Alexey Tishechkin
Postdoctoral Researcher
atishe1@lsu.edu
My
research interests are associated mainly with the systematics and evolution of
the hister beetles. The Histeridae contains
about 4,000 described species and has a worldwide distribution. They live in
diverse habitats and niches and are mainly predators of other insects,
especially fly, flea, and beetle larvae. I have a particular interest in the
myrmecophilous (ant-associated) and termitophilous (termite-associated) members
of the subfamily Hetaeriinae. My Ph.D. project was devoted to a systematic
revision of several genera of neotropical myrmecophilous hetaeriines of the
genus complex Mesynodites (see Tishechkin 2005).
This monograph brings phylogenetic order to what has been a confusing
polyphyletic assemblage of genera with unclear interrelations and is a
necessary step to understanding the phylogenetic relationships within the
entire subfamily. The Hetaeriinae is extremely diverse in the neotropical
realm, where it includes about one-third of all histerid genera known. This
diversity has evolved in association with a wide variety of social insect
hosts, especially army and fungus growing ants and termites. I am addressing
questions of host specificity, coevolution, and guest adaptations in my current
research on Mesynodites and will deal with these issues on a larger
scale for the whole subfamily in the future. Improving the taxonomic knowledge
of the subfamily also will allow me to gain insight into distributional and
diversity patterns of this primarily tropical forest taxon to contribute to
general surveys of tropical biodiversity.
On a broader scale, I have strong interests in the systematics and faunistics of the Histeridae worldwide, especially in the Palearctic, Nearctic, and Neotropics, and collateral interests in natural history and evolution of social insect inquilines, biodiversity research and conservation biology.
CURRICULUM VITAE of A. TISHECHKIN
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Left, Microsynodites
schmidti Lewis; right, Trichoreninus geminus Reichensperger.