The oldest case of paedomorphosis in rove beetles and description of a new genus of Paederinae from Cretaceous amber (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae).

The ecology of extinct species from the Cretaceous is largely unknown. Morphological features of specimens preserved in amber can help to reveal habitats and evolutionary strategies that occurred in fossil lineages. An unusually small rove beetle (Staphylinidae) from the subfamily Paederinae with a Y-shaped suture on the head and modified tarsi and antennae is newly described here as Midinudon juvenis Tokareva & Zyla gen. et sp. nov. We hypothesise that such a combination of characters represents the earliest example of paedomorphosis in Staphylinidae and discuss other possible reasons that could explain the small size and morphological modifications of the new species. We provide the results of total-evidence phylogenetic analysis and discuss the relationships of Midinudon juvenis Tokareva & Zyla gen. et sp. nov. within Paederinae.

Descriptions of New Species of Chespirito Ferreira, Keller amp; Branham (Coleoptera: Lampyridae: Chespiritoinae) and the First Record for the Subfamily in the United States.

Three new species of Chespirito Ferreira, Keller and Branham 2020 are described from North America, including the first species from the United States: Chespirito milleri new species from Arizona, USA, Chespirito hintoni new species from Mexico state, Mexico and Chespirito costae new species from Morelo state, Mexico. An updated distribution map and key to males of Chespirito is provided along with illustrations of diagnostic characters of the newly described species.

Dominican amber net-winged beetles suggest stable paleoenvironment as a driver for conserved morphology in a paedomorphic lineage.

Paedomorphosis is a heterochronic syndrome in which adult individuals display features of their immature forms. In beetles, this phenomenon occurs widely in the superfamily Elateroidea, including the net-winged beetles (Lycidae), and, due to the usual flightlessness of paedomorphic females, it is hypothesized to cause speciation rates higher than in non-paedomorphic lineages. However, some fossils of paedomorphic lycids do not support this with palaeobiological data. Discovery of new Lycidae fossils attributed to the West Indian extant paedomorphic genus Cessator Kazantsev in the Dominican amber also suggests morphological stasis within this genus in the Greater Antilles. We describe Cessator anachronicus Ferreira and Ivie, sp. nov. based on adult males, as well as the first ever recorded fossil net-winged beetle larva of the same genus. We propose that the relatively young age of the studied fossils combined with the stable conditions in the forest floor of the Greater Antilles through the last tens of million years could explain the exceptionally conserved morphology in the net-winged beetles affected by the paedomorphic syndrome.

A revision of Lycinella Gorham, 1884 with the description of six new species (Coleoptera, Lycidae, Calopterini).

The Neotropical genus Lycinella Gorham, 1884 is revised. Lycinellaopaca Gorham, 1884 and Lycinellaparvula Gorham, 1884 are redescribed and illustrated. Six new species are described for the genus: Lycinellaadamantis sp. n., L.hansoni sp. n., L.milleri sp. n., L.cidaoi sp. n., L.marshalli sp. n. and L.pugliesae sp. n.. Lycinellahumeralis Pic, 1933 is moved to Ceratoprionhumerale (Pic, 1933), comb. n. A key to the species of Lycinella, illustrations and a distribution map is provided.

Superconducting metamaterials for waveguide quantum electrodynamics.

Embedding tunable quantum emitters in a photonic bandgap structure enables control of dissipative and dispersive interactions between emitters and their photonic bath. Operation in the transmission band, outside the gap, allows for studying waveguide quantum electrodynamics in the slow-light regime. Alternatively, tuning the emitter into the bandgap results in finite-range emitter-emitter interactions via bound photonic states. Here, we couple a transmon qubit to a superconducting metamaterial with a deep sub-wavelength lattice constant (λ/60). The metamaterial is formed by periodically loading a transmission line with compact, low-loss, low-disorder lumped-element microwave resonators. Tuning the qubit frequency in the vicinity of a band-edge with a group index of ng = 450, we observe an anomalous Lamb shift of -28 MHz accompanied by a 24-fold enhancement in the qubit lifetime. In addition, we demonstrate selective enhancement and inhibition of spontaneous emission of different transmon transitions, which provide simultaneous access to short-lived radiatively damped and long-lived metastable qubit states.

Kinetics of PTEN-mediated PI(3,4,5)P3 hydrolysis on solid supported membranes.

