Ecomorphological radiation of Himalayan Northeastern Indian Steninae beetles (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae)

该项目是在德国-印度研究印度东北部(阿鲁纳恰尔邦)两个海拔梯度上的隐翅虫亚科(鞘翅目，隐翅虫科)生物多样性的国际合作框架内进行的，将调查这种巨型流浪甲虫的生态形态辐射的各个方面。Stenus属包括3000多个已描述的物种，目前形成了地球上最特殊的动物属。成虫是跳虫和其他小型节肢动物的远古、光学方向的捕食者。最耐人寻味的定义Stenus属的同形异形是一个杆状的可伸出的细长的阴唇，其顶端的“副舌骨”被改造成粘合垫。这个猎物捕获装置可以弹射器一样的方式向潜在的猎物伸出。在Dianous属中，可能在Stenus内形成一个亚属，唇部没有拉长，也没有突出的粘性捕食装置。这一双边研究项目要解决的主要目标涉及：(1)沿两个海拔梯度的多样性、分布和生态位格局(生境、海拔、温度)；(2)口器、踝关节附着系统的功能和性能的形态和实验分析，以及视觉和天线系统之间潜在的感觉权衡；(3)相关形态、行为和生态特征及其进化辐射的进化进化下游分析；以及(4)群落一级的潜在组装规则(例如，由于环境过滤或种间竞争)。这些集合规则将根据生态形态特征的分布和群落成员之间的系统发育关系来确定，并与基于零模型的随机群落进行比较。该项目包括在印度阿鲁纳恰尔邦停留四个月，在两个喜马拉雅山麓山脉的海拔梯度上标准化采集甲虫，并在拉吉夫·甘地大学的实验室中对甲虫的捕食性和鞑靼附着性能进行实验调查。基于分子系统学，这些数据将与形态测量相关联，以确定形态、性能和生态之间的因果关系。将该项目的数据矩阵与提出者从泰国两个不同的山区产生的生态地貌数据加上中欧动物群的数据连接起来，将能够得出一般性结论，即生态位差异可能在独立定居的(不连续的)动物地理区域中收敛地重复出现，并导致类似的生态形态和群落组合。这将支持从网状自适应和迭代收敛辐射的角度来理解Steninae演化的假设。

This project, which lies within the framework of an international German-Indian Collaboration studying the biodiversity of Steninae (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) across two elevational gradients in Northeast India (Arunachal Pradesh), will investigate aspects of the ecomorphological radiation of this megadiverse clade of rove beetles. Comprising more than 3000 described species, the genus Stenus currently forms the most speciose animal genus on earth. The adults are epigeic, optically oriented predators of springtails and other small arthropods. The most intriguing autapomorphy defining the genus Stenus is a rod-like protrudable elongated labium, with the “paraglossae” at its tip being modified into adhesive pads. This prey-capture apparatus can be protruded towards potential prey in a catapult-like fashion. In the genus Dianous, probably forming a subgenus within Stenus, the labium is not elongated and does not possess a protrudable adhesive prey-capture apparatus. Major objectives to be addressed in this bilateral research project relate to (1) diversity, distributional and niche patterns (habitat, elevation, temperature) along two elevational gradients, (2) morphological and experimental analyses of the function and performance of the mouthparts, the tarsal attachment systems and the potential sensory trade-off between the visual and antennal systems, (3) phylogeny-informed macroevolutionary downstream analyses of relevant morphological, behavioural and ecological traits and their evolutionary radiation and (4) potential assembly rules (e.g. because of environmental filtering or interspecific competition) at the community level. These assembly rules will be determined on the basis of the distribution of ecomorphological traits and the phylogenetic relationships among community members in comparison with random communities based on null models. The project involves a four-month stay in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh for the standardized collection of beetles across elevational gradients of two Himalayan foothill mountain ranges and the experimental investigation of both their predatory and tarsal attachment performance in the laboratory at Rajiv Gandhi University. Based on a molecular phylogeny, these data will then be correlated with morphometric measurements to determine the causal relationship between morphology, performance, and ecology. Concatenation of the data matrices of this project with the ecomorphological data generated by the proposer from two distinct mountain regions in Thailand plus that of Central European fauna will allow generalized conclusions to be drawn on the assumption that niche divergence might have been convergently repeated in independently settled (disjunct) zoogeographic regions and resulted in similar ecomorphs and community assemblages. This will support the hypothesis that the evolution of Steninae can be understood from the perspectives of reticulate adaptive and iterative convergent radiation.