Revision of Nicrophorus in part: new species and inferred phylogeny of the nepalensis-group based on evidence from morphology and mitochondrial DNA (Coleoptera:Silphidae:Nicrophorinae)

Abstract

Carrion beetles of the genus Nicrophorus Fabricius, 1775 (Silphidae) are well known for their biparental brood care and monopolisation of small vertebrate carcasses in subterranean crypts. Although the taxonomy of New World species has received modern attention, the fauna of Asia, primarily of the nepalensis-group of species, has not. Herein we revise this species-group and describe as new the following seven species: Nicrophorus charon Sikes & Madge (Sulawesi), . We obtained a preliminary phylogeny using morphology and mtDNA (COII). This was inferred using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods with the Mkv and GTR+I+G models (parsimony was rejected by the Akaike information criterion for being excessively parameter-rich). The phylogenetic signal in the morphological dataset was not strong and results were confounded by a 'long-branch' species, N. reticulatus. The signal was stronger in the combined dataset and the COII-only dataset. The molecular phylogeny supported the new status of species N. trumboi and N. melissae. Support was found for a mainland origin of the group with subsequent radiations into the Malay Archipelago.

Description of Nicrophorus efferens, new species, from Bougainville Island (Coleoptera, Silphidae, Nicrophorinae)

“…Species of this group are primarily montane in regions of eastern Asia and the Malay Archipelago, ranging in longitude from 73°E (Pakistan) to 160°E (Guadalcanal) and latitude from 51°N (Ussuri, Russia) to 9°48'S (Papua New Guinea) (Sikes et al 2006). In the first descriptions of the species group, Portevin (1926), who originally aligned its members, and Hatch (1927), who formally recognized the species group, included five species: Nicrophorus nepalensis Hope, Nicrophorus podagricus Portevin, Nicrophorus heurni Portevin, Nicrophorus quadripunctatus Kraatz, and Nicrophorus maculifrons Kraatz.…”

“…Sikes (2003) removed Nicrophorus sausai , but added Nicrophorus apo Arnett and Nicrophorus insularis Grouvelle. The most recent taxonomic and phylogenetic work on the nepalensis species group is that by Sikes et al (2006) who included seven newly described species, bringing the total number of species in the group to 15.…”

“…Only two species of Nicrophorus were known from the Solomon Islands archipelago prior to this study: Nicrophorus reticulatus Sikes and Madge and Nicrophorus kieticus Mroczkowski (Sikes et al 2006). In this work, a third Nicrophorus species for the region, from Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, is described.…”

“…In this work, a third Nicrophorus species for the region, from Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, is described. This new species is described within the context of an ongoing revision of the subfamily (see Sikes and Peck 2000, Sikes 2003, Sikes 2005, Sikes et al 2002, 2006, 2008, Mousseau and Sikes 2011). …”

Further studies on Boreonectes Angus, 2010, with a molecular phylogeny of the Palaearctic species of the genus

“…It was suggested that this more extensive darkening may be associated with wooded habitats. Latitude and longitude references for the type localities are, for Tatsienlu Tjiji 30°25' (=30.417°) N 102°40'(=102.667°) E (Balke 1992) and for Mukue Tatsienlu 30.05°N 102.03°E (Sykes et al 2006). Google Earth gives altitudes of 1944 m a.s.l.…”