Developing scarab beetle identification tools for Hawaii and the Pacific

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Issue Date
2016-05
Embargo End Date
Authors
Dunlap, Joshua Buck
Advisor
Jameson, Mary Liz
Citation
Abstract

The last decade has seen the arrival of a number of pest scarabs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) to the state of Hawaii and the US territory of Guam. Despite the arrival of such injurious species as the coconut rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros) and the masked chafer (Cyclocephala pasadenae) there remains no comprehensive resource pertaining to scarabs of the American Pacific or their identification. To allow for the ready identification of the 71 scarabs known from Hawaii and the 21 species reported from Guam an all-inclusive online "tool" was created in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture and Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA PPQ) division. The tool was created from the assemblage of several distinct subcomponents: 1) A species checklist compiling all scarabaeoids (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) recorded from Hawaii, with a second checklist for Guam. 2) "Fact sheets" or species pages that assemble relevant information for each species created by examination of preserved specimens and an exhaustive review of published literature. 3) Extensive imaging of relevant species supporting image-based identification for the fact sheets. 4) Creation of an image-based matrix key that facilitates the identification of specimens. The completed tool will fill the gap in taxonomic knowledge regarding Hawaiian and Guamanian scarabs, allowing port screeners, quarantine workers and other end users to correctly and efficiently identify specimens. The complete, peer-reviewed identification tool was released in February 2016. The web-application and mobile application identification tools may be accessed on the USDA-ITP (Identification Technology Program) ID Tools web site: http://idtools.org.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Biological Sciences
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