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Phylogenetic placement and redescription of Aleochara blackburni Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz, 1926 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) from coastal Australia
Author(s) -
Song JeongHun,
Osborn Andrew W,
Elgueta Mario,
Ahn KeeJeong
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
austral entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.502
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 2052-1758
pISSN - 2052-174X
DOI - 10.1111/aen.12310
Subject(s) - clade , phylogenetic tree , biology , zoology , genus , sister group , ecology , gene , genetics
Aleochara blackburni Bernhauer & Scheerpeltz (Aleocharinae) is a little‐known coastal rove beetle, not studied since a specimen was collected from coasts in Port Lincoln, South Australia, in 1888. We report the discovery of additional specimens, which were collected at sites distributed between the central‐east and south‐east coasts of Tasmania, Australia. Habitus photographs, a redescription, host records and illustrations of diagnostic characters are provided. To investigate the phylogenetic placement of A. blackburni and taxonomic problems within the Emplenota and Triochara clade, we studied 34 populations of 13 coastal and one inland species and generated a molecular phylogeny of the genus Aleochara Gravenhorst based on three partial mitochondrial genes ( COI , tRNA leucine and COII ). Our results showed that A. blackburni was the sister group of the bilineata clade + curtula clade and suggested that A. curtidens Klimaszewski (Vancouver, Canada) and A. trisulcata Weise (Chiba, Japan) used in a previous study were misidentifications of A. fucicola Sharp and A. zerchei (Assing), respectively. Five independent origins of specialisation to coastal habitat in the genus Aleochara (clades A–E) are hypothesised, of which A. blackburni has independently colonised the Southern Australian coast (clade E).