Revision of Athetini

Systematic revision of the aleocharine tribe Athetini Casey, 1910
(Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), with particular reference to Nearctric fauna 

Staphylinidae is the largest family of beetles with about 50,000 described species and about half a thousand additional new species described annually (Newton et al. 2000). The subfamily Aleocharinae of staphylinid beetles includes over 1,000 genera and over 12,000 described species world-wide. With about 1,500 described species, and at least twice as many undescribed species the Nearctic Aleocharinae will outnumber all families of beetles, perhaps except weevils. Aleocharine staphylinids are diverse and often dominant in all types of terrestrial habitats. They have been demonstrated to be good indicators of local biodiversity and important agents in pest control.

Most groups of Nearctic aleocharines have never been revised. Casey, who described the majority of Nearctic species about 100 years ago (Casey 1906, 1910, 1911), relied exclusively on external characters to separate his species. My revision of his types proved that he often described the same species several (up to 14!) times (Gusarov 2003d). In my work on staphylinids I rely on the details of male and female genitalia which allows me to distinguish externally similar species.

At the rank of genus the current knowledge of most groups of Aleocharinae is also very poor. In the tribe Athetini there are three independent and conflicting classifications developed in Western Europe (Benick & Lohse 1974), North America (Seevers 1978; Ashe in Newton et al. 2000) and Japan (Yosii & Sawada 1976), despite the fact that most athetine genera occur both in North America and across Eurasia. Phylogenetic analysis of most aleocharine tribes has never been conducted. My preliminary morphology-based results suggest that Lomechusini is an in-group of Athetini which should also include some genera currently placed in other tribes of Aleocharinae. There are no published tribal revisions of the entire subfamily Aleocharinae based on phylogenetic analysis. Relationships between the tribes of the higher Aleocharines remain unresolved in the only published tree (Ashe 1998).

I have examined the types of all Nearctic athetine species (about 700 nominal species), established numerous synonymies (Gusarov 2001-2003; Gusarov, 2003e), reassigned species to correct genera and revised the following genera:

References

Ashe, J. S. (1998). Subfamily Aleocharinae. In: Maddison, D. R. & W. P. Maddison. The Tree of Life: A distributed internet containing information about phylogeny and biodiversity. Internet address: <http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Aleocharinae&contgroup=Staphylinidae>.

Ashe, J.S. & Gusarov, V.I. (2004). Review of the genus Sableta Casey, 1910 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Athetini). Zootaxa, 745, 1-15 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2004f/zt00745.pdf>].

Benick, G. & Lohse, G.A. (1974). 14. Tribus: Callicerini (Athetae). In: Freude, H., Harde, K.W. & Lohse, G.A. (Eds.), Die Käfer Mitteleuropas. Band 5, Staphylinidae II (Hypocyphtinae und Aleocharinae). Pselaphidae. Krefeld: Goecke & Evers Verlag, pp. 72-220.

Casey, T. L. (1906). Observations on the staphylinid groups Aleocharinae and Xantholinini, chiefly of America. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St.Louis, 16, 125-434.

Casey, T. L. (1910). New Species of the Staphylinid Tribe Myrmedoniini. Memoirs on the Coleoptera I. Lancaster: The New Era Printing Company, pp.1-183.

Casey, T. L. (1911). New American species of Aleocharinae and Myllaeninae. Memoirs on the Coleoptera II. Lancaster: The New Era Printing Company, pp.1-245.

Gusarov, V.I. (2001-2003; last updated: December 15, 2003). A catalogue of the athetine species of America north of Mexico (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Athetini): <http://www.nhm.ku.edu/ksem/peet/catalogs/cataweb.htm>.

Gusarov, V.I. (2002a). A revision of Nearctic species of the genus Tomoglossa Kraatz, 1856 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae). Zootaxa, 30, 1-19 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2002f/zt00030.pdf>].

Gusarov, V.I. (2002b). A revision of the genus Microlia Casey, 1910 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Hoplandriini). Zootaxa, 34, 1-24 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2002f/zt00034.pdf>].

Gusarov, V.I. (2002c). A revision of Nearctic species of the genus Geostiba Thomson, 1858 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae). Zootaxa, 81, 1-88 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2002f/zt00081.pdf>].

Gusarov, V.I. (2002d). A revision of Nearctic species of the genus Earota Mulsant & Rey, 1874 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae). Zootaxa, 92, 1-16 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2002f/zt00092.pdf>].

Gusarov, V.I. (2002e). A revision of Nearctic species of the genus Tropimenelytron Pace, 1983 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), a new genus for North America. Zootaxa, 114, 1-24 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2002f/zt00114.pdf>].

Gusarov, V.I. (2003a). A revision of the genus Seeversiella Ashe, 1986 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae). Zootaxa, 142, 1-102 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2003f/zt00142.pdf>].

Gusarov, V.I. (2003b). A revision of the genus Goniusa Casey, 1906 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae). Zootaxa, 164, 1-20 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2003f/zt00164.pdf>].

Gusarov, V.I. (2003c). A revision of Nearctic species of the genera Adota Casey, 1910 and Psammostiba Yosii & Sawada, 1976 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae). Zootaxa, 185, 1-35 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2003f/zt00185.pdf>].

Gusarov, V.I. (2003d). A Revision of the Nearctic Species of the Genus Stethusa Casey, 1910 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae). Zootaxa, 239, 1-43 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2003f/zt00239.pdf>].

Gusarov, V.I. (2003e). Revision of some types of North American aleocharines (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), with synonymic notes. Zootaxa, 353, 1-134 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2003f/zt00353.pdf>].

Gusarov, V.I. (2004a). A revision of the Nearctic species of the genus Halobrecta Thomson, 1858 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae) with notes on some Palaearctic species of the genus. Zootaxa, 746, 1-25 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2004f/zt00746.pdf>].

Gusarov, V.I. (2004b). A revision of the genus Lypoglossa Fenyes, 1918 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae). Zootaxa, 747, 1-36 [Accessible free of charge at <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2004f/zt00747.pdf>].

Herman, L.H. (2001). Catalog of the Staphylinidae (Insecta: Coleoptera). 1758 to the end of the second millenium. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 265, i-vi, 1-4218.

Newton, A.F., Thayer, M.K., Ashe, J.S. & Chandler, D.S. (2000). Staphylinidae Latreille, 1802. In: Arnett, R.H., Thomas, M.C. (Eds.), American Beetles. Vol.1. Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga: Staphyliniformia. Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp. 272-418.

Seevers, C.H. (1978). A generic and tribal revision of the North American Aleocharinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). Fieldiana: Zoology, 71, vi + 275 pp.

Yosii R. & Sawada, K. (1976). Studies on the genus Atheta Thomson and its allies (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae). II: Diagnostic characters of Genera and Subgenera with description of representative Species. Contributions from the Biological Laboratory, Kyoto University, 25(1), 11-140.

Last updated: April 16, 2009

Published Nov. 20, 2014 10:18 AM - Last modified Sep. 7, 2015 4:31 PM
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