Scaphium castanipes Kirby, 1837

Löbl, Ivan & Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2024, Notes on Scaphium Kirby (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scaphidiinae) with establishment of a new synonymy, Zootaxa 5538 (5), pp. 465-472 : 467

Scaphium castanipes Kirby

Scaphium castanipes Kirby, 1837: 109

Scaphium ferrugineum Reitter, 1880: 41 ; syn. n.

( Figs 1–12 )

Remarks. The type material of S. castanipes comes from “a journey from New York to Cumberland-house” ( Kirby 1837). Subsequently, several authors provided new records and/or mentioned some of the adult characters ( Casey 1893; Bowditch 1896; Clark 1949; Hatch 1957; Campbell 1991; Downie & Arnett 1996; Newton et al. 2000; Betz et al. 2003; Webster et al. 2012). The larval characters are given by Ashe (1984), Newton (1991), and Leschen (1993).

Natural history. Leschen (1983) noted S. castanipes feeding on Basidiomycetes. Ashe (1984) gave as host fungi Collybia sp. , Cortinarius sp. and Russula sp. According to Newton (1991) the species feeds on hyphae of mushrooms and coral fungi ( Agaricales and Clavariaceae ). Many specimens were trapped by late A. Smetana in heaps of rotting fungi in the Yucon Territory (A. Smetana, personal comm.).

Synonymy. The type material of S. ferrugineum is a single female, bearing following labels: Cap b. sp. Chevrolat (handwritten) / ferrugineum 1879. m. (handwritten, likely by E. Reitter) / TYPE (printed on red label) / ferrugineum Rtt (handwritten) / Lectotype Scaphium ferruginueum Reitt. (handwritten) det. Löbl 1987 (printed) (MNHN). This specimen does not exhibit any relevant distinguishing characters from S. castanipes . Thus, S. ferrugineum Reitter, 1880 is here placed in synonymy of the latter name.

Lectotype designation. Reitter (1880) has not mentioned the number of examined specimens. To avoid any future confusion, the sole available type specimen is here designated as lectotype.

Distribution range. Throughout Canada, the Northern United States and Alaska.

Figures

FIGURES 1–12. Scaphium castanipes Kirby, male (1–11) and female (12). Dorsal (1) and lateral (2) habitus; left antenna in dorsal view (3); protibia (4), mesotibia (5), and metatibia (6) in dorsal view; pterothorax in ventral view (7), aedeagus in dorsal (8,10) and lateral (9, 11) views; gonocoxites (12).