Quedius (Raphirus) fulvicollis Stephens, 1833

Salnitska, Maria & Solodovnikov, Alexey, 2018, Revision of the Quedius fauna of Middle Asia (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Staphylininae), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 65 (2), pp. 117-159 : 141

Quedius (Raphirus) fulvicollis Stephens, 1833 Fig. 23

Quedius fulvicollis : Herman 2001, 3159 (summary of literature); Assing and Schülke 2012, 481, 482 (diagnosis, distribution and bionomics, aedeagus illustration); Klimenko 1960, 121 (distribution records)

Material examined.

One of the male paratypes of Q. ouzbekiscus (new synonym of Q. hauseri , see above), for details see material examined for Q. hauseri and Fig. 23

Comments on taxonomy, distribution and bionomics.

One of the male paratypes of Q. ouzbekiscus (new synonym of Q. hauseri ) was in fact a different species that we tentatively identify as Q. fulvicollis . It can be easily distinguished from Q. hauseri by the shape of the paramere (compare Fig. 23C and Figs 19C, 21C, respectively). Quedius fulvicollis is considered a widely distributed Holarctic species, in Asia confined to Siberia and Russian Far East ( Schülke and Smetana, 2015). The specimen from Chatkal Mountains in Uzbekistan examined here would be a distinct southernmost record for this species in the Palaearctic region and the first record for Middle Asia. In this respect it is noteworthy that it comes from ca. 1500 m of elevation. Also it is remarkable that this specimen from Middle Asia stands out from the variability range of Q. fulvicollis by the very narrow middle portion of the paramere and shorter and more irregular rows of peg setae. It well may be that our specimen represents a species new to science. Given the poorly studied variation of Q. fulvicollis , which itself maybe a complex of species and very limited material from Middle Asia, a decision on this matter is pending further study.

In general Q. fulvicollis prefers forest landscapes and usually can be found in wet ground-based debris, at banks of ponds, forest lakes and in swampy areas. Apart from the elevation, no bionomic data is available for the Middle Asian specimen. An earlier record of Q. fulvicollis from Tajikistan in Klimenko (1996) was based on uncertain material and needs verification.