PHILONTHINA (Li, Zhou & Schillhammer, 2010)

Li, Liang & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2011, Revision and phylogenetic assessment of the rove beetle genus Pseudohesperus Hayashi, with broad reference to the subtribe Philonthina (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylinini), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163 (3), pp. 679-722 : 687

THE SUBTRIBE PHILONTHINA

The present phylogenetic analyses are the first contribution to the phylogeny of the whole subtribe Philonthina based on broad representatives and morphological characters. The phylogenetic result supported the polyphyly of the subtribe Philonthina ; because the genus Erichsonius was the sister group of the remaining Staphylinini (very distant from the rest of Philonthina ). Another recent phylogenetic analysis ( Solodovnikov & Newton, 2005) and the earlier morphological study ( Smetana & Davies, 2000) converged on the conclusion that the genus Erichsonius is a member of the basal groups of Staphylinini rather than a member of Philonthina . This can be easily understood when considering the unique characters of Erichsonius , including absence of transparent apical membrane of labrum, presence of well-developed infraorbital ridge and weakly sclerotized postcoxal process of pronotal hypomeron, mentum with two anterolateral setae on each side, ligula more or less bilobed, the position of the aedeagus in abdomen, and the biramous paramere in some species of this genus. This genus Erichsonius should be moved out from the subtribe Philonthina to eliminate the polyphyly of Philonthina and it is expected that the systematic status of Erichsonius will be elevated to subtribe or tribe level in the future.