Chemical defense mechanisms have been extensively studied across Coleoptera. Many beetle lineages have gained or lost chemical defense mechanisms independently, but the evolutionary consequences of such shifts have been largely unstudied. This study uses stochastic mapping to estimate the number of evolutionary gains and losses of chemical defense glands in the long-jointed beetles (Tenebrionidae: Lagriinae). We also use 2D geometric morphometrics to quantify the evolutionary consequences of chemical defenses on elytral shape, as well as body and elytron size. We reveal multiple transitions between character states of chemical defense mechanisms across the evolution of the subfamily Lagriinae, and we demonstrate that those lagriine taxa without chemical defenses have smaller and more variable body and elytron sizes than those that have retained chemical defenses. These results establish that although many lineages of Lagriinae beetles have chemical defenses, possessing them may inflict an evolutionary constraint on elytron and body size across macroevolutionary time.

Continuing with the pioneering work by M. Graham Netting, the abundance of woodland box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) and wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) were opportunistically monitored for six decades (1959–2019) at the Powdermill Nature Reserve (PNR) in southwestern Pennsylvania. We found that both of the species grew slowly with delayed maturity and potentially long lives. Four wood turtles were recaptured 27–45 yrs after first marking, and five box turtles were 28–45 yrs post-marking. Both sexes of each species had high adult survivorship, with females exhibiting higher recapture probabilities. Although we found relatively few box turtles at PNR, their numbers were generally steady over six decades. Conversely, the wood turtle was frequently encountered in the 1960s but then had an apparent decline with no recovery. For example, of the 161 marked wood turtles, most (57.8%) were encountered during the first decade of study and only 15 were marked since 2004. We found no relationship between wood turtle numbers and major weather events such as severe cold periods or flooding. Thus, several factors may have coalesced to reduce their numbers at PNR: increased vehicle use of a road that bisects the property, habitat succession, stream pollution from prior coal mining, and collecting for the pet trade. As protective measures for these terrestrial turtle species, we suggest the construction of fences and under-road culverts for safe passage across roads, and the restoration of patches of open habitats across the property for turtle nesting.

Four new species of fleas of the genus Ctenidiosomus Jordan, 1931, are described from Puntarenas and San Jose provinces, Costa Rica and the Piura and Cuzco regions of Peru (Ctenidiosomus eckerlini, Ctenidiosomus churchi, Ctenidiosomus pattersoni, and Ctenidiosomus solusensus). This is the first record of the genus in Central America. Four specimens of C. eckerlini were collected from three different host species (Peromyscus mexicanus (Saussure, 1860), Nephelomys devius (Bangs, 1902) and one from a composite of three different hosts (none of which it had ever been collected from previously). The preferred host for the new Peruvian species C. churchi, appears to be Thomasomys cinereus Thomas, 1882, although additional collections are needed to validate its true host. Ctenidiosomus pattersoni occurred on Lestoros inca (Thomas, 1917) but was most abundant on Akodon torques (Thomas, 1917). The fourth new taxon, C. solusensus, was described from two females, one collected from Akodon aerosus Thomas, 1913, and the other from Nephelomys levipes (Thomas, 1902). All known records of Ctenidiosomus were from species belonging to the rodent family Cricetidae with two exceptions from an opossum shrew, Caenolestes fuliginosus (Tomes, 1863) and L. inca. Table 1 identifies the documented host species for the nine known species. The genus Ctenidiosomus was known previously only from South America (Venezuela to Argentina) and is the only member of the family Pygiopsyllidae in the Western Hemisphere. Except for Ctenidiosomus perplexus Tipton and Machado-Allison, 1972, there are only a few records for each of the other eight species of this geographically enigmatic genus that spans the entire length of the western Neotropical Region. Considering the diversity of host records (n = 23), individual species have seldom been recovered from the same host species. The presence of setae on the aedeagus is pointed out for the first time in the genus. A discussion of the origin, phylogenetic relationship to Australian pygiopsyllids, its presence in the New World, and host associations for the genus are discussed; however, conclusive evidence remains unclear and requires further investigation.

The Carboniferous–Permian (C–P) Maroon Formation of western Colorado preserves a paleotropical record of continuous terrestrial sedimentation during Earth's penultimate icehouse-hothouse state change: the “Late Paleozoic Ice Age.” In the last twenty years, reports of vertebrate fossils, including tetrapod trackways, have suggested a diverse terrestrial vertebrate fauna adapted to dryland conditions comparable to the famous Permian Tambach vertebrate assemblage of Germany, but body fossils in the formation have remained elusive. Here, we describe the first vertebrate body fossils from the Maroon Formation and discuss them in the contexts of the known ichnoassemblage and C–P environmental change. The vertebrate fossils occur within a sequence of thin carbonate beds in the lower portion of the formation and represent a largely aquatic assemblage. We identify the remains of xenacanth and hybodont chondrichthyans, including the hybodont Hamiltonichthys, actinopterygians, including a platysomid and a pygopterid closely comparable to Progyrolepis, the lungfish Sagenodus, and an amphibamiform temnospondyl (among other rare and isolated tetrapod elements). The assemblage provides biostratigraphic data that may correlate the lower portion of the Maroon Formation to the late Carboniferous and the stratigraphically higher red siltstones to the early Permian (Wolfcampian), and therefore a continuous record of deposition across the C–P boundary. The new assemblage preserves a snapshot of one of the latest known Carboniferous wetland faunas in western Colorado prior to Pangean climate-drying during the peak Late Paleozoic Ice Age.