Tag Archives: DNA taxonomy

Discovering Insect Species: preparing beetle DNA

Posted on 29 April 2015 by David Maddison

Over the last couple of weeks in our Discovering Insect Species course we have been processing samples from our Klamath Marsh trip, and worked with the DNA of the beetles.  Here’s a bit of what we have done. Extracting the … Continue reading →

Posted in Revising Bembidiina, Uncategorized, Z499 (Discovering Insect Species) | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Another surprise in Lionepha

Posted on 20 September 2013 by David Maddison

Two days ago I had a post about an unexpected species of Lionepha in the Sierras, of which I became aware when I looked at a specimen that my graduate student John Sproul caught on the South Fork of Bishop … Continue reading →

Posted in Revising Bembidiina, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

A surprise in Lionepha

Posted on 18 September 2013 by David Maddison

In the late spring I was in the final stages of a manuscript about the genus Lionepha.  This paper will describe the new species I have mentioned earlier, describe the male of Lionepha chintimini for the first time, document DNA … Continue reading →

Posted in Fieldwork, Revising Bembidiina, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

And then there were five…

Posted on 13 September 2013 by David Maddison

Earlier this week I spent three lovely days in the Bay Area with Dave Kavanaugh, and on Monday we went to collecting on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais.  There, along Cataract Creek, we found a series of small “Bembidion curtulatum” … Continue reading →

Posted in Revising Bembidiina, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Hiding in Plain Sight

Posted on 31 August 2013 by David Maddison

In most groups of organisms there are taxa that are very isolated phylogenetically, and are structurally so distinctive that they are easy to recognize (the Australian platypus and Welwitschia mirabilis come to mind).  Some of these isolated taxa are considered to … Continue reading →

Posted in Revising Bembidiina, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Four?

Posted on 23 March 2013 by David Maddison

In western North America small, dark Bembidion (Plataphus) are common on gravel river shores.  Most of these are called Bembidion curtulatum.   They are the smallest members of subgenus Plataphus (sensu Lindroth) in North America, at about 3.5 mm long. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Revising Bembidiina, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Delightful DNA

Posted on 6 February 2013 by David Maddison

Well, it looks as if Bembidion (Plataphus) curtulatum is at least three species.  The above bits of DNA show parts of 28S ribosomal DNA.  Of the 950 bases that were sequenced, this shows only those sites that differ from one … Continue reading →

Posted in Revising Bembidiina, Taxonomic Process | Tagged , | 3 Comments