| Glacicavicola bathyscioides | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Leiodidae |
| Subfamily: | Catopocerinae |
| Genus: | Glacicavicola |
| Species: | G. bathyscioides |
| Binomial name | |
| Glacicavicola bathyscioides Westcott, 1968 | |
Glacicavicola bathyscioides is a species of blind cave beetle in family Leiodidae. It is endemic to caves in the western United States.
Glacicavicola bathyscioides is a shiny, translucent, brownish-orange, ant-like beetle, approximately 6 mm long by 2mm wide. It has become well-adapted to the troglobitic lifestyle: it has long thin antennae covered in fine setae, and slender legs (also covered in setae) which allow it to easily traverse the difficult terrain present in its environment. [2] The beetle is completely blind, lacking eyes and optic neuropiles. [3] Its abdomen exhibits false physogastry, which means that it appears larger than it truly is, due to the enlarged dome-like elytra which covers the entire abdomen.
Little is known about the biology of Glacicavicola bathyscioides due to its unique lifecycle and location. The beetles have been observed to feed on arthropod remains, as well as fungus, and it is speculated that they may eat bacteria as well. No larval form of the beetle has been observed. The beetles are suspected to have a lifecycle of around three years. [2] [4]
Glacicavicola bathyscioides was originally described by Richard Westcott in lava tube ice caves along the eastern Snake River Plain of Idaho. [5] It has since been discovered in similar localities, including a limestone cave in Wyoming. [4] The beetles have been associated with humid, cold cave temperatures and ice, and they die when exposed to higher temperatures, which limits their distribution. [6]
Dermestidae are a family of Coleoptera that are commonly referred to as skin beetles. Other common names include larder beetle, hide or leather beetles, carpet beetles, and khapra beetles. There are over 1,800 species described.
Agathidium is a genus of beetles in the family Leiodidae.
An ice cave is any type of natural cave that contains significant amounts of perennial (year-round) ice. At least a portion of the cave must have a temperature below 0 °C (32 °F) all year round, and water must have traveled into the cave’s cold zone.
Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies.
Cave-dwelling insects are among the most widespread and prominent troglofauna, including troglobites, troglophiles, and trogloxenes. As a category of ecological adaptations, such insects are significant in many senses, ecological, evolutionary, and physiological.
Leptodirus is a cave beetle in the family Leiodidae. The genus contains only the single species Leptodirus hochenwartii. It is a true troglobite, endemic to Slovenian, Croatian and, partly, Italian caves.
The European chafer is a beetle of the family Scarabaeidae. Formerly found only in continental Europe, this invasive species is now found at temperate latitudes in North America. The large, white grubs of A. majale feed on the roots of most cool-latitude grasses, both wild and cultivated. This has made the European chafer an enemy of lawns.
The Tooth Cave ground beetle, Rhadine persephone, is an endemic beetle that lives only in karst caves in Texas. These arthropods belong to the family Carabidae. The United States government considers these beetles endangered because they are only found in a single cave system. If these caves are destroyed, this beetle will likely go extinct. The cave system is currently threatened by pollution, urban development, and invasion by fire ants.
Subterranean fauna refers to animal species that are adapted to live in an underground environment. Troglofauna and stygofauna are the two types of subterranean fauna. Both are associated with hypogeal habitats – troglofauna is associated with terrestrial subterranean environment, and stygofauna with all kind of subterranean waters.
Zospeum tholussum or the domed land snail, is a cave-dwelling species of air-breathing land snails in the family Ellobiidae. It is a very small species, with a shell height of less than 2 mm (0.08 in) and a shell width of around 1 mm (0.04 in). Z. tholussum individuals are completely blind and possess translucent shells with five to six whorls. The second whorl of their shells has a characteristic dome-like shape. They are also extremely slow-moving and may depend on passive transportation through running water or larger animals for dispersal.
Gelae is a genus of round fungus beetles belonging to the family Leiodidae. The beetles are found in different parts of Central and North America. They are small and rounded, feeding on slime moulds. They were originally placed in the genus Agathidium following the discovery of the first species, G. cognatum, in 1878. The taxonomic position was revised with description of new species in 2004 by American entomologists Kelly B. Miller and Quentin D. Wheeler. Upon creation of the new genus, the five new species are Gelae baen, G. belae, G. donut, G. fish, and G. rol.
Melville Harrison Hatch (1898–1988) was an American entomologist who specialized in the study of beetles. His long career at the University of Washington was highlighted by the publication of the seminal, five-volume work Beetles of the Pacific Northwest. Hatch is responsible for the identification and naming of 13 species.
Bruchidius siliquastri is a species of bean weevil. It was first found in pods of Cercis siliquastrum in China, and has thence been found in several continents. Its length ranges from 2.8 to 3.7 millimetres. Its body is short and ovate, with a black integument. The apex of its femora and the ventral part of its hind tarsi are reddish. Its vestiture is made of thin and short setae; dorsally setae are a whitish colour, denser on the scutellum. Its pygidium is also covered with setae. Its name is derived from its host plant.
Colilodion schulzi is a species of beetles belonging to the family Staphylinidae. This small, robust, reddish-brown rove beetle is known from a single specimen, a 2.37 millimetres (0.093 in) long female. It resembles the species C. concinnus and C. inopinatus with its enlarged antennomeres III, but it is easily distinguished by the greater maximum width and less variable width of these appendages, and by other morphological characteristics. Although its ecology is unknown, the presence of trichomes and the knowledge of related species, such as Staphylinidae suggests that this insect is myrmecophilous. The holotype was collected in 2009 in Palawan (Philippines) while sifting plant debris in a coniferous forest. The species was described in 2016 by the coleopterists Zi-Wei Yin from Shanghai Normal University and Giulio Cuccodoro from the Natural History Museum of Geneva, where the type specimen is part of the collection. The taxon's specific denomination is dedicated to the German myrmecologist Andreas Schulz, collector of the specimen.
Ptomaphagus brevior is a species of small carrion beetle in the family Leiodidae. It is found in North America.
Aglyptinus laevis is a species of round fungus beetle in the family Leiodidae. It is found in North America.
Aglyptinus is a genus of round fungus beetles in the family Leiodidae. There is one described species in Aglyptinus, A. laevis.
Rivacindela hudsoni is an Australian species of the family Cicindelinae or "tiger beetle" and is the fastest running insect. The genus Rivacindela is contentiously treated as a subgenus of the broader Cicindela and are typically found in salty habitats such as dry salt lakes and salt streams. The species was discovered in South Australia and described in 1997, with an adult form of approximately 20–21mm in length and a running speed of 2.49 m/s, or 120 body lengths per second.
Dr Aola Mary Richards was a New Zealand entomologist specialising in the study of New Zealand and Australian cave crickets, or wētā (Rhaphidophoridae), and Australian ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae). She was the first New Zealand woman to gain a PhD in biology.
Termitophiles are macro-organisms adapted to live in association with termites or their nests. They include vertebrates, invertebrates and fungi and can either be obligate termitophiles or non-obligate termitophiles. Termitophiles may spend a just a part or the whole of their lifecycle inside a termite nest. The term termitariophily has been suggested as a term to describe the situation where a foreign organism merely uses the termite nest.
