Revision of Nicrophorus in part: new species and inferred phylogeny of the nepalensis-group based on evidence from morphology and mitochondrial DNA (Coleoptera : Silphidae : Nicrophorinae)

We thank the multitude of curators and collections managers who assisted with loans of study material including: N. Berti (MNHN), M. Brendell & M. Barclay (BMNH), R. W. Brooks (SEMC), B. Brugge (ZMAN), M.-L. Chan (NMNS), L.-y. Chou (TARI), R. Danielsson (MZLU), A. Davis (CNCI), F. Génier (CMNC), W. J. Hanson (EMUS), J. Háva (JHC), L. H. Herman (AMNH), E. R. Hoebeke (CUIC), G. N. House (NMNH, USNM), M. Jäch (NHMW), O. Jäger (SMTD), J. Jelínek (NMPC), D. Kavanaugh (CASC), A. G. Kireitshuk (ZMAS), K. Konishi (ITLJ), S. Krauth (IRCW), W. Wehling (MSUC), O. Martin (ZMUC), O. Merkl (HNHM), M. Nishikawa (MNC), S. Nomura (NSMT), G. R. Noonan (MCPM), M. Ôhara (EIHU), P. Parrillo (FMNH), S. B. Peck (SBPC), P. Perkins (MCZC), E. G. Riley (TAMU), G. A. Sammuelson (BPBM), W. Schawaller (SMNS), J. Schneider (JSC), H. Silfverberg (MZHF), R. W. Sites (UMRM), M. Uhlig (ZMHB), T. W. Pietsch (TAMU2), A. Vesmanis (SMFD), B. Viklund (NHRS), K. Walker (MVMA), T. Wier (ANIC), and L.-y. Zheng (NKUM). We thank those who helped us obtain specimens with preserved DNA: A. Riede, S. Suzuki, M. Kon, K. Araya, M. Maruyama, J. Horák, S. B. Peck, D. Mohagan, B. D. Gill. Numerous faculty in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department at the University of Connecticut have assisted this project in various ways, including Janine Caira, Paul Lewis, Chris Simon, Jim Slater, and David Wagner. Expeditions to Nepal and Japan were wonderfully successful thanks to the generosity and assistance of Dhruba Manandhar (Nepal) and Masahiro Kon, Seizi Suzuki, Masahiro Ôhara, Tomoyosi Nisimura, Munetoshi Maruyama, and Masahiro Nagano (Japan). DSS thanks his good friend Piotr Naskrecki for countless hours of taxonomic, computer, and photography related discussions (and for tolerating all the carrion). This research was enormously simplified by use of Piotr’s custom-built database MANTIS (A Manager of Taxonomic Information and Specimens (Naskrecki 2001)). Derek thanks his wonderful wife Melissa for her support and love. This project was supported by an Ernst Mayr grant and NSERC Discovery grant to Derek Sikes and a National Science Foundation Grant (DEB-9981381), a University of Connecticut Research Council grant, and a National Geographic Society grant to Stephen Trumbo.

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Appendix 1.  Specimens from which DNA was extracted for sequencing of the COII mitochondrial gene
DNA voucher specimens are stored in the first author’s collection at –80°C. Specimen ID codes correspond to specimen records in the project database and the labels associated with the specimens

Appendix 2.  Museums and collections from which specimens were borrowed