TLC for the Gyrinidae

One of the undergrads working in the lab (Grey Gustafson) has taken a strong interest in the water beetle family Gyrinidae (beloved my most people as the 'Whirligig beetles', those black things spinning around on the surface of ponds and streams). Among other projects this summer, he has taken up the full recuration of our holdings of this family (ca. 6500 specimens, ca. 160 species). We also arranged a very generous exchange of some synoptic material from the Smithsonian, which has enhanced our taxonomic representation. The newly loved gyrinid collection now contains fully updated taxonomy, header cards, and has been inventoried to the species level. We'll get the PDF of the holdings up eventually.

Visitors

Charles Bartlett and one of his graduate students, Lawrence, from the University of Delaware visited the collection for a couple days this week. Charles works mostly with Fulgoroid families (plant hoppers), notably Delphacidae. We have an excellent and globally important collection of these groups due to prior curatorial emphasis by Beamer and others. In addition to looking for material of note, they also did a good amount of basic sorting in our undetermined "Homoptera" section. Historical note: Charles was the one responsible for guiding me into aquatic beetles during my undergrad days at Delaware.

Species of the Month: June

Our very first species of the month is a new species of water scavenger beetle in the genus Oocyclus. It doesn’t have a name yet, so feel free to suggest one! This little iridescent green sphere lives in rock seeps and the spray zones of waterfalls in the Venezuelan Andes (in this case, near Trujillo). I’ll take this opportunity to note the blog title refers to the lab’s research interest in insects that live in these kinds of habitats. So far, our work in Venezuela has found 15 new species in this genus. Based on this and preliminary data from elsewhere, it would not be surprising if northern South America was home to 50 or more species. These guys tend to be relatively localized to regional mountain chains, with 2 to 4 species endemic to each chain. I don't have a good up-close habitus photo yet. I'll post one when I do; they look cooler in their element anyway.

Welcome

Welcome to the nascent blog of the Short Lab Group in the Division of Entomology [Biodiversity Institute] and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas. Most of our research focuses on aquatic beetles: their evolution, biology, ecology, morphology, and distribution. We dare not try to contain their coolness to the confines of our lab (nor would we want to!) so we hope to use this forum to post periodic happenings and discoveries on a more or less regular basis. Stay tuned!