Aleochara Gravenhorst, 1802

Yamamoto, Shûhei & Maruyama, Munetoshi, 2012, Revision of the Seashore-dwelling Subgenera Emplenota Casey and Triochara Bernhauer (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: genus Aleochara) from Japan, Zootaxa 3517, pp. 1-52 : 5

Genus Aleochara Gravenhorst, 1802

Aleochara Gravenhorst, 1802: 67 (original description; type species: Staphylinus curtulus Goeze, 1777 ).

See, Klimaszewski (1984), Smetana (2004) and Gouix & Klimaszewski (2007) for further synonymic information.

Redescription. Body: small to large, medium to large in many cases; overall shape diverse, normally more or less broad: compact and robust, more or less fusiform or cylindrical and rarely slender and narrow (Ashe & Maus, 1998). Colour: uniformly reddish brown to black in most cases, sometimes elytra lighter or with maculations. Head: head capsule somewhat circular to more or less transverse. Antennae: 11-segmented, scape somewhat clavated, normally longer or as long as pedicel ( Klimaszewski, 1984). Mouthparts: lacinia wide, multispinose; galea wide, as long as lacinia ( Klimaszewski, 1984). Thorax: mesoventrite variable, without carina to with complete carina. Legs: normally medium length; mesocoxae narrowly separated, with long process of mesoventrite. Abdomen: simple and normally fusiform; tergite of segments III–V impressed transversely at base. Genitalia: median lobe of aedeagus in male, usually with flagellum inside. Spermatheca of female, which are differently modified in different subgenera ( Klimaszewski & Jansen, 1993), but with some exceptions. Detail descriptions are in Klimaszewski (1984).

Comments. Adults predate upon eggs, larvae, and puparia of flies; most known larvae are internal parasitoids of cyclorrhaphous flies ( Peschke & Fuldner, 1977; Seevers, 1978; Klimaszewski, 1984; Maus et al., 1998ab, 2001; Yamazaki, 2008, 2012). Thus, Aleochara species are considered economically important as host agents. In contrast to the accumulation of ecological knowledge for some particular species, the taxonomy at the subgeneric level and the evolution and phylogeny of this group are poorly known.

Studies of Japanese species of Aleochara are also still incomplete and only 22 species in 6 subgenera have been recorded. Revisions of each subgenus for the Japanese species are also required.