A many researcher suggest that children exhibit a natural interest towards insects, and different intervention programs have shown the presence of an insect being able to increase children’s attentiveness and motivation levels. Nonetheless, few research effort have been devoted to the identification of specific insect characteristics able to attract and engage children. This study was aimed at assessing children’s preference for insect species. Children aged 12 years participated in the study and were tested on a choice task, using pet insect program. Children’s preferences for different species and for effects of sex analyzed. Overall, girls showed a preference for more lepidoptera species like cabbage butterfly and swallowtail butterfly. On the other hand, boys showed a preference for coleoptera insect. Results and their implications for the child-insect bond are discussed.

한국의 풍뎅이붙이과(Histeridae)는 6아과 22속 53종이 현재까지 보고되어 있다. 본 연구 결과, Niponius osorioceps Lewis, 1885 두뿔풍뎅이붙이(신칭), Plegaderus (Plegaderus) marseuli Reitter, 1877 두가슴풍뎅이붙이(신칭), Trypeticus fagi (Lewis, 1884) 가슴각진풍뎅이붙이(신칭)의 3아과 (2미기록아과) 3미기록속의 3종을 한국미기록종으로 발견하였으며, 이들에 대한 간략한 기재와 중요한 형질 및 전자현미경사진을 함께 제시하고자 한다.

We recognize a new species, belonging to the genus Neopsephus Kishii 1990, from Is. Jeju. The novel species is closely allied to N. takasago Kishii 1990 known from Taiwan. This study provides the detailed morphological characteristics investigated by SEM and molecular data inferred from COI and 16S rRNA of mitochondria.

We reviewed the Korean species belonging to the genus Hemicrepidius. Of the previously recorded five species, the specimens known as H. (s. str.) secessus secessus (Candèze, 1873) are confirmed as the misidentification of H. oblongus (Solsky, 1870). The status of H. (s. str.) secessus hallaensis Kishii 2002 is suggested to be raised to species level. We also propose three new species, H. (s. str.) sp1 nov., H. (s. str.) sp2 nov., H. (Miwacrepidius) sp1 nov. from Korea. In Hemicrepidius sensu strito, molecular approaches based on the species recognized from Korea, Russia, and Japan using COI and 16S rRNA genes strongly support that all Korean species and the Russian specimens of H. oblongus are clustered into a monophyletic group, whereas Japanese species might be early and independently divided from the former.

Mycetophagids, the family of primitive tenebrionoid beetles, are commonly fugivorous. They mainly feed and inhabit in the fruiting bodies of higher fungi, fungus-grown bark, and moldy vegetative materials. Some species are associated with a large variety of moldy substances and are found both outdoors in natural environments and indoors in association with a variety of stored products. They are not serious pests, and their presence is usually indicative of poor storage conditions and moldy produce. There are only five Mycetophagidae species previously recorded for Korea, Mycetophagus antennatus (Reitter 1879), M. ater (Reitter, 1879), M. hillerianus Reitter, 1874, Typhaea pallidula Reitter, 1874, and T. stercorea (Linnaeus 1758). In the course of this study, 60 specimens from 12 sites of Korean Mycetophagidae were examined. We reviewed taxonomically four genera and nine species in Korea. Among them, four species including Eulagius ussuriensis Nikitsky, 1988, Litargus japonicus Reitter, 1877, Mycetophagus irroratus (Reitter,1879), and Mycetophagus pustulosus (Reitter,1889) are newly recorded in Korea. We also obtained additional bionomic data for the seven species including their host fungi and habitat based on field observations and laboratoryrearing data in part.

