LSAM Research

Louisiana State Arthropod Museum

Current Research at LSAM

Primary Research

Documenting Beetle Diversity in Great Smoky
Mountains National Park — The Coleoptera Taxonomic Working Group (TWIG) at the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum

Overview of LSAM Research

Histeridae

— Histeridae of Louisiana (Alexey Tishechkin)

— Comparative Studies of Local Histerid Faunas in the Neotropics (Alexey Tishechkin), 2004-08. This project targets the study of local faunas of Histeridae across the Neotropics. Data for four sites well-sampled for the whole family (LaSelva and Las Cruces, Costa Rica, San Lorenzo, Panamá, and Yasuní, Ecuador) and for ca. 15 sites with representative sampling of inquilinous subfamily Hetaeriinae are being collected and compiled.

— Histeridae in Canopies of Neotropical Rainforests. 2005-2007. Using extensive canopy collections by IBISCA team (see below) and Smithsonian Institution group led by Terry Erwin, Alexey Tishechkin is conducting a comparative study of diversity and natural history of histerid communities at 3 sites in lowland Panamá and Ecuador. Currently, material is various stages of processing, identification and databasing.

— Revisions of Neotropical Hetaeriine genera. Following the completion of Alexey Tishechkin's PhD project, he is working, slowly but steadily, on species-level revisions of the genera dealt with in his dissertation and other genera in the subfamily. Manuscript for Thaumataerius Mann is nearly complete, and some others are in the preparation process.

Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae

— New Zealand pselaphines (Chris Carlton in collaboration with Rich Leschen)

Cucujoidea

— Checklist of the Cucujoidea of Louisiana (Matt Gimmel)

Nitidulidae

— Systematics and morphology of nitidulid larvae (Chris Carlton in collaboration with Rich Leschen and Andy Cline)

Phalacridae

— World checklist of valid names in Phalacridae (Matt Gimmel)

— Bibliography of the Phalacridae (Matt Gimmel)

Coleoptera of Coarse Woody Debris

— Stephanie Gil's master's research

— Mike Ferro's dissertation research

Miscellaneous

— Beetle Tree of Life project (Chris Carlton, participant)

— IBISCA - Panamá 2003-06 (Investigating the Biodiversity of Soil and Canopy Arthropods). Alexey Tishechkin, Chris Carlton, and Andy Cline are part of an international research team of this Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute-led project with responsibilities in fieldwork (pitfall and flight intercept trapping, 2003-04) and sorting/analytical (4 target beetle families, 2004-06) stages of the project.

— Survey of Pocket Gopher Burrow Beetle Fauna in Louisiana. 2000-05. LSAM inventory coordinated by Alexey Tishechkin and conducted in several localities within Geomys breviceps range in Louisiana. At present all the material is identified, and a paper with the survey results will be ready for submission by spring 2006.

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