The rove beetle tribe Staphylinini (Staphylinidae: Staphylininae) is a monophyletic lineage of over 5500 relatively large and charismatic species, yet its higher classification remains deeply rooted in historical concepts. Despite recent progress toward inferring phylogenetic relationships within this group using morphological and molecular datasets, relationships among taxa that were united under a polyphyletic “Quediina” remain largely unknown. To infer these relationships, we analysed a six‐gene dataset (4370 bp) using parsimony and model‐based analyses and the results were placed in the context of morphology. While all genes contributed synapomorphies for major lineages or relationships between them, carbamoyl synthetase (CAD), topoisomerase I (TP) and wingless (Wg) were the most informative. TP was generally most informative at the level of subtribe, Wg above this level and CAD throughout the tree. The monophyly of Staphylinini was strongly supported and analyses support seven clades that correspond to higher taxonomic levels, four of which are formally described as subtribes here: Acylophorina stat. rev., Cyrtoquediina new subtribe, Erichsoniina new subtribe and Indoquediina new subtribe. The majority of Staphylinini taxa were recovered within a well‐supported “northern hemisphere clade” that is weakly represented in the southern hemisphere. The composition and morphological diagnosis of the “Staphylinini propria” clade are revised, and the pronotum shape historically associated with this group is shown to have evolved multiple times elsewhere in Staphylinini. The genus Stevensia is moved from Staphylinina to Acylophorina based on morphological evidence. Cyrtoquedius stat. nov., previously a subgenus of Quedius, is raised to the genus level. The following 32 new combinations (from Quedius) are proposed: Cyrtoquedius anthracinus (Solsky); C. arrogans (Sharp); C. basiventris (Sharp); C. bolivianus (Sharp); C. bruchi (Bernhauer); C. clypealis (Sharp); C. concolor (Sharp); C. flavicaudus (Sharp); C. flavinasis (Bernhauer); C. frenatus (Erichson); C. graciliventris (Sharp); C. jacobi (Scheerpeltz); C. jocosus (Sharp); C. labiatus (Erichson); C. laeviventris (Bernhauer); C. mexicanus (Sharp); C. ochropygus (Bernhauer); C. ogloblini (Bernhauer); C. ornatocollis (Bierig); C. protensus (Sharp); C. rufinasus (Sharp); C. verecundus (Sharp); C. verres (Smetana); Indoquedius borneensis (Cameron); I. dispersepunctatus (Scheerpeltz); I. javanus (Cameron); I. malaisei (Scheerpeltz); I. micantiventris (Scheerpeltz); I. parallelicollis (Scheerpeltz); I. philippinus (Cameron); I. recticollis (Scheerpeltz); and I. sanguinipennis (Scheerpeltz). Cyrtoquedius verres is recorded from the state of Georgia (USA) for the first time, which, together with its transfer from Quedius, extends the distribution of the Cyrtoquediina significantly northward into the Nearctic.

Chatzimanolis, S., Cohen, I. M., Schomann, A. & Solodovnikov, A. (2010). Molecular phylogeny of the mega‐diverse rove beetle tribe Staphylinini (Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae). —Zoologica Scripta, 39, 436–449. Phylogeny of the rove beetle tribe Staphylinini is explored by parsimony and Bayesian analyses of sequences of four genes (COI, wingless, Topoisomerase I, and 28S) for 43 ingroup (various genera of Staphylinini) and eight outgroup (two genera of Paederinae, six genera of other tribes of Staphylininae) taxa. Analyses were conducted for each gene independently and for the concatenated data set. Results of the most robust combined analyses were compared with the morphology‐based phylogenies of Staphylinini (‘test phylogeny’), and with the conventional classification of this tribe. Molecular results were congruent with the ‘test phylogeny’ in the following: ancestors of Staphylinini were ‘Quediina‐like’ lineages; formal subtribe Quediina mixes at least two relatively basal groups, ‘Quediina propria’ and ‘southern Quediina’; specialized subtribe Amblyopinina is an internal clade within ‘southern Quediina’; a relatively deeply nested ‘Staphylinini propria’ that unites current subtribes Staphylinina, Eucibdelina, Anisolinina, Xanthopygina and Philonthina is well supported as a monophyletic group. In strong contrast with morphology, molecular data place the tribes Othiini and Xantholinini nested within Staphylinini. Molecular results strongly conflict with morphology by uniting morphologically very different genera Holisus and Atanygnathus in one clade that has uncertain position within Staphylinini. Consistently with the most congruent areas of the morphology‐ and molecular‐based phylogenies, taxonomic changes are implemented for the formal subtribes Quediina and Amblyopinina.

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With 71 genera and over 2700 described species, Philonthina is the most speciose subtribe of rove beetle tribe Staphylinini and forms a major component of the largest remaining higher systematics challenge in Staphylinini, the ‘Staphylinini propria’ clade. A related systematics issue concerns the position of the genus Holisus (Hyptiomina), which was recovered within the Neotropical philonthine lineage in several recent analyses of morphology. With the aims of resolving the phylogeny of Philonthina and the position and, thus, validity of Hyptiomina, we performed phylogenetic analyses of the tribe Staphylinini based on molecular (six genes, 4471 bp) and morphological (113 characters) data including 138 taxa from all relevant lineages of Staphylinini. We found that ‘Staphylinini propria’ is a monophylum consisting of six lineages: current subtribes Anisolinina, Philonthina, Staphylinina and Xanthopygina; and two new subtribes, Algonina Schillhammer and Brunke and Philothalpina Chatzimanolis and Brunke. While the previously hypothesized Neotropical lineage of Philonthina was corroborated, Holisus was recovered as a separate subtribe, outside of Philonthina, within an informal ‘Southern Hemisphere clade’. Based on our analyses, we propose tentative new concepts of the polyphyletic genera Belonuchus and Philonthus. We propose the following taxonomic changes: synonymy of the subtribes Staphylinina Latreille (valid name) and Eucibdelina Sharp; resurrection of genera Barypalpus Cameron and Trapeziderus Motschulsky from synonymy with Rientis Sharp and Belonuchus Nordmann, respectively; transfer of 38 Belonuchus species, 16 Hesperus Fauvel species and one Philonthus Stephens species to Trapeziderus as new combinations; transfer of two Hesperus species to Eccoptolonthus Bernhauer as new combinations; transfer of one Belonuchus species to Paederomimus Sharp as a new combination; and transfer of Pridonius Blackwelder new status from its position as a subgenus of Quedius (subtribe Quediina) to Philonthina as a genus, and new combinations for its two described species.

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