Click-beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae) are an abundant, diverse, and economically important beetle family that includes bioluminescent species. To date, molecular phylogenies have sampled relatively few taxa and genes, incompletely resolving subfamily level relationships. We present a novel probe set for anchored hybrid enrichment of 2260 single-copy orthologous genes in Elateroidea. Using these probes, we undertook the largest phylogenomic study of Elateroidea to date (99 Elateroidea, including 86 Elateridae, plus 5 non-elateroid outgroups). We sequenced specimens from 88 taxa to test the monophyly of families, subfamilies and tribes. Maximum likelihood and coalescent phylogenetic analyses produced well-resolved topologies. Notably, the included non-elaterid bioluminescent families (Lampyridae + Phengodidae + Rhagophthalmidae) form a clade within the otherwise monophyletic Elateridae, and Sinopyrophoridae may not warrant recognition as a family. All analyses recovered the elaterid subfamilies Elaterinae, Agrypninae, Cardiophorinae, Negastriinae, Pityobiinae, and Tetralobinae as monophyletic. Our results were conflicting on whether the hypnoidines are sister to Dendrometrinae or Cardiophorinae + Negastriinae. Moreover, we show that fossils with the eucnemid-type frons and elongate cylindrical shape may belong to Eucnemidae, Elateridae: Thylacosterninae, ancestral hard-bodied cantharoids or related extinct groups. Proposed taxonomic changes include recognition of Plastocerini as a tribe in Dendrometrinae and Hypnoidinae stat. nov. as a subfamily within Elateridae.

Rove beetles of the tribe Quediini are abundant predators in humid microhabitats of forested, open, synanthropic or subterranean ecosystems, with just over 800 species distributed across the temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Previous molecular phylogenies included only a limited representation of this diversity but have already indicated that Quedius, containing the majority of Quediini species, is polyphyletic. Six genera, historically associated with Quediini but now Staphylininae incertae sedis, are known only from few pinned specimens and have never been sequenced. Recent synergy between target enrichment phylogenomics, low‐input sequencing of dry, pinned insect specimens and advances in alpha taxonomic knowledge have made comprehensive sampling of Quediini tractable. Here we developed a novel probe set specialized for anchored hybrid enrichment of 1229 single‐copy orthologous loci in Staphylinidae. In one of the largest target enrichment phylogenies of insects to‐date, we sequenced 201 ingroup taxa to clearly delimit monophyletic Quediini within Staphylininae and resolve relationships within this tribe, with 46% of sampled taxa derived from pinned specimens (0–45 years old). Maximum likelihood and coalescent phylogenetic analyses produced well‐resolved, congruent topologies that will serve as a framework for further exploration of this radiation and its necessary generic revision. The inclusion of nearly all remaining Staphylininae incertae sedis genera, all known only from pinned specimens, resulted in the creation of Quelaestrygonini Brunke, trib. n. and revised concepts for Cyrtoquediini and Indoquediini. Quediini was resolved as monophyletic with the transfer of Q. elevatus and Q. nigropolitus to other tribes but Quedius and its subgenera Microsaurus, Distichalius and Raphirus were shown to be para‐ or polyphyletic. Based on the results of our analyses, Velleiopsis Fairmaire, 1882 syn. n. and Megaquedius Casey, 1915 syn. n. are synonymized with Microsaurus Dejean, 1833 resulting in: Q. (Microsaurus) marginiventris (Fairmaire) comb. n., Q. (M.) varendorffi (Reitter) comb.n. Several species of Quedius were transferred from Microsaurus to Distichalius (Q. aethiops Smetana, Q. biann Smetana, Q. cingulatus Smetana and Q. taruni Smetana), Distichalius to Raphirus (Q. fagelianus Scheerpeltz) and Microsaurus to Raphirus (Q. mixtus Eppelsheim and Q. persicus Korge).

