Total‐evidence phylogeny of the coastalCafiuscomplex (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) and its new generic concepts

Abstract

AbstractThe marine littoral rove beetle genusCafiusStephens and related genera have been known to be an extraordinarily heterogeneous group and are taxonomically dispersed among several lineages of coastal Staphylininae. A phylogenetic analysis of thisCafiuscomplex is performed based on morphological and molecular characters in order to classify them into lower taxonomic categories and to establish a robust generic concept. The data set was comprised of 94 morphological characters for 50 species, and partialCOI,COII,12SrDNA,16SrDNA,AK,TPand nearly complete sequences of18SrDNA for 44 species. TheCafiuscomplex was strongly supported as a monophylum by all analyses. However, the genusCafiusand nearly all of its subgenera were not supported as being monophyletic. All analyses of combined data and concatenated molecular data showed the monophyly of four major clades nested insideCafius(A–D). Clade E was supported only by the Bayesian analysis of combined data. The genusPhucobiuswas recovered as a monophylum within theCafiuscomplex but nested in clade D in all analyses. The genusRemuswas not monophyletic but formed a clade including three otherCafiusspecies (clade E3) within theCafiuscomplex in all analyses. The genusThinocafiusformed a monophylum with three other New ZealandCafiusspecies (clade B) within theCafiuscomplex in all analyses except for morphological trees. Some criteria for generic concepts within theCafiuscomplex are discussed. A single monophyletic genus with three new generic synonyms, and 10 new combinations are proposed.