Abstract. Ant-like stone beetles (Coleoptera: Scydmaenidae) include more than 4,850 described species in about 90 genera maintained as a separate cosmopolitan family since 1815. Recent authors have hypothesised that Scydmaenidae might be rooted deep inside rove-beetles (Staphylinidae). To test this hypothesis we analysed 206 parsimoniously informative larval and adult morphological characters scored for 38 taxa. Strict consensus topologies from the shortest trees in all 12 analyses consistently placed Scydmaenidae as sister to (Steninae + Euaesthetinae) in a monophyletic Staphylinine Group (with or without Oxyporinae). The single fully resolved and most consistently supported topology maintains a monophyletic Staphylinine Group consisting of Oxyporinae + (Megalopsidiinae + (("Scydmaenidae" + (Steninae + Euaesthetinae)) + (Leptotyphlinae + (Pseudopsinae + (Paederinae + Staphylininae))))); Solierius lacks larval data and is ambiguously placed within the Group. Eight analyses of variably aligned 18S rDNA data for 93 members of Staphylinoidea under parsimony, neighbour-joining and Bayesian approaches were markedly inconsistent, although partly congruent with the Scydmaenidae + (Steninae + Euaesthetinae) hypothesis. Our results strongly suggest that ant-like stone beetles do not form an independent family, but are morphologically modified members of Staphylinidae and, consequently, should be treated as a 32nd recent subfamily within the megadiverse Staphylinidae sensu latissimo. Formal taxonomic acts are: Scydmaeninae Leach, 1815, status novus (= Scydmaenidae Leach, 1815);

The tribe Leptodirini of the beetle family Leiodidae is one of the most diverse radiations of cave animals, with a distribution centred north of the Mediterranean basin from the Iberian Peninsula to Iran. Six genera outside this core area, most notably Platycholeus Horn, 1880 in the western United States and others in East Asia, have been assumed to be related to Leptodirini. We studied recently collected specimens of three of these extraterritorial genera, namely Platycholeus, Fusi Perkovsky, 1989 and Sciaphyes Jeannel, 1910, and establish their phylogenetic relationships by analysing a combination of ca. 5 Kb of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences with Bayesian Probability and Maximum Likelihood methods. Our results corroborate the previously proposed hypothesis that Platycholeus is the sister group of the remaining Leptodirini, with an estimated age of vicariant separation compatible with the breaking of the Thulean bridge between the Nearctic and the Western Palaearctic in the Early Eocene. We refute close relationship of either Fusi or Sciaphyes to Leptodirini, with the former genus appearing more closely related to Cholevini, and the latter to Anemadini and warranting a separate tribe, Sciaphyini, in agreement with recent treatments. This phylogenetic position of Sciaphyes is in agreement with a parsimony analysis of 28 morphological characters of a representative sample of Cholevinae subgroups. We describe one of the studied Sciaphyes species as S. shestakovi sp. n. and indicate its remarkable morphological differences from its congeners. We hypothesise that the remaining three extraterritorial monotypic genera of "Leptodirini", namely Proleptodirina Perkovsky, 1998, Sinobathys cia Perreau, 1999 and Coreobathyscia Szymczakowski, 1975 are unlikely to be closely related to the tribe, which probably has its easternmost geographical limits at Zagros and Alborz (= Elburz) mountains in Iran.

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External and internal features of minute reared ex ovo larvae of Ptinella tenella Erichson with the head widths ranging from 108 to 138 mm are described. In total 139 setae (trichoid sensilla), 18 pores (non-trichoid sensilla), and 60 muscles were identified. The complexity of the chaetotaxy, the musculature of the head, the tentorium, and the digestive tract are not affected by the extremely small size of the larvae. Specific features, which may have resulted from miniaturisation are the elongate shape of the brain reaching the mesothorax posteriorly, the reduced condition of the thoracic sclerites and endosternites, the simplified musculature of the thorax and abdomen, and the loss of the abdominal spiracles. The monophyly of Ptiliidae is supported by the absence of head sutures, the presence of a setiferous protuberance close to the mandibular base, and the absence of a lacinia. Absence of abdominal spiracles and complete absence of eyes suggest the monophyly of a ptiliid subgroup which does not comprise Nossidium. Presence of a fimbriate galea is shared by larvae of Agyrtidae, Leiodidae, Ptiliidae, and Hydraenidae. The presence of a complex apical appendage on the distal maxillary palpomere and of hooks on abdominal segment X are possible synapomorphies of Ptiliidae and Hydraenidae. A description of the rearing procedure is provided and comments on feeding habits are made.