The option of describing new taxa using photographs as proxies for lost or escaped (‘unpreserved’) type specimens has been rarely used but is now undergoing renewed scrutiny as taxonomists are increasingly equipped to capture descriptive information prior to capturing and preserving type specimens. We here provide a historical perspective on this practice from both nomenclatural and practical points of view, culminating in a summary and discussion of a new Declaration of the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature containing recommendations about descriptions without preserved specimens. We conclude that although descriptions using photographs as proxy types are Code-compliant and occasionally justified, the conditions under which such descriptions are justified are likely to remain relatively rare. Increasing restrictions on specimen collecting, which we deplore because of the centrality of collecting and collections to all of biodiversity science, could lead to more ‘proxy type’ descriptions in those taxa in which photographs can provide sufficient information for descriptions, but we predict that such cases will remain infrequent exceptions.

Old-growth forests represent rare and disappearing vestiges of minimally impacted biodiversity, and their preservation has been embraced as an important conservation priority. While second-growth-forests may develop many old-growth features, their value for conservation of arthropod biodiversity is debated. We compare the observed and estimated leaf-litter beetle fauna in four old- and four second-growth fragments of southern Appalachian forest, exploring the extent to which old-growth patches host distinct communities, as reflected by species richness and community composition. Of a total of 310 beetle morphospecies recorded, second-growth sites together hosted 230 species, while old-growth sites hosted 206 total species. Averages over sites were more similar, 95 and 96 species, respectively. Estimates accounting for sampling differences suggested species richness of 279 species for combined second-growth sites versus 264 for combined old-growth sites. Representation by trophic guilds was similar between old- and second-growth sites, suggesting that functional differences concerning these communities are minor. All sites hosted unique species, suggesting that the faunas of second-growth sites may represent more than postdisturbance recolonization by a common regional species pool. Together, these results suggest that, for leaf-litter inhabiting arthropods, old-growth forest fragments are not as uniquely valuable as often assumed, and that the conservation values of older secondary-growth forests in southern Appalachia may also be substantial.

Orthoptera, or Saltatoria, represents the most diverse insect group among the lower neopterans or Polyneoptera. The present study provides a detailed comparative investigation of the skeletal and muscular thoracic morphology of 23 orthopteran species. For the first time, we investigate unstudied ensiferan key taxa including Gryllacrididae (raspy crickets), Stenopelmatidae (Jerusalem crickets), and Prophangalopsidae (hump-winged crickets). We identify novel thoracic characters that might represent apomorphies of Orthoptera: the connection of propleura and prosternum as pleurosternal bridge, the pterothoracic furcae that enclose the respective pleural arm from the ventral side, the mesofurca and mesospina that are situated in a single line along the sternacosta, and a stalked mesospina with a delimited dorsal plate. In particular, the morphology of the sternal apophyses turned out to show major differences between the two major subgroups of Orthoptera: Caelifera (short-horned grasshoppers) and Ensifera (long-horned grasshoppers). For example, the profurca bears a single arm in Caelifera and is branched in the majority of Ensifera. A number of thoracic muscles, like the Musculus mesofurca-propleuralis (IIspm9), could be identified and defined for Orthoptera, muscles that have never been described before to be present in other neopteran insects. Additionally, the obtained data set is used to reconstruct the orthopteran ground pattern of the thoracic skeletomuscular complex. Moreover, all characters potentially containing phylogenetic information are discussed and compiled in a morphological character matrix in order to be accessible for future phylogenetic studies.

The nymphalid tribe Preponini (Lepidoptera) contains some of the most highly visible and easily recognized Neotropical butterflies, yet work is still needed to clarify certain areas of its taxonomy and improve our understanding of its evolution. We expanded the existing molecular sequence data set by doubling the number of genes and individuals, and we used Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference to reconstruct the phylogeny. This analysis was complemented with a comparative morphological study of certain taxa, to help resolve generic and species-level taxonomic issues. The phylogeny strongly supported the only species formerly included within Prepona Boisduval, [1936] that has red wing markings as the sister to the clade of colorful, putatively mimetic species formerly placed in the genus Agrias Doubleday, 1844. One species, Prepona pheridamas (Cramer, [1777]), seems sufficiently isolated in terms of both DNA sequence divergence and morphology to merit placement in a new monotypic genus, which we describe as Mesoprepona Bonfantti, Casagrande & Mielke, n. gen. Based on DNA sequence divergence and sympatry with its sister species, we restore Archaeoprepona priene Hewitson, 1859 to species status (stat. rest.). DNA data and a morphological study of the Prepona pylene Hewitson, 1859 complex resulted in the restoration of Prepona eugenes Bates, 1865 and Prepona gnorima Bates, 1865 to species rank (stat. rest.). Broadening the taxonomic representation by including specimens from distant geographic locations, and including greater phenotypic diversity, allowed us to uncover unappreciated taxonomic diversity and provide a firmer basis for exploring the evolution of this group of spectacular butterflies.

A data set comprising DNA sequences from 388 loci and >99,000 aligned nucleotide positions, generated using anchored hybrid enrichment, was used to estimate relationships among 138 leafhoppers and treehoppers representative of all major lineages of Membracoidea, the most diverse superfamily of hemipteran insects. Phylogenetic analysis of the concatenated nucleotide sequence data set using maximum likelihood produced a tree with most branches receiving high support. A separate coalescent gene tree analysis of the same data generally recovered the same strongly supported clades but was less well resolved overall. Several nodes pertaining to relationships among leafhopper subfamilies currently recognized based on morphological criteria were separated by short internodes and received low support. Although various higher taxa were corroborated with improved branch support, relationships among some major lineages of Membracoidea are only somewhat more resolved than previously published phylogenies based on single gene regions or morphology. In agreement with previous studies, the present results indicate that leafhoppers (Cicadellidae) are paraphyletic with respect to the three recognized families of treehoppers (Aetalionidae, Melizoderidae, and Membracidae). Divergence time estimates indicate that most of the poorly resolved divergence events among major leafhopper lineages occurred during the lower to middle Cretaceous and that most modern leafhopper subfamilies, as well as the lineage comprising the three recognized families of treehoppers, also arose during the Cretaceous.

Localized extinction can play a significant role in obscuring reconstructions of historical biogeography. Insects, one of the most diverse clades in the tree of life, have complex patterns of local endemism, patterns of relictual distributions, and clades which are rather widespread and cosmopolitan. At the same time, insects have a rich fossil record that can contribute to the inference of ancestral geographical distributions, in light of present ranges. Here, we review current and ancestral insect distributions to explore the impact of fossil ranges on ancestral area reconstruction. Known examples of relictual distributions within Phasmatodea and termites are discussed, while we test the impact of fossil inclusion on biogeographic reconstruction within ants and dragonflies.The inclusion of fossil distributions increases the breadth of ancestral ranges across several nodes in ant and dragonfly phylogenies, which has implications for biogeographically based interpretations of past evolutionary ecology for these groups. More broadly, the incorporation of fossil data into estimates of ancestral distributions will not only improve the accuracy of those estimates but also provide additional temporal context.