Morphology-based phylogeny of the coastal rove-beetle subgenera Emplenota Casey and Triochara Bernhauer of the genus Aleochara Gravenhorst (Coleoptera Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae)

Abstract

A morphology-based cladistic analysis was conducted of the coastal rove-beetle subgeneraEmplenotaCasey andTriocharaBernhauer of the genusAleocharaGravenhorst. We used 36 adult characters from the all tenEmplenotaand threeTriocharaspecies, and two outgroups, resulting in a single tree. The topology within theEmplenotaclade shows a clear pattern of species diversification that correlates well with the biogeographical distribution of this taxon. TheEmplenotaclade was phylogenetically divided into three, consisting of a Nearctic clade forming a sister group relationship with the Eastern Palearctic clade, and a basal Western Palearctic evolutionary grade. In contrast, the geographical origin ofTriochararemains unclear due to a paucity of information and difficulties in interpreting the distributional data.