Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera, in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 described species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms; new species are discovered frequently, with estimates suggesting that there are between 0.9 and 2.1 million total species. Found in almost every habitat except the sea and the polar regions, they interact with their ecosystems in several ways: beetles often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are serious agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle, while others such as Coccinellidae eat aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops.
The Asian arowana comprises several phenotypic varieties of freshwater fish distributed geographically across Southeast Asia. While most consider the different varieties to belong to a single species, work by Pouyaud et al. (2003) differentiates these varieties into multiple species. They have several other common names, including Asian bonytongue, dragonfish, and a number of names specific to the different color varieties.
The Pentatomoidea are a superfamily of insects in the Heteroptera suborder of the Hemiptera order. As Hemiptera, they share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts. The roughly 7000 species under Pentatomoidea are divided into 21 families. Among these are the stink bugs and shield bugs, jewel bugs, giant shield bugs, and burrower bugs.
The broadfin shark is a tropical whaler shark, characterized by the broad shape of its pectoral fins. They are classified as requiem sharks of the family Carcharhinidae. This is one of two species in the genus Lamiopsis, the other being the Borneo broadfin shark. The broadfin shark is native to the northern Indian Ocean, and is found close to shore. Its current status according to the IUCN is endangered.
Glyptothorax is a genus of catfishes order Siluriformes of the family Sisoridae. It is the most species-rich and widely distributed genus in the family with new species being discovered on a regular basis. These species are distributed in the Black Sea basin, northern Turkey, south and east to the Yangtze River drainage in China and south throughout Indo-China to Java, Indonesia. They are found in Asia Minor and southwards to Southeast Asia. The genus is very diverse in the Indian subcontinent. Southeast Asian species tend to have restricted distributions.
The white-eared hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found from the southwestern U.S. to Nicaragua.
The Cassidinae are a subfamily of the leaf beetles, or Chrysomelidae. The antennae arise close to each other and some members have the pronotal and elytral edges extended to the side and covering the legs so as to give them the common name of tortoise beetles. Some members, such as in the tribe Hispini, are notable for the spiny outgrowths to the pronotum and elytra.
Triplophysa is a genus of fish in the family Nemacheilidae found mainly in and around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China. Currently, the genus is a mixed assemblage of species. Some lineages have been identified and treated as subgenera, but as Wikipedia follows Fishbase for fish species all but Hedinichthys have been treated as subgenera in Wikipedia, although Kottelat in his revision of the loaches did recognise them as valid. FishBase, however, includes these in Triplophysa without specifying subgenera and treats the names given by Kottelat as synonyms.
The white-bellied emerald is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
The azure-crowned hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
The Veraguan mango is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found in Panama and recently in Costa Rica. It was considered conspecific with the Green-breasted Mango but was separated due to morphological and geographical differences in 1995.
Glyphoglossus is a genus of frogs in the family Microhylidae. The genus occurs in Southeastern Asia. Common name balloon frogs has been coined for it, whereas the common name squat frogs refers to the Calluella species that are now included in this genus. They are fossorial frogs that spend only limited time on the soil surface and are typically known from only few specimens.
Prionoceridae is a small family of beetles, in the suborder Polyphaga. They form a group within the cleroid beetles and were formerly treated as a subfamily (Prionocerinae) within the family Melyridae. Very little is known of their life history but most species are pollen feeders as adults and occur in large numbers during spring or the host flowering season. Larvae are predatory or feed on decomposing wood.
Cicindela aurulenta, common name blue-spotted or golden-spotted tiger beetle, is a beetle of the family Carabidae.
Lasioglossum vierecki, also known as Dialictus vierecki and Halictus vierecki, is a sand sweat bee and is part of the family Halictidae of the order Hymenoptera. It is found in the eastern half of North America from Minnesota to the New England States down to Georgia and Louisiana and up in Manitoba and Ontario. Commonly found in sandy areas, it pollinates various flowers such as grass-leaved goldenrod and rattlesnake master.
Ptomaphaginus is a genus of beetles belonging to the family Leiodidae. It contains about 97 species worldwide. Most members live in caves or soil, thus eyes are absent or rudimentary. In 2008, a new species was discovered in the Sunda region. In 2017, two species in Japan were recorded, and 12 new species were discovered in China in 2015.
Tetratoma is a genus of polypore fungus beetles in the family Tetratomidae. There are about 25 described species in Tetratoma.
2015 in paleoentomology is a list of new fossil insect taxa that were described during the year 2016, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleoentomology that were scheduled to occur during the year.
2015 in paleoentomology is a list of new fossil insect taxa that were described during the year 2015, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleoentomology that were scheduled to occur during the year.
Tetratoma nikitskyi is a species of polypore fungus beetle found within the family Tetratomidae. Identified by Vitaly I. Alekseev, this species is the first of the Tetratomidae family to be located within the Baltic amber.
