Biodiversity and evolution of rove beetles in the Euaesthetine subgroup (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

The rove beetle subfamilies Euaesthetinae and Steninae together form a strongly supported monophyletic group comprising more than 3000 species. Despite the weight of evidence for this relationship, the lack of molecular data, uncooperative morphological characters, and the poor taxonomic state of particularly tropical and austral faunas continue to impede efforts to establish robust generic- and species-level phylogenies that might be useful for applied evolutionary studies. Nevertheless, this talk summarizes the current state of knowledge of biology, biogeography, and phylogeny in this large assemblage. Both taxon sampling and character selection are known to influence phylogenetic inference. Multiple character systems are therefore analyzed in an attempt to provide the first comprehensive generic level phylogeny for the group with the goal of progressing toward a more robust classification. Dense species-level sampling from both subfamilies provides the first comprehensive test of generic monophyly. Sexual selection acting on several characters may have been an important mechanism driving the diversification of several genera in Euaesthetinae.