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Tag: phylogenetics

Overhead view of 20+ termites in a group on a piece of rotting wood. The termites are all milky yellowish white in color, with honey brown splotches in their abdomens.
warehouse beetle (Trogoderma variabile)

New Analysis Refines Taxonomy of Dermestid Beetles

A new, robust molecular and morphological analysis of beetles in the family Dermestidae improves understanding of the group's evolutionary relationships—valuable knowledge for pest management, trade regulations, and forensic entomology.

corbiculate bees

New Research Deepens Mystery About Evolution of Bees’ Social Behavior

A new study has mounted perhaps the most intricate, detailed look ever at the diversity in structure and form of bees, offering new insights in a long-standing debate over how complex social behaviors arose in certain branches of bees' evolutionary tree. The report offers strong evidence that complex social behavior developed just once in pollen-carrying bees, rather than twice or more, separately, in different evolutionary branches—but researchers say the case is far from closed.