Bolitogyrus buphthalmus (Erichson, 1840)

Brunke, Adam J. & Solodovnikov, Alexey, 2014, A revision of the Neotropical species of Bolitogyrus Chevrolat, a geographically disjunct lineage of Staphylinini (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae), ZooKeys 423, pp. 1-113 : 17

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Staphylinidae

Bolitogyrus buphthalmus (Erichson, 1840) Figs 1A, 4 A–B, 15 A–D, 23A, 25 E–F, 29A (map)

Quedius buphthalmus Erichson, 1840: 534

Cyrtothorax buphthalmus : Sharp 1884: 340

Cyrtothorax cyanescens Sharp, 1884: 341, syn. n.

Cyrtothorax buphthalmus : Fauvel 1878: 164 (in key)

Cyrtothorax buphthalmus : Scheerpeltz 1974: 180 (in key)

Bolitogyrus buphthalmus : Navarrete-Heredia et al. 2002 (distributional data)

Bolitogyrus buphthalmus : Márquez 2006: 184 (distributional data)

Type locality.

‘Mexico’.

Type material.

Quedius buphthalmus Erichson, 1840

Syntype (♀, BMNH): [specimen minution mounted on card], 3I. [small white label]/ 106 [small pink label]/ France [white label]/ Sharp Coll., 1905.-313 [upside down] / Cyrtothorax Sallei Kraatz, Berl. Ent. Zeitsch., 1858. p 366 pls … [rest illegible]/ Coll. Chevrolat [small label, hand printed in Sharp’s hand]/ Quedius, Buphthalmus Er, [in Chevrolat’s hand, illegible notation underneath], cribricollis Chev. Cat Dej Bolitogyrus , Sallé, Mexico [large green label with confused history] / Syntype ♀, Quedius buphthalmus Erichson, 1840, Des. Brunke 2013 [red label].

Erichson (1840) stated that his description of this species was based on material from the Chevrolat collection. The entire Staphylinidae portion of this collection was accessed by the British Museum under the care of D. Sharp ( Horn et al. 1990a). The single female detailed above (Fig. 4B) is the only specimen of Bolitogyrus present in the Chevrolat collection at the BMNH. Although the green label (Fig. 4A) bears the name 'Quedius buphthalmus Er.' in Chevrolat’s hand (similar to that in Horn et al. 1990b) and the label 'coll. Chevrolat’ (in Sharp’s hand) confirm that this specimen belonged to Chevrolat, Erichson’s handwriting is missing from any labels currently on the specimen. The multiple names and entries on the green label (Fig. 4A) demonstrates the original confusion surrounding the type species of the genus and an unavailable name (' Bolitogyrus cribripennis '). For details see 'Taxonomic History’ above. However, the text ' Quedius buphthalmus Er. Mexico’ appears to be the original entry of the label. Erichson (1840) did not provide any evidence that only one specimen was included in the type series of Quedius buphthalmus and so this specimen is interpreted as a syntype of that species. The Latin expression 'insectum singulare’ at the beginning of his description means 'unique insect’ and refers to the habitus of the specimen, unique among described taxa. This interpretation is consistent with the style of Erichson (1840), who typically commented on the habitus of his species at the beginning of his descriptions. This specimen is consistent with the original description and the concept for this species given in the present work. Bolitogyrus buphthalmus is interpreted here as the most common species of the buphthalmus group occurring in Mexico. We have no doubt that this was the species described by Erichson as the female syntype has completely dark coxae, which would exclude the similar Bolitogyrus sallei Kraatz, and the abdominal microsculpture is extremely fine, excluding Bolitogyrus newtoni Brunke, sp. n.