Phylogenetic studies of Aleocharinae rove beetles, arguably one of the least known and the largest insect lineages, are compromised by its enormous taxonomic diversity. DNA, a powerful resource for phylogenetics, is not available for numerous extant aleocharine species. We provide a broad comparative morphological study of Aleocharinae to frame molecular datasets for total-evidence analyses. Using full-body dissections and slide-mounting techniques for light microscopy supplemented by scanning electron microscopy, we constructed a morphological matrix across all major taxa focused on non-inquiline tribes of Aleocharinae and outgroups. Phylogenetic analyses of this matrix concatenated with earlier published DNA loci and including exemplar taxa lacking molecular data, resolved outstanding controversies and, among other novelties, showed that: the Habrocerinae + Trichophyinae clade is sister group to Aleocharinae; Hypocyphtini are sister to the rest of the “higher Aleocharinae”; Taxicerini are sister to Aleocharini; Hoplandriini and Placusini are nested within a polyphyletic Oxypodini; Hoplandriini are sister to Meoticina; and Actocharini are nested within Liparocephalini. For the first time, morphological synapomorphies are identified for some large clades of Aleocharinae. In addition, 1252 high-resolution microphotographs of aleocharine structures are made available online with the entire matrix for future research.

中文翻译：

---

Aleocharinae（鞘翅目：Staphylinidae）的全证据骨干系统发育

Aleocharinae rove 甲虫的系统发育研究，可以说是最不为人知和最大的昆虫谱系之一，因其巨大的分类多样性而受到损害。DNA 是一种强大的系统发育资源，不能用于许多现存的 aleocharine 物种。我们对 Aleocharinae 进行了广泛的比较形态学研究，以构建分子数据集以进行全证据分析。使用全身解剖和载玻片安装技术，辅以扫描电子显微镜，我们构建了一个跨越所有主要分类群的形态矩阵，重点是 Aleocharinae 和外群的 non-inquiline 部落。该基质的系统发育分析与早期发表的 DNA 基因座相连接，包括缺乏分子数据的典型分类群，解决了突出的争议，除其他新颖性外，还表明：Habrocerinae + Trichophyinae 进化枝是 Aleocharinae 的姐妹群；Hypocyphtini 是其他“高等 Aleocharinae”的姐妹；Taxicerini 是 Aleocharini 的姐妹；Hoplandriini 和 Placusini 嵌套在一个多系的 Oxypodini 中。Hoplandriini 是 Meoticina 的姐妹；和 Actocharini 嵌套在 Liparocephalini 中。首次发现了一些大型 Aleocharinae 进化枝的形态突触。此外，在线提供了 1252 张 aleocharine 结构的高分辨率显微照片以及整个矩阵，以供将来研究。Hoplandriini 是 Meoticina 的姐妹；和 Actocharini 嵌套在 Liparocephalini 中。首次发现了一些大型 Aleocharinae 进化枝的形态突触。此外，在线提供了 1252 张 aleocharine 结构的高分辨率显微照片以及整个矩阵，以供将来研究。Hoplandriini 是 Meoticina 的姐妹；和 Actocharini 嵌套在 Liparocephalini 中。首次发现了一些大型 Aleocharinae 进化枝的形态突触。此外，在线提供了 1252 张 aleocharine 结构的高分辨率显微照片以及整个矩阵，以供将来研究。