Linking evolutionary mode to palaeoclimate change reveals rapid radiations of staphylinoid beetles in low-energy conditions

Abstract

Staphylinoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) is one of the most species-rich groups in animals, but its huge diversity can hardly be explained by the popular hypothesis (co-radiation with angiosperms) that applies to phytophagous beetles. We estimated the evolutionary mode of staphylinoid beetles and investigated the relationship between the evolutionary mode and palaeoclimate change, and thus the factors underlying the current biodiversity pattern of staphylinoid beetles. Our results demonstrate that staphylinoid beetles originated at around the Triassic–Jurassic bound and the current higher level clades underwent rapid evolution (indicated by increased diversification rate and decreased body size disparity) in the Jurassic and in the Cenozoic, both with low-energy climate, and they evolved much slower during the Cretaceous with high-energy climate. Climate factors, especially low O2 and high CO2, promoted the diversification rate and among-clade body size disparification in the Jurassic. In the Cenozoic, however, climate factors had negative associations with diversification rate but little with body size disparification. Our present study does not support the explosion of staphylinoid beetles as a direct outcome of the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution (KTR). We suppose that occupying and diversifying in refuge niches associated with litter may elucidate rapid radiations of staphylinoid beetles in low-energy conditions.

Tachyporinae Revisited: Phylogeny, Evolution, and Higher Classification Based on Morphology, with Recognition of a New Rove Beetle Subfamily (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

“…As a result, Deropini and Tachyporini were recovered together, sister unexpectedly to the carrion beetle family Silphidae, but quite distant from the monophyletic Mycetoporini [ 6 ]. Similar results were also obtained in the largest phylogenies of Staphylinoidea [ 7 ], in which Vatesus (Vatesini) was clustered with Deropini and Tachyporini. In spite of the dense taxon sampling in these two studies, no representative of Megarthropsini was included [ 6 , 7 ].…”

“…The tachyporines have been placed in the Tachyporine Group of subfamilies [ 4 , 5 ]. However, none of these groupings are supported as monophyletic (e.g., [ 6 , 7 ]), and they are all in need of further investigation and proper grouping.…”

Diversification of myrmecophilous Clavigeritae beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) and their radiation in New Caledonia

“…the divergence of Pselaphinae and Dasycerinae) by uniform prior with minimum of 135 Ma and maximum of 190 Ma, based on the stem age of Pselaphinae and Staphylinidae revealed by Lü et al . (2020). Each analysis consisted of two independent runs each with 4 chains and 25 million generations, sampled every 1000 generations; the first 25% of trees were removed as burn‐in.…”

“…The monophyly and phylogenetic placement of the Clavigeritae were evaluated by Parker & Grimaldi (2014) and Parker (2016b), as well as by a reanalysis of these same data by Lü et al . (2020). All three studies recovered a monophyletic Clavigeritae that was most closely related to Arhytodini and Pselaphini – two pselaphine tribes currently placed in the supertribe Pselaphitae.…”

Dasycerine rove beetles: Cretaceous diversification, phylogeny and historical biogeography (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Dasycerinae)

“…We therefore calibrated the clock and estimated the divergence time using the morphological data and time priors both on tips (the fossil taxa from Burmese amber with 99 Ma at youngest) and on nodes (Table ). The root age was calibrated by using a truncated normal prior with a mean of 121.53 Ma (estimated age of Dasycerinae) and an offset of 99 Ma based on the previous molecular dating by Lü et al (2020) and the oldest fossils. The standard deviation of the normal prior was estimated by subtracting the estimated age of Dasycerinae from the age of its parent node (144.33 Ma).…”