Taxonomy and systematics of New Zealand faronitae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae)

The New Zealand Faronitae was revised at the species level, and a phylogenetic study was performed based on morphological and molecular data. Eight new genera and 143 new species were discovered. Three new genera, “Brounea”, “Ahnea” and “Pseudoexeirarthra” were designated based on the species originally described in the genus Sagola. Five new genera, “Aucklandea”, “Chandlerea”, “Nunnea”, “Leschenea” and “Pseudostenosagola” were designated by new species. Three known genera, Exeirarthra, Stenosagola and Sagola were also revised at species level. Eighty four names were synonymized, two in Exeirarthra, four in Stenosagola and 78 in Sagola names. Lectotypes of seven species, Sagola terricola Broun, S. rugifrons Broun, S. valida Broun, S. arboricola Broun, S. notabilis Broun, S. eminens Broun, and S. robustula Broun, were designated. These revisional results bring the numbers of New Zealand Faronitae from 144 species within 3 genera to 203 species in 11 genera. The largest faronite genus Sagola includes 143 species, 48 redescriptions and 95 new descriptions and is divided into 30 species groups based on diagnostic characters. Phylogenetic studies were performed based on morphological and molecular data. A morphological parsimony tree was reconstructed based on 49 taxa and 42 adult morphological data. Two most parsimonious trees resulted, and those do not support the genus Sagola as a monophyletic group. The “Brounea” and “Aucklandea” clades are placed within the Sagola clade. Three molecular trees, parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian, were inferred using 32 taxa and ca. 4200 base pairs within 4 genes (COI, 18S, 28S and wg), and these indicated that the genus Sagola is paraphyletic. All molecular trees have a genus “Ahnea” within the Sagola clades, and two genera, “Brounea” and “Pseudoexeirarthra” are excluded. Except for the three genera, “Brounea”, “Aucklandea” and “Ahnea”, all trees are supported the monophyly of the genus Sagola. One Australian Sagola species, Sagola rugicornis was excluded from the New Zealand Sagola clade in both morphology and molecular trees. Two groups of Stenosagola are paraphyletic in all analyses.