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The cholevine beetles inhabiting burrows of Geomys and Thomomys pocket gophers (Rodentia: Geomyidae) are reviewed. Catops geomysi n. sp. and Ptomaphagus geomysi n. sp. are described. Both of these species and Ptomaphagus schwarzi Hatch appear to be regular and obligate inhabitants of Geomys burrows b~t are not host specific. Nemadus hornii Hatch, Sciodrepoides watsoni horn ian us (Blanchard), Catops s~mplex Say, Ptomaphagus cavernicola Schwarz, Ptomaphagus consobrinus (LeConte), Ptomaphagus fisus Horn, and Ptomaphagus texanus Horn were less frequently collected and are probably facultative inhabitants of Geomys burrows, as well as nests or dens of other small mammals. Ptomaphagus nevadicus Horn is an inhabitant of ~)Urrows of Thomomys pocket gophers in western North America. A key to the species of Ptomaphagus III the southeastern Gulf Coastal Plain, from non-cave habitats, is provided to aid in their identification.
The distribution and biology of the beaver beetle, Platypsyllus castoris Ritsema, are summarized for North America. In light of the fact that the beetle uses two beaver species as hosts which have seemingly been separated for some five million years on two continents, it is asked if the Nearctic and Palearctic beetle populations are really the same species.
The beetle fauna of Dominica, Lesser Antilles (Insecta: Coleoptera) : diversity and distribution
(2006)
The beetle fauna of the island of Dominica is summarized. It is presently known to contain 269 genera, and 361 species (in 42 families), of which 347 are named at a species level. Of these, 62 species are endemic to the island. The other naturally occurring species number 262, and another 23 species are of such wide distribution that they have probably been accidentally introduced and distributed, at least in part, by human activities. Undoubtedly, the actual numbers of species on Dominica are many times higher than now reported. This highlights the poor level of knowledge of the beetles of Dominica and the Lesser Antilles in general. Of the species known to occur elsewhere, the largest numbers are shared with neighboring Guadeloupe (201), and then with
South America (126), Puerto Rico (113), Cuba (107), and Mexico-Central America (108). The Antillean island chain probably represents the main avenue of natural overwater dispersal via intermediate stepping-stone islands. The distributional patterns of the species shared with Dominica and elsewhere in the Caribbean suggest stages in a dynamic taxon cycle of species origin, range expansion, distribution contraction, and re-speciation.