Abstract:
The rove beetle tribe Brachyglutini is the only tribe of Goniaceritae (Pselaphinae) present in New Zealand. The tribe comprises eight genera, of which half are endemic to New Zealand. Despite the high endemism at the generic level, the group is depauperate at the species level. This dissertation is a taxonomic study of the New Zealand Brachyglutini, with a focus on revising Eupines King, the most speciose genus. Both morphological and molecular approaches are applied in this study in order to gain a better understanding of their biodiversity and classification. To achieve this goal, I examined the type series of all described species from New Zealand. Based on this a catalogue and type designations were made for all 61 known species, with 17 holotypes confirmed, 38 lectotypes and 99 paralectotypes designated. I loaned pinned and ethanol specimens from various collections and conducted three collecting trips to native forests across New Zealand. Based on examination of all available material, three genera, Eupines, Anabaxis Raffray and Simkinion Park and Pearce, were revised at the species level, with 27 new species described, 26 known species redescribed, 12 names synonymised, and four new combinations proposed. During the revision of Anabaxis, the wide-spread species A. foveolata (Broun) was found to exhibit an unusual form of clinal variation in characters of the male legs. Variability of the male secondary characters and their association with latitude was analyzed statistically. The linear regression models showed that the clinal variation of the two male secondary characters is bi-directional, with the length of the tibial spine increasing with increasing latitude and the length of the mesotrochanteral spine decreasing with increasing latitude. In previous studies, members of Simkinion were reported to be bryophyte specialists because all specimens were collected from moss. I sorted through all available collection material and conducted targeted sifting of moss from multiple localities in the Northland, Gisborne and Rangitikei. The resulting data from Simkinion is unique amongst other brachyglutine genera with regard to their Northland restricted distribution and specialised microhabitats. Their natural history and the functions of the male sexual characters are discussed. The phylogenetic relationship of New Zealand brachyglutine genera and two subgenera of Eupines were reconstructed, including representatives from Australia and New Caledonia. Bayesian and Maximum likelihood approaches were applied to combined DNA sequence data from the COI and 28S genes, obtained from 73 species. Eupines was recovered as monophyletic and I described a new genus, Pseudeupines gen. n. However, the two subgenera of Eupines were recovered as non-monophyletic. The monophyly of the other brachyglutine genera of New Zealand were also tested and are discussed, as well as two additional synonyms proposed.