McGuire Institute

A rarely reported new species of Mimallonidae from Florida, USA, is described. Remarkably, the distinctive new species has not been seen across much of its historical range since the 1960s, and all records come from six somewhat isolated white sand Florida Scrub habitats, one of which is completely destroyed and most others clearly imperiled. DNA barcoding sequences from the disparate populations suggest notable genetic diversity in the few known populations, meaning extirpation of any of them could signal loss of critical population structure of an already narrowly endemic species. Cicinnusalbarenicolus St Laurent, sp. nov. is compared to the only other similar species in North America, C.melsheimeri (Harris in Doubleday), a common denizen of oak forests throughout the eastern United States, including Florida, southern Canada, and the Rocky Mountains. Until its distribution and life history are more well-understood, C.albarenicolus will remain an enigmatic taxon of major conservation concern.

The whitelined sphinx moth, Hyles lineata, is a generalist during both the larval and adult stages with a broad geographic range extending across North and Central America. Within the genus Hyles there have been multiple transitions to a narrower host plant range, making Hyles an ideal group to study the evolution and mechanisms of host plant selection. We characterize sex- and appendage-specific chemosensory gene expression in H. lineata, the oldest extant member of the genus. We also describe female-specific gene expression in appendages used to sense plant surfaces as a means of identifying candidate genes involved in host plant choice. Sensilla on these appendages house sensory neurons and support cells that express chemosensory genes, receptors, and small proteins that bind, shuttle, and transport small molecules to allow detection of odorants and other small molecules. We considered genes detected more frequently in the female leg and ovipositor samples to be candidate oviposition-relevant genes. Most chemosensory genes of interest were detected in both sexes, while several odorant receptors were only detected in females. We identified 18 putative chemosensory genes that were specific to female legs, ovipositors, or both body parts. However, most of these genes did not reach statistical criteria to be considered differentially expressed. Instead, a set of OBPs show statistically significant female-biased expression in legs and ovipositors. These genes may serve as candidates for future study of the evolution and mechanisms of oviposition behavior in this species and its relatives.

A central goal in evolutionary biology is to determine the predictability of adaptive genetic changes. Despite many documented cases of convergent evolution at individual loci, little is known about the repeatability of gene family expansions and contractions. To address this void, we examined gene family evolution in the redheaded pine sawfly Neodiprion lecontei, a noneusocial hymenopteran and exemplar of a pine‐specialized lineage evolved from angiosperm‐feeding ancestors. After assembling and annotating a draft genome, we manually annotated multiple gene families with chemosensory, detoxification, or immunity functions before characterizing their genomic distributions and molecular evolution. We find evidence of recent expansions of bitter gustatory receptor, clan 3 cytochrome P450, olfactory receptor, and antimicrobial peptide subfamilies, with strong evidence of positive selection among paralogs in a clade of gustatory receptors possibly involved in the detection of bitter compounds. In contrast, these gene families had little evidence of recent contraction via pseudogenization. Overall, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that in response to novel selection pressures, gene families that mediate ecological interactions may expand and contract predictably. Testing this hypothesis will require the comparative analysis of high‐quality annotation data from phylogenetically and ecologically diverse insect species and functionally diverse gene families. To this end, increasing sampling in under‐sampled hymenopteran lineages and environmentally responsive gene families and standardizing manual annotation methods should be prioritized.

New Chinese Palpifer species are described from Yunnan and Fujian provinces. The male of Palpifer nielseni sp. n. is described from specimens housed at the Witt Museum Weiden and the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, while a male of P. chui sp. n. and a male and female of Palpifer climoi sp. n., are described from specimens in the latter collection only. Specimens were originally part of the Franz Daniel collection, collected in 1934-1935 from elevations of 2,300 and 3,000 m. The new species are diagnosed primarily by differences in the male genitalia. The female genitalia of P. climoi sp. n. represent the second published description for Palpifer. Four unique features of the forewing supporting monophyly of Palpifer are discussed.

This prospective study assessed the dual-curing self-adhesive bulk-fill restorative Surefil one. The restorations were placed and reviewed by dental practitioners who are members of a practice-based research network in the United States. Seven practitioners filled 60 cavities (20 class I, 19 class II and 21 class V) in 41 patients with Surefil one without adhesive, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The restorations were evaluated using modified USPHS criteria at baseline, 3 months, and 1 year. Patients were also contacted to report postoperative hypersensitivity one to four weeks after placement. The only patient that showed moderate hypersensitivity after 1 year had previously reported symptoms that were unlikely associated to the class I molar restoration. One class II restoration in a fractured maxillary molar was partially lost. The remaining restorations were found to be in clinically acceptable condition resulting in an annual failure rate of 2%. Color match showed the lowest number of acceptable scores (88%) revealing significant changes over time (P = 0.0002). No significant differences were found for the other criteria (P > 0.05). The novel self-adhesive bulk-fill restorative showed clinically acceptable results in stress-bearing class I and II as well as non-retentive class V cavities at 1-year recall.

Mexico is the Mesoamerican country with the highest number of Castniidae species (12), most of which are found in the dry regions of the country. Among these, Athis hechtiae (Dyar, 1910) was considered a species widely distributed in Mexico after Athis miastagma (Dyar, 1925) was synonymized with A. hechtiae over two decades ago. A genetic and morphological study, as well as details of the natural history of various populations of these two taxa have led us to restore Athis miastagma as a valid species (stat. rest.), increasing the number of castniids recorded in Mexico to 13.

Agripialus gen. n. and Mutipialus gen. n. are described to accommodate the following species: A. campos sp. n., A. variabilis sp. n., A. itatiaia sp. n., A. caparao sp. n., M. dilatus sp. n., and M. monticolus sp. n. All are from southeastern and southern Brazil. Diagnostic characters suggest a closer phylogenetic relationship between these two genera, than to any other described genus.

Larval feeding by the Central American ghost moth Phassus n-signatus is recorded in the Asian tree Ligustrum lucidum for the first time. Larval feeding and feeding damage was observed on 15 plants in a suburban environment where L. lucidum is widely used as a residential hedge. Larvae feed under a web of silk and frass on callus wound tissue that grows back following removal of bark around the entrance to a short (less than 42 cm) tunnel where the larva resides when at rest. The diameter of host plant stems at the tunnel site ranged between 4–32 cm and most larval tunnels were found less than 1.5 m from the ground. The presence of P. n-signatus within a suburban residential area shows that this species can persist within human modified urbanized environments where there are sufficient host plants available, and ground conditions include decaying plant debris that would be necessary to support growth of early instars that are presumed to occupy this microhabitat as documented for other stem boring Hepialidae. Key words: callus feeding, Central America, ecology, host plant, larva, phytophagy, stem borer

Prey transmit sensory illusions to redirect predatory strikes, creating a discrepancy between what a predator perceives and reality. We use the acoustic arms race between bats and moths to investigate the evolution and function of a sensory illusion. The spinning hindwing tails of silk moths (Saturniidae) divert bat attack by reflecting sonar to create a misleading echoic target. We characterized geometric morphometrics of moth hindwings across silk moths, mapped these traits onto a new, robust phylogeny, and found that elaborated hindwing structures have converged on four adaptive shape peaks. To test the mechanism underlying these anti-bat traits, we pit bats against three species of silk moths with experimentally altered hindwings that created a representative gradient of ancestral and extant hindwing shapes. High-speed videography of battles reveals that moths with longer hindwings and tails more successfully divert bat attack. We postulate that sensory illusions are widespread and are underappreciated drivers of diversity across systems.