Staphylininae is the third largest subfamily of the enormous family Staphylinidae. Monophyly of Staphylininae and its sister relationship to the subfamily Paederinae have been broadly accepted according to both conventional morphology- and molecular-based phylogenies until the last three years. Recent molecular phylogenies rejected monophyly of Staphylininae and regarded Paederinae as a clade within it. This paper re-evaluates the recent molecular work, aiming to clarify the relationship between Staphylininae and Paederinae and resolve intertribal relationships within Staphylininae. Based on a new six-gene data set (5707 bp) for 92 taxa including Oxyporinae (outgroup), representatives of Paederinae, and members of all extant tribes of Staphylininae from published DNA data in GenBank, we generated a well-resolved phylogeny of Staphylininae with all deep nodes (intertribal relationships) strongly supported, and reassert the hypothesis that Staphylininae is monophyletic and indeed the sister group to Paederinae using both Bayesian and maximum likelihood inference. Additionally, our study is a case-study to show that both outgroup selection and completeness of nucleotide data can influence the outcome of a molecular phylogeny. With an increasing number of staphylinid fossils being discovered, the robust phylogeny of Staphylininae inferred by our research will provide a good framework for understanding the early evolution of this group.

Weevils have been shown to play significant roles in the obligate pollination of Australian cycads. In this study, we apply museomics to produce a first molecular phylogeny estimate of the Australian cycad weevils, allowing an assessment of their monophyly, placement and relationships. Divergence dating suggests that the Australian cycad weevils originated from the Late Oligocene to the Middle Miocene and that the main radiation of the cycad-pollinating groups occurred from the Middle to the Late Miocene, which is congruent with the diversification of the Australian cycads, thus refuting any notion of an ancient ciophilous system in Australia. Taxonomic studies reveal the existence of 19 Australian cycad weevil species and that their associations with their hosts are mostly non-species-specific. Co-speciation analysis shows no extensive co-speciation events having occurred in the ciophilous system of Australian cycads. The distribution pattern suggests that geographical factors, rather than diversifying coevolution, constitute the overriding process shaping the Australian cycad weevil diversity. The synchronous radiation of cycads and weevil pollinators is suggested to be a result of the post-Oligocene diversification common in Australian organisms.

The hide, larder, and carpet beetles (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) are a family of mainly scavenger beetles, with numerous species such as the khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium Everts, 1898), the black carpet beetle [Attagenus unicolor (Brahm, 1791)] and the hide beetle (Dermestes maculatus De Geer, 1774) being widely recognized as serious economic pests of stored products and museum collections. A stable classification and reliable identification of genera and species of these pests and their 1,700 relatives are of great relevance for trade restrictions, biosecurity, pest management, forensics, and biodiversity surveys. In this study, we examined and sequenced mitochondrial genomes of 477 dermestid specimens, representing all subfamilies and 90% of the globally recognized tribes and subtribes. Our study provides the most comprehensive, taxonomically verified, and vouchered resource of mitochondrial reference sequences linked to specimen images and occurrence records of pests and their relatives, enabling eDNA surveys, metabarcoding and molecular species identification. It also reconstructs the phylogeny of Dermestidae based on molecular and morphological data for the first time, thereby providing robust phylogenetic hypotheses for a stable classification system from family to genus-level. Accordingly, a revised classification of Dermestidae with formal nomenclatural changes is proposed, recognizing six subfamilies: Orphilinae, Trinodinae, Trogoparvinae subfam. nov. (type genus Trogoparvus Háva, 2001), Dermestinae, Attageninae, and Megatominae. Trinodinae is recovered towards the base of Dermestidae with three tribes: Trinodini (=Trinoparvini syn. nov.), Thylodriini, and Trichelodini. Dermestinae is the only subfamily with adults lacking a median ocellus, and it includes the tribes Thorictini stat. nov. (that is downgraded from Thorictinae), Marioutini, and Dermestini. The endemic Australian genus Derbyana Lawrence and Ślipiński was recovered within Holarctic Dermestes Linnaeus. Attageninae is strongly supported and includes the monogeneric Adelaidiini and polygenic Attagenini. Former subgenera of Attagenus Latreille, i.e., Lanorus Mulsant and Rey (= Paranovelsis Casey syn. nov.), Telopes Redtenbacher and Aethriostoma Motschulsky, are elevated to generic level. The largest clade, Megatominae, is confirmed as monophyletic and is divided into three tribes: Anthrenini, Ctesiini, and Megatomini. Megatomini is divided into three subtribes: Megatomina, Orphinina subtribe nov. (type genus Orphinus Motschulsky), and Trogodermina. Within the economically important lineage Trogodermina, Trogoderma Latreille is delimited to contain only Holarctic species including the Khapra beetle T. granarium Everts, while a Southern Hemisphere clade is here recognized as Eurhopalus Solier in Gay, 1849 (= Anthrenocerus Arrow, 1915; Myrmeanthrenus Armstrong, 1945; Neoanthrenus Armstrong, 1941; Sodaliatoma Háva, 2013; Reesa Beal, 1967 syn. nov.). A revised classification of the extant genera of Dermestidae is also provided.

The Australian species of the genus Diochus Erichson, 1839 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae, Staphylininae, Diochini) are reviewed and four new species are described: Diochus basseti sp. nov. and D. weiri sp. nov. from Queensland, D. lawrencei sp. nov. from Northern and Western Australia, and D. slipinskii sp. nov. from Western Australia. Four previously described species from Australia are revised here based on the examination of type material: Diochus divisus Fauvel, 1877, D. octavii Fauvel, 1877, D. longus Lea, 1929, and D. pubiventris Lea, 1929. A key to all eight species is included, along with photographs and line drawing plates for each species. A lectotype for Diochus divisus Fauvel, 1877 is designated.

The hide, larder and carpet beetles (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) are a family of mainly scavenger beetles, with numerous species such as the khapra beetle , the black carpet beetle and the hide beetle, being widely recognised as serious economic pests of stored products and museum collections. In this study we examined and sequenced mitochondrial genomes of 477 dermestid specimens, representing all subfamilies and 90% of tribes and subtribes. Our study provides the most comprehensive, taxonomically verified and vouchered resource of mitochondrial reference sequences and occurrence records of pests and their relatives, enabling eDNA surveys, metabarcoding and molecular species identification. It also reconstructs the phylogeny of Dermestidae based on molecular and morphological data for the first time, thereby providing robust phylogenetic hypotheses for a stable classification system from family to genus-level. Accordingly, a revised classification of Dermestidae with formal nomenclatural changes is proposed, recognising six subfamilies: Orphilinae, Trinodinae, Trogoparvinae subfam. nov. (type genus Trogoparvus Háva, 2001), Dermestinae, Attageninae and Megatominae. Attageninae is strongly supported and includes the monogeneric Adelaidiini and polygenic Attagenini. Former subgenera of Attagenus Latreille are elevated to generic level. The largest clade, Megatominae, is confirmed as monophyletic and is divided into three tribes. Megatomini is divided into three subtribes: Megatomina, Orphinina subtribe nov. and Trogodermina. Within the economically important lineage Trogodermina, Trogoderma is delimited to contain Holarctic species including the Khapra beetle T. granarium, while a Southern Hemisphere clade is here recognised as Eurhopalus Solier in Gay. A revised classification of the extant genera of Dermestidae is also provided.