Allomyrina dichotoma is a typical pet beetles in Korea. From 2010, similar symptoms of milky spore disease were found collectively in grubs of the species reared in insect farms. They shared a specific symptom that the skin of last instar larvae was changed softer with opaque white and infested grubs eventually died. To clarify the cause of the symptom, we collected the larvae of A. dichotoma from five farms and examined intestinal bacterial florae of them using pyrosequencing technique. From those results, a member of Paenibacillus was found only in the larvae showing the symptom of disease. Through PCR analysis using a Paenibacillus specific primer set, we obtained the partial 16S rRNA gene sequence and confirmed the microbe as Paenibacillus sp. For detailed characterizing, a whole guts was extracted from each larva showing the sign of the disease and incubated at 70℃ for 15 min to isolate spore forming bacteria. After then, each content of guts was cultured on MYPGPNAL agar medium (12.5 μg/ml of nalidixic acid) at 30℃. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis for six isolate showed that they were closely related to P. rigui (97.5~98.0% similarity) and to P. chinjuensis (95.9~96.6% similarity). Additional tests including API test and cellular fatty acid composition analysis were performed, but the strain couldn’t be identified at species level, suggesting it may represent novel species of the genus Paenibacillus.

 ,  , Pseudanostirus ecarinatus (Stepanov, 1930) is recognized for the first time in Korea. A redescription and illustrations of the species are presented based on a single male specimen collected from Mt. Bangtae Gangwon-do. We also provide diagnostic characteristics of the genus, which clearly separate it from other closely related genera, Calambus Thomson, 1859 and Anostrius Thomson, 1859.

We reviewed the Korean species belonging to the Tribe Dendometrini. Of the previously recorded five species in Korea, Athousius humeralis (Miwa, 1927) and Limoniscus rufipennis (Lewis, 1894) are confirmed as the misidentification of Ampedus basalis (Mennerheim, 1852) and Corymbitodes sp., respectively. It is suggested to exclude these species in the Korean fauna. In addition, the records of Limonius eximius (Lewis, 1874) and Limoniscus vittatus (Candèze, 1873) are also questionable since no specimens available in this study. We actually examined three species throughout this study. Limoniscus kraatzi ((Candèze, 1879) is recognized as the mostly abundant species in the Korean fauna. A new species, Cidnopus nigronitidus sp. nov. and a new record of Limoius scutellaris (Dolin, 2003) comb. nov. are recognized in Korea.

This study was conducted to identify an insect species in Genus Ostrinia (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) that gave serious damage to the red bean, Vigna angularis. The species has ever been described as O. zaguliaevi in the previous presentation (Jung et al., 2010). Because, however, inconsistent information has been recognized for the species, we reviewed characteristics in morphological, molecular and sex pheromone levels, and host-range. Male genitalia had 3-lobed uncus and tibia of midleg showed massive type. The morphology indicated that the species might be one of O. zaguliaevi, O. scapulalis and O. zealis. Partial nucleotide sequences of cytochrome oxidase subunit Ⅰ(COⅠ) and Ⅱ genes were not identical with those of the 3 species in GenBank, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequence of COⅠ was not identical with that of O. zealis. In the 23 analyses that sex pheromones were checked, (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate, which was reported in the sex pheromone components of both O. zaguliaevi and O. zealis, was not detected at all. An intensive study in Japan has reported that the feeding habit of O. scapulalis is polyphagous, while that of O. zaguliaevi is monophagous (only in Petasites japonicus) (Ishikawa et al., 1999). After considering all these information, we concluded that it is reasonable to decide that the insect species in the red bean in Korea is O. scapulalis.

DNA barcoding is a strong species identification tool for all animal taxa, and can easily be conducted when materials are under DNA friendly conditions. In contract, a full-length (659 bp) sequencing has been limited for the degraded DNAs extracted from old museum specimens. The initial challenges to retrieve the authentic DNA fragments from old museum specimens were attempted by obtaining short sequences (<300 bp) with the cloning process after PCR, making it both expensive and time-consuming. In this study, we employed a modified method to analyze the full-length DNA barcoding regions in 31~52 year-old butterfly specimens (301 dried specimens of 39 species) using direct sequencing after PCR with two different methods: 1) the successful PCR rates of 0 to 5.6% using four universal primer sets were too low to obtain authentic sequences and the cross-contamination was detected in almost all successful amplicons; 2) the success rates of PCR using specie-specific overlapping primer sets were distinctly high, reaching up to 75% with 98% authentic and 2% non-specific sequences. Thus, the result showed the method that using species-specific primer set per species yields the most effective success rates of both PCR and sequencing from degraded DNA without incorrect sequences.

