An island giant: describing a new species of rove beetle from
the Chatham Islands REU 2010 Projects The rove beetle genus
Omaliomimus is one of several in the large family Staphylinidae
that live on ocean beaches - the edge of a habitat that is
scarcely occupied by insects. The ten described Omaliomimus
species are known from New Zealand proper, its subantarctic
islands, and Australia's Macquarie Island (south of New Zealand
and Australia), where they live in washed-up rotting seaweed or
occasionally birds' nests or dead birds. The currently valid
species were described between 1877 and 1911, but recent
collecting in the Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand, has
turned up a huge species not yet described and not known from
anywhere else. At 6 mm long, the adults are much larger than any
previously described Omaliomimus species and 50% longer than
most. As is common in rove beetles, larvae of the new species
were collected with the adults. As a contribution to ongoing
broader studies of the fauna of the Chatha