A revision of the West Palaearctic Scopaeus sericans species group (Staphylinidae, Paederinae: Scopaeina), with description of two new species from Central Asia

Abstract

The Scopaeus sericans species group, which is distributed in the West Palaearctic, is described and proposed a monophyletic group using apomorphic characters of the aedeagus and the spermatheca. It includes the S. sericans subgroup in the mountains of southern temperate Europe, comprising S. cylindricus Ochs, 1953 (France, Spain) and S. sericans Mulsant & Rey, 1855 (Alps, Carpathians, very north of Apennines), and the Central Asian S. sareptanus subgroup with S. kastcheevi sp. n. (Kazakhstan, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan), S. turkestanicus sp. n. (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan), and S. sareptanus Gusarov, 1992 (Kazakhstan, South Russia, Uzbekistan). The species are described, mainly based on the primary and secondary male and female sexual characters, and their distribution is discussed and mapped. Examined specimens of S. sericans are from Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Ukraine. Reference specimens for records for Poland (Beskid Mts) and Romania seem to be lost. In contrast to the literature records, S. sericans is not distributed in the Canary Islands, North Africa, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, Corsica, and Croatia. New country records are published for S. cylindricus (France) and S. sareptanus (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan). A lectotype is designated for S. sericans. (© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)