Det labels and specimens put in collection 3/25/2009 JS Loan our Pissodes (Curculionidae) and all ALASKAN Cerambycidae (including those in the main collection range) to David Langor: David W. Langor Natural Resources Canada Canadian Forest Service 5320-122 St. Edmonton, AB T6H 3S5 780-435-7330 dlangor@nrcan.gc.ca There will be some bycids scattered about elsewhere - gather them all together, even those that aren't databased. David will be databasing them so perhaps we can provide him with barcodes & ask him to database those for us? I'll look into it (but first will need to determine how many specimens need databasing). From: James.Hammond@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca Subject: Alaska Cerambycidae Date: February 19, 2009 8:55:08 AM AKST To: ffdss@uaf.edu Cc: David.Langor@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca Hi Derek, I hope all is well with you. I just finished ID'ing and databasing the Cerambycidae you had shipped to Dave Langor, and I am going to ship them back to you today. I was wondering if you wanted the database now, or wait until I do all of the georeferencing? It may take awhile to finish finding and recording all of the localities, but if you want the draft spreadsheet 'as is' I am more than happy to send it. Cheers, jimh *********************************************************************** Jim Hammond Forest Entomology Technician/ Technicien en entomologie forestière Natural Resources Canada: Canadian Forest Service Northern Forestry Centre 5320 - 122 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T6H 3S5 CANADA Phone: 780-435-7266 Fax: 780-435-7359 Derek, Yes, there were quite a few misidentifications among the Cerambycid specimens. For example, Lingafelter is using a long forgotten synonym of P. dimidiatus (=frosti), this is simply a nomenclature issue rather than an ID issue. I checked with Serge Laplante on this one and attach the email below: "The name Phymatodes frosti Casey, 1924 has been forgotten by Linsley (1964, The Cerambycidae of North America, part V, pp. 44-68) in his treatment of the genus, and is not listed in the last "Checklist of the Cerambycidae, or longhorned beetles (Coleoptera) of the Western Hemisphere 2008 Version (updated through 31 December 2007) by Miguel A. Monné, and Larry G. Bezark, Compilers" (I mean not even as a synonym). I saw the type of P. frosti Casey when I was in the USNM in Washington DC in 1993, and I can confirm you that it is conspecific with the eastern specimens we identify as Phymatodes dimidiatus (Kirby). The type of P. frosti is a specimen that Casey (1924: 240) considered distinct from P. dimidiatus just because it differs by "THE SHARP AND ABRUPT LINE OF DEMARCATION BETWEEN THE DARKER AND THE PALER PARTS OF THE ELYTRAL SURFACE, ALSO BY THE SHORTER ANTENNAE, WITH BLACKISH AND NOT PALE BASAL JOINT AND BY THE DEEPER SINUS IN THE SIDES OF THE PROTHORAX BEYOND THE WIDEST SECTION". Casey also wrote that the species is "ALLIED TO DIMIDIATUS BUT IS MUCH SMALLER AND NARROWER AND OCCURS NEAR THE ATLANTIC SEABOARD, WHILE KIRBY'S SPECIES IS DISTRIBUTED FROM ALASKA TO THE COLORADO ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION", which is wrong because the type locality of dimidiatus Kirby is "latitude 54º", which is between the northern area of Lake Manitoba and Cumberland House in Saskatchewan [inferred from the map showing the route of the Franklin expedition provided by Lindroth [1953. Kirby's types of North American Carabidae (Coleoptera). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London (series B, Taxonomy) 22: 167-177]. Steve Lingafelter's identification is in contradiction with Casey's statement about the distribution of the "species", and also with the fact that P. frosti, if valid, would be the eastern species since its type locality is Monmouth, Maine. My opinion is that P. frosti Casey is a forgotten synonym of P. dimidiatus (Kirby). There is nothing wrong about a species found in northeastern North America, in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and in Alaska; it corresponds to a totally normal boreal distribution. Phymatodes dimidiatus is also quite variable (I have already seen a specimen with wholly dark elytra). Just compare the Alaskan specimen with those of P. dimidiatus you have access to and let me know what you think." I think the one Phymatodes dimidiatus that was attributed to Laplante was accidentally placed in the wrong series possibly, feel free to compare to the other specimens of dimidiatus vs the Tetropium for yourself. Arnett's ID of Xylotrechus sp. was just plain wrong, its not even in the right subfamily, as Tetropium is in the Aseminae and Xylotrechus is in the Cerambycinae. Another difference is there was one specimen ID'ed as Monochamus oregonensis from Alaska that I have changed to Monochamus scutellatus. The proper nomenclature would have been Monochamus scutellatus oregonensis, however that subspecies is found only in the most southern parts of BC and Alberta in the Rocky Mountains. We have since dropped the 'oregonensis' subspecies as there are no true morphological characters to seperate 'oregonensis' from scutellatus, and