PEET - Austral Staphylinidae

The research focus of this project is a series of studies of monophyletic austral disjunct groups of Staphylinidae, including phylogenetic and historical biogeographic analyses of each. A list of candidate taxa for this work was drawn up on the basis of their occurrence in at least three austral areas. Understanding the phylogenetic relationships within each group should therefore provide at least one three-taxon statement about the relationships among the areas of occurrence. The monographs of the selected groups are based on study of the extensive material already on hand at the Field Museum; types and other material borrowed widely from other collections, including specimens sorted from undetermined material by project team members during collection visits; and specimens collected during the project field work in all four major austral areas: Australia (completed 2004), New Zealand (completed 2005), Chile (completed 2002), and South Africa (completed 2004). We use a variety of collecting methods in our field work.

From the list of potential study taxa, the following projects were chosen:

Clarke: Creophilus erythrocephalus group project, Euaesthetinae project
Solodovnikov: Staphylininae: Quediina project
Newton: Proteininae and Phloeocharinae projects
Thayer: Omaliopsis (one of Omaliinae projects)

Ideally a monograph should treat all life stages, but most of the monographic work is, of necessity, based on study of adult specimens. Larvae of austral genera are very poorly known, with representatives of only about 83 of the 1000 austral genera having been formally described so far. (We have material of about 42 more either associated with adults or reared.) We are studying larvae of the monographed groups as much as possible, and plan either to include them in our monographs or to describe larvae separately, as seems appropriate in each case.

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