Two new species and new records of lichen-feeding darkling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Helopini) from Turkey with notes on bionomics and trophic relations

Turkonalassus mavi M. Nabozhenko & B. Keskin, sp. n. and Odocnemis rufocruralis M. Nabozhenko & B. Keskin, sp. n., two distinctive darkling beetle species of the tribe Helopini, are described from the Southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey, based on both their external morphology and genital structures. Turkonalassus mavi sp. n. differs from all congeners by the bluish dorsal surface of the body, the pronotum widest before middle, and wide merged baculi of the median lobe of the aedeagus. Odocnemis rufocruralis sp. n. belongs to the praelonga species-group. Odocnemis rufocruralis sp. n. is similar to O. torosica Nabozhenko & Keskin, 2016, O. terminassianae (Nabozhenko, 2011) and O. kakunini Nabozhenko & Keskin, 2016 but differs from all three taxa by the reddish-brown body with red legs, male apical maxillary palpomere wider than in female, elevate and narrowly separate male protrochanters, and the structure of the very long and narrow apical piece of the aedeagus. New data on distribution, bionomics, and trophic relations of several species of Helopini from Turkey are given. Host lichens are determined for nine species. The majority of studied adult beetles feed on lichens from the families Physciaceae and Parmeliaceae. Some examined taxa feed on Cladoniaceae. Feeding on crustose lichens is registered for the first time for Coleoptera, specifically Odocnemis rufocruralis sp. n. was observed to feed on Pertusaria sp. (on Prunus) in Mardin Province.

Discovery of New Genera Challenges the Subtribal Classification of Tok-Tok Beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Sepidiini)

Sepidiini is a speciose tribe of desert-inhabiting darkling beetles, which contains a number of poorly defined taxonomic groups and is in need of revision at all taxonomic levels. In this study, two previously unrecognized lineages were discovered, based on morphological traits, among the extremely speciose genera Psammodes Kirby, 1819 (164 species and subspecies) and Ocnodes Fåhraeus, 1870 (144 species and subspecies), namely the Psammodes spinosus species-group and Ocnodes humeralis species-group. In order to test their phylogenetic placement, a phylogeny of the tribe was reconstructed based on analyses of DNA sequences from six nonoverlapping genetic loci (CAD, wg, COI JP, COI BC, COII, and 28S) using Bayesian and maximum likelihood inference methods. The aforementioned, morphologically defined, species-groups were recovered as distinct and well-supported lineages within Molurina + Phanerotomeina and are interpreted as independent genera, respectively, Tibiocnodes Gearner & Kamiński gen. nov. and Tuberocnodes Gearner & Kamiński gen. nov. A new species, Tuberocnodes synhimboides Gearner & Kamiński sp. nov., is also described. Furthermore, as the recovered phylogenetic placement of Tibiocnodes and Tuberocnodes undermines the monophyly of Molurina and Phanerotomeina, an analysis of the available diagnostic characters for those subtribes is also performed. As a consequence, Phanerotomeina is considered as a synonym of the newly redefined Molurina sens. nov. Finally, spectrograms of vibrations produced by substrate tapping of two Molurina species, Toktokkus vialis (Burchell, 1822) and T. synhimboides, are presented.

Investigating the Plastic Decomposing Ability of Tenebriomolitor Using Carbon Dioxide Sensors

According to a group of Stanford scientists, mealworms, the larva of darkling beetles, can digest Styrofoam, a type of polystyrene, and break it down into carbon dioxide. This paper investigates the plastic-digesting property of mealworms on different types of plastic, namely polystyrene (PS), low- density polyethylene (LDPE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Since mealworms breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. To measure the extent of plastic intake, we explored an alternative method to measure the extent of plastic digestion - using Arduino carbon dioxide sensors instead of calculating the difference in weight of plastic. As the increase in the exhalation of carbon dioxide is indicative of the amount of plastic consumed, the authors measured the change in carbon dioxide concentration of the mealworms' environment as they consume plastic. This is put into comparison with when the mealworms respire without food. The results show that mealworms consume Styrofoam to a certain extent. However, they are mostly unable to digest polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride, likely due to their elasticity and high density respectively.