DOI: 10.3897/asp.83.e151555

Authors: Fang-Shuo Hu, Alexey Solodovnikov, Martin Fikáček

Abstract: Abstract We provide a taxonomic description of the larva of the rove beetle Tolmerinus fratrumelliotorum Rougemont, 2017, identified through DNA barcoding. This is the first larval description for Anisolinina, the only subtribe whose sister group within the tribe Staphylinini remains unclear. While most phylogenetic hypotheses, especially molecular-based, suggest sister group relationships between Anisolinina and Staphylinina, conflicts remain, particularly when adult morphology is used for phylogeny reconstruction. Our attempt to use larval morphology for phylogeny reconstruction neither revealed a sister group for Anisolinina, nor unique synapomorphies for this subtribe. However, by mapping larval characters on the reference tree of Staphylinini, i.e., a phylogeny firmly established by phylogenomics in agreement with the adult morphology, we found unique larval synapomorphies to support the tribe Staphylinini and informal clade Staphylinini propria. We review all phylogenetic hypotheses ever proposed for a sister group of Anisolinina and discuss potential reasons for the poor phylogenetic signal in the larval characters alone. We stress some opportunities and challenges of using larval characters in phylogeny reconstructions.

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DOI: 10.3897/asp.82.e106391

Authors: Chong Li, Liang Tang

Abstract: Staphylininae, a highly diverse subfamily of rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), has been the subject of numerous phylogenetic studies primarily based on molecular genetics and adult morphology. This work represents an initiation of phylogenetic studies using complete immature morphology, encompassing eggs, larvae and pupae, for 27 genera of Staphylininae and two outgroups. Our findings indicate that the combination of data from all three immature stages is more phylogenetically informative than the larval data alone. The resulting maximum parsimony tree partially aligns with previous research, although certain tribal-level issues remain unresolved. Through morphological comparisons, we revealed the morphological diversity of protibia, paratergites and parasternites of abdominal segment I as examples of parallel and mosaic evolution within Staphylininae larvae. We conducted detailed character analyses to provide explanations for these phenomena. Furthermore, this study provides the first morphological data for several species of Staphylinini. Notably, we present a comprehensive study of the morphology of immature stages of Algon sphaericollis Schillhammer, 2006, the first species of the recently established subtribe Algonina with known larva. Additionally, we provide the larval morphology data for six other species: Eucibdelus sp., Platydracus pseudopaganus pseudopatricius (Müller, 1926), Platydracus marmorellus (Fauvel, 1895), Saniderus cooteri Rougemont, 2015, Saniderus sp., and Philonthus spinipes Sharp, 1874.

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DOI: 10.3897/asp.82.e114508

Authors: Erich L. Spiessberger, Alfred F. Newton, Margaret K. Thayer, Oliver Betz

Abstract: The mouthparts and protarsi of adult rove-beetles of the Staphylinine group are examined in detail. We provide descriptions and image plates based on scanning electron micrographs taken from 36 species representing all 10 subfamilies comprising this large staphylinid subunit. We establish groundplan features of the mouthparts for the Staphylinine group and discuss, in detail, aspects and functions of structures that compose the feeding apparatus. A phylogenetic scheme is used to conduct an ancestral character reconstruction of the morphological characters. The potential groundplan features of the characters rendered in our parsimony analysis for the Staphylinine group are: labrum subquadrate or longer than wide; mandible without subapical teeth and retinaculum, with prostheca present, not forming lobe-like projection, and with a mola; maxillary palpomere 4 well-developed, fully sclerotized, similar in width to palpomere 3; ‘glossa’ integrated with prementum plate, sometimes represented by pairs of sensilla basiconica; ‘paraglossa’ with unmodified antero-lateral lobes; labial palpomere 3 from as wide to half as wide as penultimate palpomere. To explain the shape variation of the mandibles, a geometric morphometric analysis was carried out. A character mapping analysis of mandible shapes revealed a trend in the Staphylinine group toward a falcate shape with a narrow base, typically present in some predatory species.

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DOI: 10.3897/asp.79.e62554

Authors: Derek S. Sikes, Logan J. Mullen

Abstract: Abstract The omaliine rove beetle genus Phlaeopterus Motschulsky, 1853 contains 22 species. The genus is distributed across northwestern North America and eastern Asia. These beetles occur primarily along the edges of alpine snowfields and streams, habitats that are particularly sensitive to the impacts of climate change. Two species have not been collected since 1979 and 1984, one of which, Phlaeopterus bakerensis Mullen and Campbell, 2018, is a contender for the largest-bodied species among the over 1,600 species of the subfamily Omaliinae. Here, we present the first phylogeny of the genus, using Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses based on DNA sequences from the mitochondrial gene COI and morphological data. We tested previous taxonomic hypotheses and most were rejected by all three analyses. Phlaeopterus castaneus Casey, 1893 is non-monophyletic based on COI sequences and may have hybridized with P. loganensis Hatch, 1957. We found support for the monophyly of the genus Phlaeopterus. Our analyses suggest the common ancestor of the genus had small-bodied adults (maximum body size under 5 mm) with ocelli. Within this small-bodied radiation of species, ocelli were lost once and there were two separate evolutionary transitions to large-bodied adults. Although all the large-bodied species are snowfield-associated and only 25% of the small-bodied species are, we did not find statistical support for a relationship between large body size and use of snowfield habitats. These findings represent the first modern phylogenetic reconstruction of species-level relationships within the rove beetle subfamily Omaliinae using both morphological and molecular data.

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