The first fossil rove beetle from the middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation (North America) provides evidence for ancient Eocene relicts within the hyperdiverse Staphylinini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae)

Abstract

A new rove beetle (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) is described from the middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation in Montana, USA. †Tympanophorus greenwalti Chatzimanolis, Brunke & Schillhammer sp. nov. is the oldest known definitive member of the subtribe Anisolinina (Staphylininae: Staphylinini) and the entire Staphylinini propria clade, which contains the majority of the tribe's over 5500 described extant species. In order to provide robust justification for the systematic placement of the Kishenehn fossil, all genera of the Tympanophorus lineage are reviewed and redefined. A key to these genera is provided for the first time. Paratympanophorus Lecoq becomes a junior synonym of Trigonopalpus Cameron, with the following new combinations: Trigonopalpus africanus (Lecoq), Tr. peyrierasi (Lecoq), Tr. pubescens (Lecoq), Tr. punctatus (Lecoq) and Tr. steineri (Lecoq). Tympanophorus schenklingi Bernhauer is moved to Trigonopalpus (comb. nov.) and Ty. clavicornis (Lecoq) is moved to Barygnathus (comb. nov.), and thus, the genus Tympanophorus no longer occurs in the Afrotropical region. Tympanophorus is shown to be at least as old as the middle Eocene, and its disjunct New and Old World lineages are hypothesized to have been separated in the early Eocene.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CA1993B8-1251-45C3-877E-C4604F78E781