Phosphatidylinositides play important roles in cellular signaling and migration. Phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PI(3,4,5)P3) is an important phosphatidylinositide because it acts as a secondary messenger to trigger cell movement and proliferation. A high level of PI(3,4,5)P3 at the plasma membrane is known to contribute to tumorigenesis. One key enzyme that regulates PI(3,4,5)P3 levels at the plasma membrane is phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN), which dephosphorylates PI(3,4,5)P3 through hydrolysis to form phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P2). It has been reported that PI(4,5)P2 is involved in positive feedback in the PI(3,4,5)P3 hydrolysis by PTEN. However, how PI(3,4,5)P3 dephosphorylation by PTEN is regulated, is still under debate. How other PI(3,4,5)P3-binding proteins affect the dephosphorylation kinetics catalyzed by PTEN also remains unclear. Here, we develop a fluorescent-protein biosensor approach to study how PI(3,4,5)P3 dephosphorylation is regulated by PTEN as well as its membrane-mediated feedback mechanisms. Our observation of sigmoidal kinetics of the PI(3,4,5)P3 hydrolysis reaction supports the notion of autocatalysis in PTEN function. We developed a kinetic model to describe the observed reaction kinetics, which allowed us to i) distinguish between membrane-recruitment and allosteric activation of PTEN by PI(4,5)P2, ii) account for the influence of the biosensor on the observed reaction kinetics, and iii) demonstrate that all of these mechanisms contribute to the kinetics of PTEN-mediated catalysis.

A revision of the genus Macrolygistopterus Pic, 1929 (Coleoptera, Lycidae, Calochromini).

A taxonomic review of the Lycid genus Macrolygistopterus Pic, 1929 with illustrations of diagnostic characters, geographic distribution maps and an identification key to the species is presented. Also, a key to the world Calochromini is given. Of the 12 species of the genus, 9 were studied: M. succinctus (Latreille, 1811), M. quadricostatus (Buquet, 1842), M. caeruleus (Gorham, 1884), M. germaini Pic, 1930, M. grandjeani Pic, 1930, M. subparallelus Pic, 1930, M. testaceirostris Pic, 1930, M. simoni Pic, 1930 and M. kirschi Pic, 1931 were redescribed and their status as valid species is confirmed. The lectotypes and paralectotypes were designated for all those examined species. M. bilineatus (Pic, 1923), M. diversicornis Pic, 1930 and M. bipartitus Pic, 1933 remain as valid species since these specimens were not available for this study. M. succinctus var. scutelaris Pic, 1930 is proposed here as new junior synonym of M. succinctus (Latreille, 1811).

A new species of Falsocaenia Pic, 1922 from Amazonian Rainforest (Coleoptera: Lycidae) with an updated key to the species.

While searching for Calochromini (Coleoptera: Lycidae) specimens in entomological collections and identifying other Lycidae, a new species of Falsocaenia Pic, 1922 was found in the collection of Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA). This genus is one of the smallest in the tribe Calopterini with 13 known species, two of which were recently described by Bocákova et al. (2012) in their revision of the genus, and can be found in Central and South America.

The Entomological Collection of Ricardo von Diringshofen (1900–1986) and its incorporation to the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo

ABSTRACT Ricardo von Diringshofen (1900–1986) was a Natural History enthusiast who collected an incredible variety of objects, mostly insects, which amount to over 2 million specimens. We present here a brief biography of Ricardo von Diringshofen, including the history of his insect collection and the processes of purchase and incorporation of his collection by the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo.

Colydodes flavisetis sp. nov. (Coleoptera, Zopheridae, Colydiinae), new species from southeastern Brazil with an updated key to the species of the genus.

The species Colydodes flavisetis sp. nov. from southeastern Brazil, at the Biological Station of Boracéia, Salesópolis, São Paulo, is described and illustrated, raising Colydodes diversity from 7 to 8 known species. An updated key to the species of the genus is given.

A new species of Acroleptus Bourgeois (Coleoptera: Lycidae) from the Brazilian Amazonian rainforest, with a note on its homonymy with Acroleptus Cabanis (Aves).

Acroleptus costae sp. nov. is described from the Brazilian Amazonian rainforest, raising the diversity of the formerly monotypic genus to two known species. The validity of Acroleptus Bourgeois, 1886 (Insecta) is maintained while Acroleptus Cabanis, 1861 (Aves) is considered to be an incorrect subsequent spelling.

Identification of prolyl hydroxylation modifications in mammalian cell proteins.

Prolyl hydroxylation is a PTM that plays an important role in the formation of collagen fibrils and in the oxygen-dependent regulation of hypoxia inducible factor-α (HIF-α). While this modification has been well characterized in the context of these proteins, it remains unclear to what extent it occurs in the remaining mammalian proteome. We explored this question using MS to analyze cellular extracts subjected to various fractionation strategies. In one strategy, we employed the von Hippel Lindau tumor suppressor protein, which recognizes prolyl hydroxylated HIF-α, as a scaffold for generating hydroxyproline capture reagents. We report novel sites of prolyl hydroxylation within five proteins: FK506-binding protein 10, myosin heavy chain 10, hexokinase 2, pyruvate kinase, and C-1 Tetrahydrofolate synthase. Furthermore, we show that identification of prolyl hydroxylation presents a significant technical challenge owing to widespread isobaric methionine oxidation, and that manual inspection of spectra of modified peptides in this context is critical for validation.