Field studies in the southeast Asian tropics of northwestern Thailand on the ecomorphological radiation of the rove beetle subfamily Steninae (Coleoptera Staphylinidae)

蝽科（Staphylinidae）是蝽科（rove beetles）的一个亚科，仅有两属，即蝽科（Stenus）（约2600种）和蝽科（Dianous）（约200种）。成虫是光导向的掠食者，捕食弹尾虫和其他小型节肢动物。定义茎的最明显的自异形特征是一个突出的细长的下唇（唇），位于末端的副叶被修饰成粘垫。这种特殊的粘性捕获装置可以迅速地向猎物伸出。在Dianous，被提议的Stenus的姐妹群中，阴唇没有特别拉长，也没有形成粘附的猎物捕获装置。因此，戴安甲虫只用下颚来捕捉猎物。甲虫喜欢潮湿的栖息地，它们栖息在水边环境或热带森林中潮湿的凋落物和腐殖质层。为了更全面地了解发生在超级多样性Steninae中的生态辐射，应在泰国北部的东南亚热带地区对该分类群进行生态形态学研究。在清迈诗丽吉皇后植物园的昆虫学实验室和采集区进行为期三个月的研究期间，将沿着海拔梯度对Doi Inthanon山地森林进行实地研究，以评估热带线虫科的生态形态多样性和群落结构。由于热带狭蝽科的生态学在很大程度上是未知的，这些研究将为进一步分析该分类群的生态形态辐射和生态位演化提供新的生态学、形态学和行为学数据。重点研究了在很大程度上被忽视的Dianous属，其分布中心位于北纬31°以南的古北和东方地区之间的山区（印度支那半岛和喜马拉雅南坡），这项研究的目的是为了解决剩下的悬而未决的问题，即Stenus是否与Dianous有共生关系，以及在Dianous中观察到的生态形态多样性是否通过迭代收敛生态辐射的过程产生，这意味着物种群不是由单一的适应性辐射产生的，而是由多个适应性辐射产生的，因此亚分支辐射穿过与相似适应区相关的相似生态形态。一个特别的兴趣将是研究没有可突出的细长棍子捕获装置的戴安斯物种捕获猎物的方式，并与栖息地的特征必需品相互作用。对Dianous和Stenus物种的生态和行为比较将提供重要的见解，了解在Dianous中没有细长的粘附猎物捕获装置的生态后果，并显示在没有这种专门的猎物捕获装置的情况下，Stenus的生态形态多样性实际上可以在多大程度上以一种聚合的方式重复。

The Steninae is a subfamily within the Staphylinidae (rove beetles), containing only two genera, i.e. Stenus (> 2600 species) and Dianous (> 200 species). Adult Stenus beetles are optically oriented predators of springtails and other small arthropods. The most obvious autapomorphic character defining Stenus is a protruding elongated lower lip (labium) with the terminally located paraglossae being modified into sticky pads. This exceptional adhesive prey-capture apparatus can be rapidly protruded towards the prey. In Dianous, the proposed sister group of Stenus, the labium is not specially elongated and does not form an adhesive prey-capture apparatus. Accordingly, Dianous beetles catch their prey solely using their mandibles. Steninae beetles prefer moist habitats, where they inhabit waterside environments or the moist litter and humus layer in tropical forests.In order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the ecological radiation that has occurred in the megadiverse Steninae, ecomorphological studies on this taxon shall be performed in the Southeast Asian tropics of northern Thailand. During a three months research stay at the entomology lab and collection of the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden in Chiang Mai, field studies along an elevation gradient in the mountain forest of Doi Inthanon shall be performed to evaluate the ecomorphological diversity and the community structure of tropical Steninae. Since the ecology of tropical Steninae is largely unknown, these studies will provide fresh ecological, morphological, and behavioral data that can be used in further analyses of the ecomorphological radiation and niche evolution of this taxon. Focusing on the largely neglected genus Dianous, whose center of distribution is in the mountain areas between the Palaearctic and the Oriental regions south of 31° northern latitude (Indochina Peninsula and southern slopes of the Himalaya), this research is aimed at contributing to the remaining open question as to whether Stenus is paraphyletic with respect to Dianous and whether the diversity of ecomorphs observed in Dianous has arisen via a process of iterative convergent ecological radiation, which means that species flocks are produced not by single but by multiple adaptive radiations, whereupon subclades radiate across similar ecomorphs related to similar adaptive zones. A special interest will be to investigate the way that Dianous species, lacking a protrudible elongated stick-capture apparatus, capture their prey and interact with characteristic requisites of their habitat. The ecological and behavioral comparison of Dianous with Stenus species will provide important insights into the ecological consequences of the absence of an elongated adhesive prey-capture apparatus in Dianous and show to what extent the ecomorphological diversity of Stenus is actually repeatable in a convergent manner without such a specialized prey-capture device.