Contributions to Zoology, 83 (1) 41-65 (2014) Immature stages and phylogenetic importance of Astrapaeus, a rove beetle genus of puzzling systematic position (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Staphylinini) Ewa Pietrykowska-Tudruj1, 4, Bernard Staniec1, Tadeusz Wojas2, Alexey Solodovnikov3 1 Department of Zoology, Maria-Curie Sklodowska University, Akademicka 19 Street, 20-033 Lublin, Poland 2 Department of Forest Protection, Entomology and Climatology, University of Agriculture, Al. 29 Listopada 46, 31-425 Cracow, Poland 3 Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Universitetsparken 15, Copenhagen, 2100, Denmark 4 E-mail:
[email protected] Key words: egg, feeding preference, larva, life cycle, morphology, phylogeny, pupa Abstract Introduction For the first time eggs, larvae and pupae obtained by rearing are The rove beetle tribe Staphylinini is one of the largest described for Astrapaeus, a monotypic West Palearctic rove evolutionary radiations in the animal world and took beetle genus of a puzzling phylogenetic position within the mega- diverse tribe Staphylinini. Morphology of the immature stages of place from about the Early Cretaceous on a global scale Astrapaeus ulmi is compared to that of other members of the tribe (Solodovnikov et al., 2013). Naturally, the phyloge- and discussed in a phylogenetic context. Contrary to conven- netic reconstruction and classification of such a group tional systematics and in accordance with recently developed is a complex task constrained by methodological limita- phylogenetic hypotheses based on morphology of adults, larval tions. One limitation is a bias towards adult morphology morphology supports the non-Quediina affiliation ofAstrapaeus . as a source of data for phylogenetic reconstruction due Eggs and pupae provided fewer characters with putative phylo- genetic signal.