In DNA barcoding, the DNA degradation of old museum specimens has been limited full-length (658bp) sequencing. The challenges associated with the retrieval and authentication of degraded DNA extracts from fossil and old museum specimens were principally limited to analyze the relatively short sequences (<300 bp). Furthermore, almost protocols in other to analyzed the degraded DNA contained the cloning process after PCR causing the time-consuming and the rising costs. To overcome these problematic circumstances, we tried a modified method to analyze full-length of DNA barcoding region in 30~60 year-old butterfly specimens (225 samples in 28 species), using direct sequencing after PCR with species-specific overlapping primer sets per each species. As a result, all of 28 species have been successfully analyzed, although 178 samples (79%) are completely generated barcoding sequences ranged from 640 to 658 bp and 47 samples (21%) are partially sequenced ranged from 100 to 500 bp. Thus, the result showed that the direct PCR sequencing using the overlapping primer sets per species appears to have great potential efficiency for analysis of degraded DNA without incorrect sequences.

A new genus, belonging to the tribe Hemicrepidini of subfamily Dendrometrinae, from Taiwan is established. The new genus is compared to their related eight genera occurring in Taiwan by cladistic analysis based on diagnostic characters used in generic level.

The leaf beetle, Chrysolina aurichalcea (Coleoptera: Chysomelidae), is a pest damaging plants of Compositae. In order to understand the genetic diversity and geographic variation we sequenced a portion of mitochondrial COI gene (658 bp) and complete nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) of the species collected from seven Korean localities. A total of 17 haplotypes (CACOI01 ~ CACOI17), with the maximum sequence divergence of 3.04% (20 bp) were obtained from COI gene sequence, whereas 16 sequence types (ITS2CA01 ~ ITS2CA16), with the maximum sequence divergence of 2.013% (9 bp) were obtained from ITS2, indicating substantially larger sequence divergence in COI gene sequence. Phylogenetically, the COI gene provided two haplotype groups with a high nodal support (≥ 87%), whereas ITS2 provided one sequence type group with a high nodal support (≥ 92%). The result of COI gene may suggest the presence of historical biogeographic barriers that bolster genetic subdivision in the species. Different grouping pattern between COI gene and ITS2 sequences were interpreted in terms of recent dispersal, reflected in the ITS2 sequence. Finally, finding of unique haplotypes and sequence types only from Beakryeng-Islet population was interpreted as an intact remnant of ancient polymorphism. As more samples are analyzed using further hyper-variable marker, further fruitful inference on the geographic contour of the species might be available.

Histeridae is a family of beetles commonly known as clown beetles and hister beetles and approximately 3,900 species in 11 subfamily have been described to date. In Korea, up to days, 53 species of 22 genera of 6 subfamily of them have been recorded. They can be easily identified by their shortened elytra that leaves two of the seven tergites exposed, and their elbowed antennae with clubbed ends. Most members of hister beetles are predators and found in most kinds of decaying organic matter, such as droppings, decomposing bodies of animals, compost piles and other decaying plant materials. Some species are also used to control livestock pests that infest dung or to control house flies (Ôhara, 1994). Recently, we have collected several histerid species with Lindgren funner trap for the ecological research on the bark beetles. As a result of this study, we added three newly recorded species, Niponius osorioceps Lewis, 1885, Plegaderus (Plegaderus) marseuli Reitter, 1877 and Trypeticus fagi (Lewis, 1884) to Korean fauna. In this presentation, diagnosis and photographs of characters for each species are presented.