Raske (1973?) did a study looking morphology and conducted breeding experiments and showed that M. oregonensis and M. scutellatus freely interbreed and produce fertile F1's, therefore not really true species. Also, the Acmaeops proteus and Gnathacmaeops (Acmaeops) pratensis were a mixed series and I sorted them out. If I remember correctly one specimen ID'ed by Lingafelter as A. proteus was actually G. pratensis. When you get the specimens back I have resorted your material so that each species follows a series. Box 1 contains the Prioninae (Tragosoma), Aseminae, Cerambycinae, and miscellaneous Cerambycidae (from Hawaii) and non-cerambycidae. Box 2 contains only Lepturinae, and Box 3 contains only Lamiinae. Feel free to compare specimens, its possible that I made a mistake (or possibly typed the wrong accession number?) but I spent a fair amount of time resorting them into proper groups and feel confident in the ID's. I have spent the last three years ID'ing all the Cerambycidae from western Canadian collections and have seen many specimens misidentified, which is why we are updating the group. jimh *********************************************************************** Jim Hammond Forest Entomology Technician/ Technicien en entomologie forestière Natural Resources Canada: Canadian Forest Service Northern Forestry Centre 5320 - 122 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T6H 3S5 CANADA Phone: 780-435-7266 Fax: 780-435-7359 From: Derek Sikes [mailto:ffdss@uaf.edu] Sent: February 19, 2009 15:58 To: Hammond, James Subject: Re: Alaska Cerambycidae Jim, I was just comparing the data you sent with our database and of the first 4 records I checked all the determinations you made differed, sometimes in subfamily, with those who previously determined them. Prior determiners included LaPlant (Tetropium cinnmopterum vs your det Phymatodes dimidiatus), Arnett (Xylotrechus sp vs your det Tetropium parvulum) and most recently, Lingafelter (Phymatodes frosti vs your det Phymatodes dimidiatus). This strikes me as odd so before I change all the dets in our database based on your spreadsheet I'll wait for the specimens to arrive in case the barcode values in the spreadsheet you sent are off those of the specimens. But do you recall a lot of our specimens being misidentified previously? -Derek On Feb 19, 09, at 11:28 AM Feb 19, 09, Hammond, James wrote: Hi Derek, I put the specimens in the mail, should be back to you soon. Please find attached the draft spreadsheet (without georeferenced localities) of all the specimens. Jim H *********************************************************************** Jim Hammond Forest Entomology Technician/ Technicien en entomologie forestière Natural Resources Canada: Canadian Forest Service Northern Forestry Centre 5320 - 122 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T6H 3S5 CANADA Phone: 780-435-7266 Fax: 780-435-7359 From: Derek Sikes [mailto:ffdss@uaf.edu] Sent: February 19, 2009 11:08 To: Hammond, James Subject: Re: Alaska Cerambycidae Jim, Thanks. Can you send the draft now and later send the georeference data that I can import? Cheers, Derek On Feb 19, 09, at 8:55 AM Feb 19, 09, Hammond, James wrote: Hi Derek, I hope all is well with you. I just finished ID'ing and databasing the Cerambycidae you had shipped to Dave Langor, and I am going to ship them back to you today. I was wondering if you wanted the database now, or wait until I do all of the georeferencing? It may take awhile to finish finding and recording all of the localities, but if you want the draft spreadsheet 'as is' I am more than happy to send it. Cheers, jimh *********************************************************************** Jim Hammond Forest Entomology Technician/ Technicien en entomologie forestière Natural Resources Canada: Canadian Forest Service Northern Forestry Centre 5320 - 122 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T6H 3S5 CANADA Phone: 780-435-7266 Fax: 780-435-7359 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Derek S. Sikes, Curator of Insects Assistant Professor of Entomology University of Alaska Museum 907 Yukon Drive Fairbanks, AK 99775-6960 dsikes@alaska.edu http://users.iab.uaf.edu/~derek_sikes/sikes_lab.htm phone: 907-474-6278 FAX: 907-474-5469 "Remember that Truth alone is the matter you are in Search after; and if you have been mistaken, let no Vanity reduce you to persist in your mistake." Henry Baker, London, 1785 University of Alaska Museum of the North - http://www.uaf.edu/museum/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Derek S. Sikes, Curator of Insects Assistant Professor of Entomology University of Alaska Museum 907 Yukon Drive Fairbanks, AK 99775-6960 dsikes@alaska.edu http://users.iab.uaf.edu/~derek_sikes/sikes_lab.htm phone: 907-474-6278 FAX: 907-474-5469 "Remember that Truth alone is the matter you are in Search after; and if you have been mistaken, let no Vanity reduce you to persist in your mistake." Henry Baker, London, 1785 University of Alaska Museum of the North - http://www.uaf.edu/museum/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Specimens unpacked 10 March 2009 JS, Barcoded specimens records updated.