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Histerinae

Michael S. Caterino
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taxon links [up-->]Histerini [up-->]Hetaeriinae Not MonophyleticNot Monophyletic[down<--]Histeridae Interpreting the tree
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Relationships after Caterino & Vogler (2002)
Containing group: Histeridae

Introduction

The Histerinae is very diverse in form and numbers of species, containing probably around one-half of all histerid species. The group includes some of the most commonly encountered species, particularly those associated with dung. However, habits of Histerinae are extremely diverse, including others associated with dead wood and other rotting vegetation, fungus, vertebrate nests, and the colonies of social insects. The inclusion of the exclusively myrmecophilous and termitophilous Hetaeriinae in this group has long been suspected, but has only recently been demonstrated conclusively (Caterino & Vogler, 2002).

Characteristics

Histerinae are very diverse in form. Body shapes range from oval and convex (most Histerini) to strongly cylindrical (some Exosternini and Platysomatini) or flattened (some Platysomatini and most Hololeptini). The most consistent characters across the subfamily include lack of labral setae and the presence of a well developed prosternal lobe, which usually extends laterally to shield the antennae from beneath. However, many exceptions, particularly in the more unusually shaped groups (Hetaeriinae, Hololeptini) are known.

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

The relationships shown above result from the recent work of Caterino & Vogler (2002). However, their taxon sampling was insufficient to provide significant confidence for most of these branches. The sister group relationship of Histerini and Hetaeriinae, although one of the more surprising results of the analysis was, in fact, relatively well supported by 18S rDNA data. The monophyly of all of these taxa is still questionable. Until tribal limits can be confidently established, no trees at this level will be very meaningful.

Hetaeriinae and Chlamydopsinae (both largely myrmecophilous) have often been considered sister groups, and the two share many unusual characters. However, many of these characters may well be convergences related to myrmecophily (Slipinski & Mazur, 1999; Caterino & Vogler, 2002). Recent higher level studies instead place Hetaeriinae within Histerinae, although without a clear sister group therein. Exosternini presents many possible sister groups, and many Neotropical Exosternini are also myrmecophilous. However, 18S data suggest that Hetaeriinae are closer to Histerini (Caterino & Vogler, 2002). Additional sampling for 18S will likely answer this question, but the relevant taxa have proven difficult to obtain.

References

Caterino, M. S., and A. P. Vogler. 2002. The phylogeny of the Histeroidea. Cladistics 18(4):394-415.

Slipinski, S. A., and S. Mazur. 1999. Epuraeosoma, a new genus of Histerinae and phylogeny of the family Histeridae. Annales Zoologici (Warszawa) 49:209-230.

Information on the Internet

Masahiro Ohara’s Histeridae home page: Histerinae
Title Illustrations
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Scientific Name Exosternini
Location Ecuador
Comments undescribed genus
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © 2002
Scientific Name Hololepta
Location Mexico
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © 2002
Scientific Name Tribalister marginellus
Location USA
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © 2002
Scientific Name Hister lucanus
Location southwestern North America
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © 2002
About This Page


Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, California, USA

Page: Tree of Life Histerinae. Authored by Michael S. Caterino. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Caterino, Michael S. 2002. Histerinae. Version 07 March 2002 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Histerinae/9390/2002.03.07 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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