The genus Phyxelis Schönherr is revised for North America. In total, three species are known including the widespread Eastern United States and Canada species Phyxelis rigidus (Say) and two new species described herein as follows: Phyxelis sus Anderson, n. sp. (type locality Claiborne Parish, LA) and Phyxelis carltoni Anderson, n. sp. (type locality Mount Magazine State Park, Logan County, AR). Species are described or redescribed, natural history information is summarized, and a listing of locality data from all specimens examined is included and mapped. A key is provided to the species of the genus. All species are represented by habitus images and images of taxonomically significant structures. Species of Phyxelis share a similar ramose/papillate scale form with species of the genera Paranametis Burke and Leptopinara O'Brien that is unique among North AmericanTropiphorini.

Two new genera and species of Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) are described: the extant Exolabrum vannoorti n. gen., n. sp., from West Coast Fossil Park in South Africa, and Versolabrum coriaceum n. gen., n. sp. from Eocene Baltic amber. These are described in the previously monogeneric subfamily Herbertiinae based on the features of the labrum, subforaminal bridge, and fore leg. V. coriaceum is the first known fossil species of Herbertiinae, establishing this subfamily as having a minimum age in the Eocene Epoch, estimated age at 36.7–48.5 million years old.

Levels of diversity vary strikingly among different phylogenetic lineages of ants. Rapid radiations in early ant evolution have often proven difficult to resolve with traditional Sanger-sequencing data sets of modest size. We provide a phylogenomic perspective on the evolution of the hyperdiverse ant tribe Crematogastrini by analyzing sequence data for nearly 1,800 ultraconserved element (UCE) loci from 153 species comprising 56 genera. We reconstruct a next-to-complete genus-level phylogeny using concatenated maximum likelihood and species-tree approaches, estimate divergence dates and diversification rates for the tribe, and investigate the evolution of nest sites. Our results show 10 well-supported major clades which we define as the Cataulacus, Carebara, Vollenhovia, Podomyrma, Crematogaster, Mayriella, Lordomyrma, Myrmecina, Paratopula, and Formicoxenus genus-groups. These lineages are estimated to have arisen from a Paleotropical ancestor (crown-group age ∼75 Ma) over a relatively short time interval (50–70 Ma).The Afrotropical and especially the Indomalayan regions appear to have played a key role in the early diversification history of the tribe. Several shifts in diversification rates were found to be related to the evolution of large, widespread genera; however, we were unable to confidently associate these shifts with evolutionary innovations or events. Arboreal habitats have been successfully colonized by only few clades within Crematogastrini from ground-nesting ancestors, with no reversals supported. Our genus-level phylogeny for Crematogastrini provides insights into the diversification and evolution of one of the most diverse clades of ants, and our division of the tribe into well-supported genus-group lineages sets the stage for more detailed species-level investigations.

Tens of thousands of insects are deposited in collections every year as a result of survey-based studies that aim to investigate ecological questions. DNA-based techniques can expand the utility of these collections to explore their demographic and evolutionary history, temporal changes in their abundance, and pathogen dynamics. Using museum collections of the non-model bee species Eucera (Peponapis) pruinosa Say 1837 (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Eucerini), we developed a standard minimally-destructive and budget-friendly protocol to extract DNA and amplify common gene-fragments for barcoding, phylogenetic analysis, and pathogens. We also generated genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from DNA sequencing (ddRADseq) libraries for population structure analyses. We systematically studied the effect of specimen age (≤10 years ago) and tissue type (whole bees vs. abdomen) on DNA quality, single gene-fragment amplification, and SNP calling. We found that all analyses were achievable with both tissue types, yet with variable levels of efficiency because of general DNA degradation. Specifically, we found that not all samples yielded satisfactory results for molecular studies; however, we did not find a systematic effect of specimen age on DNA quality which is encouraging for future studies involving historical specimens. We report the first evidence for the presence of the microsporidian pathogen Nosema spp. in squash bees, opening a window for the study of historical changes in disease pressure in this important agricultural pollinator. Our protocols can be used as a template for the design of future experiments that extract multiple pieces of information using DNA-based methods from insect museum stored specimens.