New Year, New Beets!
Happy New Year! Just did a decent-sized update to the MassBeetles database, adding 55 new species, and even one new family, bringing the total number of families to 100. After 6 years of this, adding a new family is rare, so I took a look to see what it was: the Georissidae, or the "minute water-loving beetles." This family used to be a subfamily of the Hydrophilidae, and is represented by a single species in Massachusetts, Georissus pusillus. The Massachusetts specimens, from both Essex and Franklin Counties, are part of a collection at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
As of January 1, 2024, the database consists of 4171 records, and includes 3821 unique species in 100 families, derived from 86 online and print sources.