The leaf beetle, Chrysolina aurichalcea (Coleoptera: Chysomelidae), is a pest damaging plants of Compositae. In order to understand the genetic diversity and geographic variation of the species we sequenced a portion of mitochondrial COI gene (658 bp) and complete nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) collected from seven Korean localities. A total of 18 haplotypes (BARCA01 ~ BARCA18), with the maximum sequence divergence of 3.04% (20 bp) were obtained from COI gene sequence, whereas 17 sequence types (ITS2CA01 ~ ITS2CA17), with the maximum sequence divergence of 2.013% (9 bp) were obtained from ITS2, indicating substantially larger sequence divergence in mitochondrial gene sequence. Phylogenetically, the mitochondrial DNA has shown several haplotypes formed independent groups with substantially high node support (≥ 90%), whereas no such grouping was evidenced for ITS2, indicating different behaviors of the two molecules. Such difference may reflect a diverse dynamics of the species such as biogeographic history, mating behaviors, and also possibly different mode of inheritance of the two molecules, but requires further scrutinized examination of the dataset. In terms of population genetic perspective, overall no population subdivision was detected from both molecules, except for locality 7 (Eocheong islet) from mitochondrial DNA. As more scrutinized analysis is performed, further fruitful inference on the geographic contour of the species might be available.

The seven-spotted lady beetle, Coccinella septempunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), known also as the seven-spot ladybird, is natural enemy for aphids and has a broad ecological range, living almost anywhere there are aphids for it to eat. In order to understand the genetic diversity and geographic variation of the species we sequenced a portion of mitochondrial COI gene (658 bp) and complete nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) collected from nine Korean localities. A total of 21 haplotypes (CSCOI01 ~ CSCOI21), with the maximum sequence divergence of 4.56% (30 bp) were obtained from COI gene sequence (from 78 individuals), whereas 65 sequence types (CSITS201 ~ CSITS265), with the maximum sequence divergence of 2.06% (11 positions) were obtained from ITS2 (from 79 individuals), indicating substantially larger sequence divergence in mitochondrial gene sequence. Both COI gene and ITS2 shows the distribution pattern that only a few haplotypes or sequence types are widely distributed, whereas majority of them are highly restricted in one geographic location, even represented as a single individual. Unlikely the ITS2 sequence types the mitochondrial COI haplotypes evidenced the presence of two main phylogenetic groups, reciprocally monophyletic to each other. Geographically, these two groups are spread in all localities surveyed. Considering both COI gene and ITS2 sequence together, current our data may suggest the presence of ancestral polymorphism, rather than on-going speciation, but more scrutinized analysis will be performed soon. Due partially by the presence of both COI groups in all surveyed localities, the genetic diversity estimates of all localities are similar from the perspective of COI gene, but ITS data showed extremely lower genetic diversity of one islet locality, Anmyeon-do (locality 2; 0.002530 vs. 0.008054 ~ 0.012060). Analysis of gene flew estimates between localities indicates that most populations are highly interconnected to each other. However, one islet locality, Anmyeon-do (locality) has shown statistically significant distance from the remaining localities on the basis of only ITS2 data (FST = 0.19 ~ 0.34), requiring scrutinized phylogeographic inference on this population with expanded sampling. As more scrutinized analysis is performed, further fruitful inference on the geographic contour of the species might be available.

We reviewed the Korean species belonging to the Tribe Dendrometrini. Of the previous Korean records. Athousius humeralis (Miwa, 1927) and Limoniscus rufipennis (Lewis, 1984) are confirmed as the misidentification of Ampedus basalis (Mennerheim, 1852) and Corymbitodes sp. recorded by Kishii and Paik (2002), respectively, and, in addition, the records of Limonius eximus (Lewis, 1874) and Limoniscus vittatus (Candeze, 1873) are also questionable since no specimens available in this study. A new species Cidnopus sp. nov. and a new record of Cidnopus koltzei (Reitter, 1895) is recognized in Korea. Limonius scutellaris (Dolin, 2003) comb. nov. is newly proposed. Tribe Dendrometrini Gistel, 1856 Athousisu humeralis (Miwa, 1927) - misidentification Cidnopus sp. nov. Cidnopus koltzei (Reitter, 1895) - new to Korea Limonius eximus (Lewis, 1894) - Korean specimen unavailable Limonius scutellaris (Dolin, 2003) comb. nov. - new to Korea Limoniscus kraatzi kraatzi (Candèze, 1879) Limoniscus vittatus ((Candèze, 1873) - Korean specimen unavailable Limoniscus rufipennis (Lewis, 1894) -misidentification

