but after inclusion of Eutheimorphus, a sister taxon to the ‘Cephennomicrus group’, the latter lineage gained weak statistical support. The evolutionary history of Cephenniitae is discussed, with focus on known northern hemisphere fossils classified in Scydmaenitae and Hapsomelitae, but possibly closely allied to Cephenniitae. Establishing the supertribe Cephenniitae is the first step toward a profound reclassification of Scydmaeninae on a robust phylogenetic basis. This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B0E1B12D-9587-4C4F-A908-A12A0C424A8C .     

The effectiveness of steers and heifers treated with oestrogen or testosterone to detect oestrus in cattle

Two experiments were carried out to determine the effectiveness of steers and heifers, treated with oestrogen or testosterone, in the detection of oestrus in cattle.In the first experiment 17 steers castrated at birth and 16 castrated at 6 months of age were randomly allocated to three groups and received an 800 mg subcutaneous implant of testosterone, subcutaneous injections of 10 mg oestradiol benzoate per week for 16 weeks or no hormone (controls). In addition, six heifers were injected subcutaneously with 10 mg oestradiol benzoate per week for 16 weeks while six untreated heifers served as controls. Animals were observed in a standardised libido test 2, 4, 8, 16, 20 and 24 weeks after treatment commenced. The time to first mount and the number of mounts per animal responding in the presence of oestrous heifers were recorded. Both steers and heifers treated with oestradiol benzoate were superior at detection of oestrus in cattle than animals treated with testosterone or those receiving no hormone. Oestrogen-treated animals generally detected heifers in oestrus in less than 3 min after introduction and mounted these animals between 20 and 30 times in one hour. This response was consistent throughout the duration of the experiment. There was no effect of age at castration of steers on development of male behaviour.The second experiment determined the rate and degree of development of male behaviour in steers in response to weekly subcutaneous injections of 0, 2, 4, 8 or 16 mg oestradiol benzoate per 250 kg body weight, 250 mg testosterone or 150 mg dihydrotestosterone for a period of 15 weeks. Steers treated with oestradiol benzoate again proved to be more successful than untreated or testosterone-treated steers at consistently detecting and mounting oestrous heifers. The best response was obtained from steers treated with 8 mg/250 kg body weight per week. The practical application of this work is discussed.