Total‐evidence phylogenetics and taxonomy of the Paederinae (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) rove beetle fossils in Baltic amber sensu lato for palaeoclimate research
Abstract
Baltic amber s.l. , the most abundant amber deposit of insect fossils, is essential for understanding the palaeoenvironment of the Eocene, an epoch characterized by severe climate changes, including the warmest period in the entire Cenozoic. The ecological requirements of the extinct lineages can be deduced from the ecology and distribution of their closest extant relatives, once those have been identified through phylogenetic analysis. Rove beetles (Staphylinidae), the most diverse family of animals and occurring in virtually all terrestrial habitats, are a good candidate for such an endeavour. The subfamily Paederinae is particularly abundant in Baltic amber s.l ., but the majority of these fossils have not been studied. Here, we conduct a comprehensive phylogenetic study of 15 Baltic amber s.l . Paederinae fossil species within a total‐evidence phylogenetic framework that integrates morphology with molecular data from seven gene fragments of extant lineages. We then describe nine of them as extinct species new to science: Homaeotarsus damgaardi sp. nov., Lathrobium arcanum sp. nov., Lathrobium rovnensis sp. nov., Lathrobium athanasii sp. nov., Achenomorphus balticus sp. nov., Nazeris nikitasi sp. nov., Astenus problematicus sp. nov., Sclerochiton hoffeinsorum sp. nov. and Pseudolathra baltica sp. nov. The distribution and bionomics of the extant sister species of all analysed fossil species suggest that the latter were associated with tropical and subtropical climates. We discuss the possible microhabitats present in the Eocene amberiferous forest and scenarios for the biogeographic history of Paederinae in Europe.
Related
- Phylogeny of Mastigitae sheds light on a hundred‐million‐year‐long morphological stasis of the extant genus Clidicus Laporte (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae)
- New fossil species of Trechinae (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from mid-Cretaceous French amber helps refining the age of the subfamily and its tribes under total-evidence dating
- Modern Himalayan marmot faeces analyses: Implications for palaeodietary, palaeoecological, and palaeoclimate analysis
- Puzzling parasitic plants: phylogenetics and classification of Santalales revisited
- Historical inheritance and expansion of morphological character sampling in macronarian sauropod phylogenetics
BibTeX
@article{bogri2026totalevidence,
title = {{Total‐evidence phylogenetics and taxonomy of the Paederinae (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) rove beetle fossils in Baltic amber sensu lato for palaeoclimate research}},
author = {Amalia Bogri and Alexey Solodovnikov and Sina Baier-Stegmaier and Michel Perreau and Dagmara Żyła},
journal = {Papers in Palaeontology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/spp2.70130},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05788537v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Total‐evidence phylogenetics and taxonomy of the Paederinae (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) rove beetle fossils in Baltic amber sensu lato for palaeoclimate research
AU - Amalia Bogri
AU - Alexey Solodovnikov
AU - Sina Baier-Stegmaier
AU - Michel Perreau
AU - Dagmara Żyła
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
JO - Papers in Palaeontology
DO - 10.1002/spp2.70130
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05788537v1
AB - Baltic amber s.l. , the most abundant amber deposit of insect fossils, is essential for understanding the palaeoenvironment of the Eocene, an epoch characterized by severe climate changes, including the warmest period in the entire Cenozoic. The ecological requirements of the extinct lineages can be deduced from the ecology and distribution of their closest extant relatives, once those have been identified through phylogenetic analysis. Rove beetles (Staphylinidae), the most diverse family of animals and occurring in virtually all terrestrial habitats, are a good candidate for such an endeavour. The subfamily Paederinae is particularly abundant in Baltic amber s.l ., but the majority of these fossils have not been studied. Here, we conduct a comprehensive phylogenetic study of 15 Baltic amber s.l . Paederinae fossil species within a total‐evidence phylogenetic framework that integrates morphology with molecular data from seven gene fragments of extant lineages. We then describe nine of them as extinct species new to science: Homaeotarsus damgaardi sp. nov., Lathrobium arcanum sp. nov., Lathrobium rovnensis sp. nov., Lathrobium athanasii sp. nov., Achenomorphus balticus sp. nov., Nazeris nikitasi sp. nov., Astenus problematicus sp. nov., Sclerochiton hoffeinsorum sp. nov. and Pseudolathra baltica sp. nov. The distribution and bionomics of the extant sister species of all analysed fossil species suggest that the latter were associated with tropical and subtropical climates. We discuss the possible microhabitats present in the Eocene amberiferous forest and scenarios for the biogeographic history of Paederinae in Europe.
SN - 2056-2799
SN - 2056-2802
ER -