This study applied a 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding approach to characterize bacterial community compositional and functional attributes for surface water samples collected within, primarily, agriculturally dominated watersheds in Ontario and Québec, Canada. Compositional heterogeneity was best explained by stream order, season, and watercourse discharge. Generally, community diversity was higher at agriculturally dominated lower order streams, compared to larger stream order systems such as small to large rivers. However, during times of lower relative water flow and cumulative 2-day rainfall, modestly higher relative diversity was found in the larger watercourses. Bacterial community assemblages were more sensitive to environmental/land use changes in the smaller watercourses, relative to small-to-large river systems, where the proximity of the sampled water column to bacteria reservoirs in the sediments and adjacent terrestrial environment was greater. Stream discharge was the environmental variable most significantly correlated (all positive) with bacterial functional groups, such as C/N cycling and plant pathogens. Comparison of the community structural similarity via network analyses helped to discriminate sources of bacteria in freshwater derived from, for example, wastewater treatment plant effluent and intensity and type of agricultural land uses (e.g., intensive swine production vs. dairy dominated cash/livestock cropping systems). When using metabarcoding approaches, bacterial community composition and coexisting pattern rather than individual taxonomic lineages, were better indicators of environmental/land use conditions (e.g., upstream land use) and bacterial sources in watershed settings. Overall, monitoring changes and differences in aquatic microbial communities at regional and local watershed scales has promise for enhancing environmental footprinting and for better understanding nutrient cycling and ecological function of aquatic systems impacted by a multitude of stressors and land uses.

Spore samplers are widely used in pathogen surveillance but not so much for monitoring the composition of aeromycobiota. In Canada, a nationwide spore-sampling network (AeroNet) was established as a pilot project to assess fungal community composition in air and rain samples collected using three different spore samplers in the summers of 2010 and 2011. Metabarcodes of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) were exhaustively characterized for three of the network sites, in British Columbia (BC), Québec (QC), and Prince Edward Island (PEI), to compare performance of the samplers. Sampler type accounted for ca. 20% of the total explainable variance in aeromycobiota compositional heterogeneity, with air samplers recovering more Ascomycota and rain samplers recovering more Basidiomycota. Spore samplers showed different abilities to collect 27 fungal genera that are plant pathogens. For instance, Cladosporium spp., Drechslera spp., and Entyloma spp. were collected mainly by air samplers, while Fusarium spp., Microdochium spp., and Ustilago spp. were recovered more frequently with rain samplers. The diversity and abundance of some fungi were significantly affected by sampling location and time (e.g., Alternaria and Bipolaris) and weather conditions (e.g., Mycocentrospora and Leptosphaeria), and depended on using ITS1 or ITS2 as the barcoding region (e.g., Epicoccum and Botrytis). The observation that Canada's aeromycobiota diversity correlates with cooler, wetter conditions and northward wind requires support from more long-term data sets. Our vision of the AeroNet network, combined with high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and well-designed sampling strategies, may contribute significantly to a national biovigilance network for protecting plants of agricultural and economic importance in Canada.IMPORTANCE The current study compared the performance of spore samplers for collecting broad-spectrum air- and rain-borne fungal pathogens using a metabarcoding approach. The results provided a thorough characterization of the aeromycobiota in the coastal regions of Canada in relation to the influence of climatic factors. This study lays the methodological basis to eventually develop knowledge-based guidance on pest surveillance by assisting in the selection of appropriate spore samplers.

Potato wart, caused by the fungal pathogen Synchytrium endobioticum, is a serious disease with the potential to cause significant economic damage. The small subunit (SSU) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) were sequenced for several Synchytrium spp., showing a high rate of variability for both of these markers among the different species and monophyly of the genus within phylum Chytridiomycota. The intergenic nontranscribed spacer (IGS) of rDNA was sequenced for different pathotypes and showed no intraspecific variation within S. endobioticum, similar to the other rDNA markers from this study. To facilitate screening for the pathogen in soil, three TaqMan polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays were developed from SSU, ITS, and IGS rDNA sequences to detect S. endobioticum sporangia in the chloroform-flotation fraction of sieved soil extracts. In the screening portion of the method, a first TaqMan assay targeting the SSU rDNA was developed with positive results that were further confirmed with amplicon melt analysis. A synthetic reaction control cloned into a plasmid was incorporated into the procedure, facilitating the validation of negative results. The presence of the reaction control did not adversely affect the efficiency of the SSU target amplification. A second TaqMan assay targeting the ITS-1 region was developed as a confirmatory test. There was 100% accordance between the SSU and ITS-1 TaqMan assays. Utilizing these two assays in tandem achieved good specificity for S. endobioticum, generating negative results with the cloned SSU and ITS-1 regions from all 14 other Synchytrium spp. considered. Spike recovery experiments indicated that these assays, targeting the SSU and ITS-1 rDNA regions, developed from a phylogeny dataset of the genus, could reliably detect a single sporangium in the chloroform flotation fraction of a soil extract. Good correlation between microscopic detection of sporangia and PCR results in both positive and negative soil samples was dually demonstrated for both the SSU and ITS-1 assays.