ForBio and University of Gothenburg course: Target capture for Illumina sequencing Workshop – Sweden, Tjarno – March, 2022

The workshop was held in the Tjärnö Marine Laboratory
and sponsored by Gothenburg University and ForBio. https://www.gu.se/en/tjarno
Great group of researchers, awesome learning experience! I am looking forward to apply what was learned here in beetles! Check people’s Twitter accounts at https://twitter.com/neolycus/status/1507300157636939780

England – The Natural History Museum, London – February, 2022

The Natural History Museum, London – This visit was focused on the identification and documentation of lycid types from the Neotropical region, which include several paedomorphic lineages.
The already classic photo with Darwin – Charlie, as I call him. Note my excitement at the moment this photo was being taken.
Calopteron is probably the second most-commonly found Lycidae in the Americas. While this group is not paedomorphic, several paedomorphic species are closely related to this genus, and studying their types is an important component of future phylogenetic studies relating to the paedomorphic lycids.
What is a Russian (Alexandra Tokareva), a Swiss (Michael Geiser) and a Brazilian (myself) were doing in the bar? If you said talking about beetles you were right!

France – Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris – November-December, 2021

Jardin des Plantes – many buildings linked to the Natural History Museum are either inside the park or surrounding it. Despite the cold weather, surprisingly, the park is quite busy all day.
The Lycidae collection in the MNHN. Myself for scale. Perhaps the most important Lycidae collection in the world, holding hundreds of types, many of which are hidden in the collection. The visit was focused on Lycidae, but also other beetle groups that displayed paedomorphic features.
A typical Maurice Pic drawer. Sometimes you will spend more time figuring out Pic’s handwriting than actually looking at the beetles!
A great opportunity to finish up some projects with Robert Constantin – squishy beetle legend and a connoisseur of the Elateroidea collection in the MNHN.
Lunch time was also the perfect time to visit the exhibits of the museum. A snapshot view of the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution.
Pleasant surprise to meet Coleopterists which, of course, had to go out for drinks and photograph themselves at Rue Linné. From left to right:Lech Karpiński, Marcin Jan Kaminski, myself and in the lower row, Ryan Lumen.

Sweden – Lund Entomological Collection, Lund University – October, 2021

Despite being most focused on old World Elateroidea, this collection housed many undescribed New World paedomorphic Lycidae, including the first apterous Lycidae in the Americas (perhaps in the world?). Collections are always a surprise and a gamble, and this one was a very rewarding one.
Happy and excited with the possibility of working in such a rich, but poorly explored collection. Detail to the unsorted Lycidae (now properly sorted).
Among the treasures of this collection, the guestbook dating back to 1845.
Among the signatures of many entomologists, a single page was dedicated to the King Carl XVI of Sweden. Even kings are interested in the wonders of entomology!

2nd International Symposium on the Elateroidea – October 9th, 2021

Program of the Elateroidea Symposium, 2021.
Over 60 people from all over the world, in many time zones, attended this year’s meeting, which was an absolute success!
Yun Hsiao on his presentation of the new Cantharidae chapter of the upcoming Australian Beetles book.
Hume Douglas presentation on his phylogenomics study of Elateridae!
André Roza presenting the latest updates on Phengodidae phylogeny.
My own presentation on paedomorphic Lycidae from the West Indies.
Robert Constantin on his presentation of the Maurice Pic collection in Paris.
Gabriel Biffi’s presentation on the taxonomy and systematics of the genus Pachymesia (Cantharidae).
Jesús A. Cruz-López presentation on click beetles associated with roselle crops in Mexico.
Professor Santiago Zaragoza Caballero talk on Photinus (Lampyridae).
Ana Walker’s presentation on fireflies at extinction risk.