Mattias Forshage Ph. D. Student Telephone: +46 (0)18 471 26 47 Fax: +46 (0)18 471 64 57 E-mail: Mattias.Forshage @ ebc.uu.se Address: Department of Systematic Zoology Evolutionary Biology Centre Uppsala University Norbyvägen 18 D SE-752 36, Uppsala, SWEDEN

Collecting dung beetles at Ravlunda, Scania. Photo: John-Erik Nilsson.

Phylogeny and taxonomy of a group of parasitic wasps (Cynipoidea: Figitidae: Eucoilinae: Trybliographa)
The eucoiline wasps is one of the poorly known groups where it can be safely assumed that the known number of species represent only a fraction of the total species number, even in a relatively well-researched geographical area as Sweden. The swedish taxonomy initiative is a large project of charting the biological diversity in this country, and this Ph D project is one of the first ones directly connected to this initiative. The genus Trybliographa is one of the largest genera within Eucoilinae (25 described species recorded in Sweden so far - among several yet undescribed), all living as parasitoids of flies of the family Anthomyiidae. The aim is to find and scientifically describe undiscovered species with special respect to the north west european fauna, to solve taxonomical problems in the group, collect biological information on these insects (most of them lacking any biological information on species level today) and finally investigate the specific conservational problems and needs regarding such a poorly known group.

Other research projects:

European catalogue of Cynipoidea (Fauna Europaea database) (with Fredrik Ronquist, Göran Nordlander and others).

Systematic studies in Scarabaeoidea (lamellicorn beetles or scarabs), especially the coprophagous groups, globally, including the finished M Sc work at EBC on the state of knowledge of dung beetle phylogeny, reviewing the suggested (suprageneric) groups within Aphodiinae from a cladistic viewpoint as well as contributing a minor phylogenetic analysis.

Faunistic studies in swedish Scarabaeoidea, including the finished M Sc work at SLU on long-term changes in abundance and distribution of swedish dung beetles, keeping a data base of swedish dung beetle records, as well as supervising and/or carrying out dung beetle inventories in different parts of Sweden, including an ongoing project in the province of Östergötland.

Swedish entomological history, biography of entomologists, fate and interpretation of old entomological collections, interpretation of label data, charting of forgotten collections in schools and regional museums, in general as well as with special respect to the Uppsala University Evolution museum. (with Bert Viklund, NRM, Hans Mejlon, UU Evol Mus, Anders Lindhe, SLU and others).

Recent publications:

Forshage, M. 1999. Dyngbaggarna i naturvården - Kunskapssammanställning för användandet av dynglevande bladhorningar som indikatorarter eller miljöövervakningsobjekt i betesmarker, Examensarbete, Naturgeografiska institutionen, Stockholms universitet. ("Dung beetles as environmental indicators", masters thesis in conservation biology).
Forshage, M. 2000. Svenska namn på inhemska bladhorningar. Entomologisk Tidskrift 121 (3): 99-118. ("Swedish names for swedish lamellicorn beetles" including nomenclatoral notes, and a history of vernacular name giving). (Available in PDF format, 840K. )
Forshage, M.. 2001. Gotlands dyngbaggefauna. Körkmacken nr 30: 2-5 ("Dung beetle fauna of Gotland island", popular ovierview).
Forshage, M. 2001. Dyngbaggar i Värmdö kommun. Rapport från Värmdö kommun. (Dung beetle fauna of Värmdö, Stockholm region, inventory 2001).
Forshage, M. 2002. Nyare systematik bland bladhorningar och skalbaggar i allmänhet. Entomologisk Tidskrift 123 (1-2): 65-74 ("Contemporary systematics in lamellicorn beetles and beetles in general"). (Available in PDF format, 436K. )
Forshage, M. 2002. State of knowledge of dung beetle phylogeny - a review of phylogenetic hypotheses regarding Aphodiinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Masters thesis in systematic zoology, EBC. (Available in PDF format, 316K. )
Forshage, M. 2003. Förändringar i dyngbaggefaunan - Tendenser i abundans och utbredning hos dynglevande bladhorningar och deras släktingar i Sverige sådana de avspeglas i samlingar och litteraturen. Examensarbete i entomologi 2003:2, Institutionen för entomologi, SLU. ("Changes in the dung beetle fauna - tendencies in abundance and distribution among dung living lamellicorn beetles and their relatives as they are mirrored in collections and litterature", masters thesis in entomology). (Available in PDF format, 204K. )
Forshage, M. In press. Dyngbaggar i Östergötland. Rapport från Länsstyrelsen i Östergötland. (Dung beetle fauna of the province of Östergötland, inventory 2001).
Forshage, M. In press. Dyngbaggar i Upplands-Bro. Rapport från Upplands-Bro kommun. (Dung beetle fauna of Upplands-Bro, Stockholm region, inventory 2001).