Eureka: discovery of male Turgiditarsus Schillhammer reveals its placement in Acylophorina and resolves phylogenetic relationships within the subtribe (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae).
Citation
Schillhammer, H. and Brunke, A. 2018. Eureka: discovery of male Turgiditarsus Schillhammer reveals its placement in Acylophorina and resolves phylogenetic relationships within the subtribe (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae). Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny. 76: 303-322.
Plain language summary
The lineage of predatory rove beetles classified as tribe Staphylinini consists of more than 6,000 described species worldwide. Within this group, the subtribe Acylophorina is well represented in North America, the New World tropics, Africa and Asian tropics. However, evolutionary relationships within this group and their classification are still poorly known. In the most comprehensive analysis to date, including all known genera, the authors combined evidence from morphological characters and 6 genes to resolve these relationships. The resulting evolutionary hypothesis was well supported and resulted in improved definitions of all genera. The authors also provided the first-ever identification global key to all genera. One species endemic to North America was newly recognized as a separate genus and emphasizes the importance of this region has had as a long-term refuge against extinction in this group.
This work provides an critical foundation for future systematic research on the group, especially for the Acylophorus complex of genera, which still need additional analyses to resolve their boundaries.
Abstract
Abstract. Turgiditarsus Schillhammer comprises some of the most bizarre and rarely encountered rove beetles in the subfamily Staphylininae.
The genus is presently known from only 4 female specimens comprising three species in the eastern Oriental region. Its previous placement
in Anisolinina was based primarily on superficial similarity, much before recent advances in the systematics of tribe Staphylinini.
Total evidence phylogenetic analysis of a broad taxon sample within Staphylinini, including the first male specimen of Turgiditarsus,
revealed that the genus should be placed in the morphologically diverse and relictual Acylophorina, a subtribe with one of the oldest crown
group ages in the latest Early Cretaceous. Turgiditarsus is redescribed and two new species, T. eureka Schillhammer and Brunke sp.n. and
T. vietnamensis Schillhammer and Brunke sp.n., are described, bringing the total number to five. Amacylophorus Smetana stat.n., a subgenus
of Acylophorus Gravenhorst, is raised to genus rank and redescribed, with the following new combination: Amacylophorus pratensis
(LeConte) comb.n. Stevensia Cameron and its single species, recently moved to this subtribe, are redescribed. All genera of Acylophorina
are diagnosed and included in a novel world key. A species level key is updated for Turgiditarsus. Further systematic work within diverse
Acylophorus is needed to re-assess the status of Acylohsellus, Paratolmerus and the remaining subgenera of Acylophorus.