Hokkaido University · Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Professor Shûhei Yamamoto's research lab specializes in the systematics, evolutionary biology, and paleontology of rove beetles (Staphylinidae), with a particular focus on understanding the macroevolutionary patterns of social parasitism, morphological diversification, and phylogenetic relationships within major subfamilies such as Aleocharinae, Tachyporinae, and Osoriinae. The lab integrates fossil evidence from Cretaceous and Tertiary ambers—especially Burmese and Baltic amber—with modern morphological and molecular data to reconstruct evolutionary histories and test phylogenetic hypotheses using total-evidence dating methods. A central theme is uncovering the deep-time origins of ecological specialization, including social parasitism and specialized feeding adaptations, through detailed comparative morphology and phylogenetic systematics.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
The evolution of eusociality in ants and termites propelled both insect groups to their modern ecological dominance. Yet, eusociality also fostered the evolution of social parasitism-an adverse symbiosis, in which the superorganismal colonies formed by these insects are infiltrated by a profusion of invertebrate species that target nest resources. Predominant among these are the aleocharine rove beetles (Staphylinidae), a vast and ecologically diverse subfamily with numerous morphologically and
Tachyporinae are one of the most phylogenetically problematic subfamilies in the mega-diverse rove beetle family Staphylinidae. Despite its high diversity and abundance in forest micro-environments, with over 1600 species worldwide, several previous studies had refuted the monophyly of this subfamily and its largest tribe, Tachyporini. Based on the results of morphology-based phylogenetic analyses and direct examination of specimens encompassing two extinct and all forty extant genera, a new sup
Abstract The rove beetle subfamily Aleocharinae is the largest subfamily of animals known in terms of species richness. Two small aleocharine tribes, Gymnusini and Deinopsini, are believed to be a monophyletic clade, sister to the rest of the Aleocharinae. Although the phylogenetic relationships of the extant lineages have been well investigated, the monophyly of Gymnusini has been questioned due to a series of previous studies and the recent discovery of the aleocharine † Cretodeinopsis Cai &am
A new lymexylid fossil species, † Raractocetus sverlilo Nazarenko, Perkovsky & Yamamoto, sp. nov. , is described from late Eocene Rovno amber of Ukraine. This new species is similar to species of the recent genera Atractocerus Palisot de Beauvois and Raractocetus Kurosawa in the ship-timber beetle subfamily Atractocerinae, but differs in pronotal and elytral features. Notably, the new species is one of the smallest atractocerines known to date. This is the first member of the family Lyme
Abstract The fossil record contains vital information about the evolution of lineages and is a source of data that cannot be reconciled other than by the direct observation of morphologies. Total‐evidence phylogenetic reconstruction is being increasingly used to assess the position of extinct taxa by incorporating morphological data from extinct and extant taxa together with molecular data from extant taxa in a united framework. Here we apply the method to two Cretaceous Burmese amber inclusions
Abstract Osoriinae is a highly diverse, globally distributed subfamily of rove beetles (Staphylinidae), but only a single Mesozoic species, Mesallotrochus longiantennatus Cai & Huang, in mid‐Cretaceous Burmese amber is known (age c . 99 Ma). Leptochirini, which is primarily found in decaying wood in the tropics, is one of the four tribes of osoriine rove beetles. The diversity of cephalic tooth shapes in adults has attracted special research attention with regard to the evolution and classif
The Japanese species of the seashore-dwelling subgenera Emplenota Casey and Triochara Bernhauer of the genus Aleochara Gravenhorst are revised. Five species are recognised in Emplenota, of which three are described as new species: Aleochara (Emplenota) segregata n. sp., A. (E.) hayamai n. sp. and A. (E.) yamato n. sp. The remaining known species A. (E.) fucicola Sharp and A. (E.) puetzi (Assing) are redescribed. Three species recognised in Triochara, Aleochara (Triochara) trisulcata Weise, A. (T
Beetles (Coleoptera) comprise about one quarter of all described animal species. One of the main contributors to their evolutionary success is the elytra, or hardened forewings, which have protective functions while maintaining their ability to fly. Unlike other beetles, some ship-timber beetles (Lymexylidae) have extremely small elytra and largely exposed functional hindwings. There is little fossil evidence illuminating the evolutionary history of short elytra in lymexylids. Here, I report fiv
Fossil records of piestine rove beetles are very limited, with only two definite species from Mesozoic Chinese compressions, a single taxon from mid-Eocene Baltic amber and a doubtful Oligocene compression fossil from France. Here, a remarkable new genus and species, Propiestus archaicus gen. et sp. nov., is described based on a well-preserved individual in Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber from northern Myanmar (Cenomanian, c. 99 Ma). It represents the first piestine fossil found in Mesozoic amber
A total of 14 species in seven tingid genera have been described from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese (Kachin) amber from northern Myanmar, with very distinct paleofauna. Here, a new species of a new genus, Burmavianaida anomalocapitata gen. et sp. nov., is described from Kachin amber. This new species can be readily distinguished from the other described tingid taxa by the apparently smaller body and the structures of the pronotum and hemelytron. Burmavianaida gen. nov. shares the diagnostic charact
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