Catalogue of the Short-winged Mould Beetles of Panama (Coleoptera: Pselaphidae)*

Abstract

Abstract The Pselaphidae, or short-winged mould beetles, are a large family whose members are small (usually less than 4mm in length), rather inconspicuously coloured, and thus not easily noticed in their cryptic habitats. Individuals may be found in leaf litter, rotten wood, or under bark, grass sod, rocks, and in ant or termite nests. Most species are associated with leaf litters, and are collected primarily by processing leaf or rotten wood samples in the laboratory with a Berlese funnel. Many tropical species may be most easily collected due to their attraction to ultraviolet light. Pselaphids are predators, and feed on the small worms and arthropods found in their environment. There are currently 173 named species of Pselaphidae known from Panama. A number of additional names are in a published letter of Motschulsky (1855), who collected at Obispo on the road traversing the isthmus. The majority of these names have been ignored by subsequent authors, with twenty of the names now considered valid. These species are impossible to recognize or place in genera due to the brevity of their descriptions and placement in genera that are not neotropical. These names are listed following the catalogue, with their probable tribal placement.