In traditional taxonomy on the family Cantharidae, color pattern of the body and the structure of the male genitalia have been often used as diagnostic characters in identification of the specific level. However, these characters caused the difficulty in identifying the female in case a species was described only by male specimens or has the several color types among individuals. In this study, we attempted to evaluate the species reality of Asiopodabrus fragiliformis which was often difficult to be identified due to individual variation in color pattern and lack of information of female, through searching for new morphological diagnostic characters as well as DNA barcoding analysis, including their closely relative species from Russia and Japan. The results showed that A. fragiliformis was represented as three clusters strongly supported by high value of boots trap (>99%) and over 3% branch length. The pairwise distances between species of Asiopodabrus were detected larger, ranged from 3.4–9.5%, than the intragroup distance ranged from 0–2.9% indicating presence of a barcoding gap. And then, the three clusters were respectively determined as A. fragiliformis, A. kurvatovi and a new species through the analysis of morphology and COI gene. Therefore, we suggest that the species delineation on polymorphic species and the female specimens of closely resembling species would be more exactly and effectively determined if DNA barcoding and the traditional taxonomy are used as complementary methods for identification.

In an effort to gain a better understanding of the nature of the population genetic structure of the pest insect, Spodoptera litura (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), tobacco cutworms were collected from six Korean and five Chinese localities and their mitochondrial A+T-rich region and nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) regions were cloned and sequenced. A total of 106 A+T-rich region haplotypes and 92 ITS2 sequence types were obtained from 158 individuals. Compared to the preliminary mitochondrial COI gene sequence data that provided all identical sequence types in all samples, the A+T-rich region and nuclear ITS2 are highly variable. Overall, a low level of genetic fixation in the A+T-rich region (FST = 0 ~ 0.02965) and nuclear ITS2 (FST = 0 ~ 0.34491), and no discernable isolated population was noted to exist among most S. litura populations. The presence of a majority of within-population variations, rather than variations among populations or between China and Korea, indicates that the S. litura populations are composed of heterogeneous individuals. The fixation index at hierarchical level of among regions shows no significance, suggesting that the S. litura populations in both Korea and China are profoundly interrelated with one another. This finding is in accord with the current knowledge that S. litura has sufficient flight capacity for dispersal.

The tribe Atimiini LeConte containing two genera (Atimia and Paratimia) and about 12 species is distributed in East Asia and North America. The systematic position of the Atimiini has long puzzled the Coleopterist due to the Lamiid-like aspect of the Atimia. But the Atimiini has regarded as a tribe of the subfamily Aseminae since Webb (1912) associated the Atimia with the Asemum on the basis of larval characters. The tribe is very specialized in food habits, the species of Atimia are all restricted to trees of the Cupressaceae and Taxodiaceae, including Cupressus, Libocedrus, Thuja, Chamaecyparis, Juniperus, Taxodium, Sequoia, and their relatives. Members of the Atimiini are characterized by the combination of following features: head transverse, front short, vertical, mouthparts nearly horizontal; antennae 11-segmented, shorter than the body in both sexes, eyes large, moderately granulated, deeply emarginate, embracing antennal insertion; labrum transverse, ciliated; palpi unequal in length, the maxillary longer; pronotum quadrate, transverse; anterior coxae rounded, cavities usually not angulated, completely closed behind; mesonotum with a large, divided, stridulatory area; scutellum subquadrate; intermediate coxal cavities closed; metasternum deeply emarginate posteriorly, metepisterna narrow, attenuated behind; legs short; femora feebly clavate; tibiae armed with short spurs; wings with a closed cell in the anal sector. Here, we report the tribe Atimiini for the first time in Korea based on provisional identified species, Atimia spec. okayamensis Hayashi. We also provide a diagnosis, habitus photo, and drawings of diagnostic characters.