Two coastal Athetini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae) species new to Korea

Two coastal species in the tribe Athetini, Osakatheta yasukoae Maruyama, Klimaszewski and Gusarov, and Psammostiba hilleri (Weise), are newly discovered from the Korean fauna. Diagnoses, habitus photographs and line drawings of median lobe are provided.     

Phytochelatin–metal(loid) transport into vacuoles shows different substrate preferences in barley and Arabidopsis

Cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) are toxic to all living organisms, including plants and humans. In plants, Cd and As are detoxified by phytochelatins (PCs) and metal(loid)‐chelating peptides and by sequestering PC–metal(loid) complexes in vacuoles. Consistent differences have been observed between As and Cd detoxification. Whereas chelation of Cd by PCs is largely sufficient to detoxify Cd, As–PC complexes must be sequestered into vacuoles to be fully detoxified. It is not clear whether this difference in detoxification pathways is ubiquitous among plants or varies across species. Here, we have conducted a PC transport study using vacuoles isolated from Arabidopsis and barley. Arabidopsis vacuoles accumulated low levels of PC₂–Cd, and vesicles from yeast cells expressing either AtABCC1 or AtABCC2 exhibited negligible PC₂–Cd transport activity compared with PC₂–As. In contrast, barley vacuoles readily accumulated comparable levels of PC₂–Cd and PC₂–As. PC transport in barley vacuoles was inhibited by vanadate, but not by ammonium, suggesting the involvement of ABC‐type transporters. Interestingly, barley vacuoles exhibited enhanced PC₂ transport activity when essential metal ions, such as Zn(II), Cu(II) and Mn(II), were added to the transport assay, suggesting that PCs might contribute to the homeostasis of essential metals and detoxification of non‐essential toxic metal(loid)s.     

Three synonyms of the coastal Phucobius sharp species (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) are proposed based on morphological and molecular characters

A taxonomic reappraisal of four marine littoral Phucobius Sharp species along the western Pacific Ocean including the South China Sea is presented based on morphological and molecular characters (COI and 28S). Specimens of the four species, each having its own distinct geographic distribution, are extremely similar to each other including the structures of the median lobe of the aedeagus, and may be regarded as conspecific. Also, the molecular analyses support the validity of P. pectoralis with three synonymies based on morphological characters. Genetic divergence of COI using uncorrected p-distance among all individuals of Phucobius species ranged from 0.11% to 3.21%. Three distinct geographical clusters (Russia, Korea and Japan, and Vietnam) are found in the NJ and PA trees and we treat all of them as a single species. Three new synonyms are proposed for Phucobius pectoralis (Boheman): P. simulator Sharp syn. nov., P. tricolor Bernhauer syn. nov., and P. densipennis Bernhauer syn. nov. Phucobius pectoralis is redescribed with illustrations of diagnostic characters. Also, the intraspecific variation among the populations of P. pectoralis is briefly discussed.     

A Taxonomic Study of the Genus Agathidium Panzer (Coleoptera: Leiodidae) from Korea, Part II. Subgenus Agathidium

A taxonomic study of the subgenus Agathidium of the genus Agathidium Panzer in Korea is presented. Four species [Agathidium (Agathidium) coreanum Angelini, A. (A.) crassicorne Portevin, A. (A.) merkli Angelini, and A. (A.) oblongum Angelini] are recognized. Agathidium (A.) mequignoni Roubal recorded by Angelini is misidentification of A. (A.) crassicorne Portevin. Spermatheca of A. (A.) merkli is illustrated for the first time. A key to the species, diagnoses and illustrations of diagnostic characters are provided.     

Molecular phylogeny of Omaliinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) and its implications for evolution of atypically long elytra in rove beetles

Staphylinidae, or rove beetles, are a megadiverse family known for their typically very short elytra exposing most of the abdomen, but the putatively early-derived subfamily Omaliinae and its relatives have been known to include multiple taxa with unusually long elytra. The ancestral elytral length of the family and of this subfamily have long been debated. We present a phylogenetic analysis of Omaliinae based on partial mitochondrial COI (1488 bp), COII (366 bp), 12S rDNA (353 bp), nuclear 18S rDNA (1814 bp), 28S rDNA (876 bp) and CAD (869 bp) data. In all, 51 species in 31 genera and four outgroup species were included. The concatenated sequences were analysed by both parsimony- and model-based (Bayesian and maximum likelihood) methods. The subfamily Omaliinae was not supported as a monophyletic group. The model-based analyses (Bayesian and maximum likelihood trees) showed Empelinae nested within Omaliinae (excluding Corneolabiini), whereas parsimony analysis found all three putative ingroup subfamilies, Empelinae, Glypholomatinae and Microsilphinae, grouped within Omaliinae. Within the Omaliinae, the tribes Coryphiini and Eusphalerini were each supported as monophyletic, whereas Anthophagini and Omaliini were each nonmonophyletic. We hypothesize that there have been at least four independent origins of long elytra from short elytra in the omaliine lineage.