Cafioquedus gularis Sharp, 1886 and other poorly understood Staphylinini: a review of the New Zealand fauna of the tribe with discussion of its potential for biogeography (Insecta: Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

The formation of New Zealand's terrestrial biota is a subject where conclusions depend strongly on the properties of the focal organisms. Here, we bring the systematic knowledge of the New Zealand fauna of the very diverse rove beetle tribe Staphylinini closer to the level appropriate for biogeographic research. In particular, the hitherto puzzling New Zealand endemic genus Cafioquedus is considered a member of the Creophilus-complex (Staphylinina), while several other endemic species proved to be misidentifications of common introduced species. With these taxonomic updates, and taking into account the relative age and extant distributions of lineages that occur in New Zealand, we conclude the following: 1. the New Zealand Staphylinini are dominated (66%) by the endemic members of the subtribe Amblyopinina, which are likely Gondwanan paleoendemics; 2. species from the Creophilus- and Cafius-complexes (Staphylinina and Philonthina, respectively), are neoendemics (15%), possibly resulting from transoceanic colonisation; 3. human-transported adventive species (19%) form the notable, most recent and taxonomically heterogeneous component of the New Zealand fauna. Cafioquedus gularis Sharp, 1886 is redescribed. The following new combinations and synonymies are proposed: Philonthus longicornis Stephens, 1832 = Philonthus burrowsi (Broun, 1915), comb. nov., syn. nov.; Philonthus politus (Linnaeus, 1758) = Philonthus ohiaensis (Broun, 1923), syn. nov.; Philonthus umbratilis (Gravenhorst, 1802) = Philonthus insularis (Bernhauer and Schubert, 1916), syn. nov.; Sphingoquedius novaezeelandiae (Duvivier, 1883), comb. nov. = Sphingoquedius mannaiaensis (Cameron, 1945), comb. nov., syn. nov.; Quediomimus hybridus (Erichson, 1840), comb. nov. = Quediomimus taurus (Blackburn, 1888), comb. nov. = Quediomimus brookesi Cameron, 1948, syn. nov. A lectotype is designated for Philonthus insularis (Bernhauer and Schubert, 1916).