Molecular phylogeny of the beetle tribe O xypodini ( C oleoptera: S taphylinidae: A leocharinae)

This is the first study to comprehensively address the phylogeny of the tribe O xypodini T homson and its phylogenetic relationships to other tribes within the staphylinid subfamily A leocharinae. Using the hitherto largest molecular dataset of A leocharinae comprising of 4599 bp for representatives of 22 tribes, the O xypodini are recovered as non‐monophyletic. Members of the tribe belong to three distantly related lineages within the A leocharinae: (i) the Amarochara group as sister clade to the tribe A leocharini, (ii) the subtribe Tachyusina within a clade that also includes the tribes A thetini and H ygronomini, (iii) all other O xypodini in a clade that also includes the tribes P lacusini, H oplandriini and L iparocephalini. Based on the inferred phylogeny, five subtribes of the O xypodini are recognized: D inardina M ulsant & R ey, M eoticina S eevers, M icroglottina F enyes, O xypodina T homson and P hloeoporina T homson. The following changes in the classification of the A leocharinae are proposed: (i) Amarochara T homson is removed from the O xypodini and placed in the tribe A leocharini; (ii) the subtribe T axicerina L ohse of the A thetini is reinstated as tribe T axicerini to include Discerota M ulsant & R ey, Halobrecta T homson (both removed from the O xypodini) and Taxicera M ulsant & R ey; (iii) the subtribe T achyusina T homson is excluded from the O xypodini and provisionally treated as tribe T achyusini; (iv) the oxypodine subtribe name B lepharhymenina K limaszewski & P eck is placed in synonymy with the subtribe name D inardina M ulsant & R ey.