Atheta vestita (Gravenhorst, 1806)

Majka, Christopher, Klimaszewski, Jan & Lauff, Randolph, 2008, The coastal rove beetles (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) of Atlantic Canada: a survey and new records, ZooKeys 2 (2), pp. 115-150 : 127

Atheta vestita (Gravenhorst, 1806)

NEW BRUNSWICK: Albert Co.: Mary’s Point , 12.VIII.2004, C.G. Majka, sandy shore, beach drift, (7, CGMC) ; Shepody National Wildlife Area, 31.V.2004, R.P. Webster, sea beach, beach drift material, (3, RWC). NOVA SCOTIA: Cape Breton Co.: Sydney, South Bar , 20.VI.1996, D.B. McCorquodale, (1, CBU) ; Digby Co.: Brier Island, Pond Cove , 22.VI.2003, J. Ogden and K. Goodwin, rocky shore, pitfall trap, (1, JOC) .

Atheta vestita is a Palearctic species newly recorded in North America from New Brunswick by Klimaszewski et al. (2006) in beach drift material. Its distribution in North America is shown in Fig. 13 . In Scandinavia, the Baltic region, Great Britain, Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands this macropterous species is found almost exclusively on sandy and gravelly seashores where it occurs beneath decaying seaweed on the strand line ( Lindroth 1931; Larsson and Gígja 1959; Böcher 1988), however, in the Faroe Islands it has also been reported from grassland and waste land environments close to the seashore ( Bengtson 1981). Given the maritime biology of this species, and the distribution of this species around the margins of the North Atlantic, further investigations should be conducted in Atlantic Canada and New England to determine the extent of its distribution and to examine whether it might be a naturally-occurring Holarctic species.

Figures

Fig. 13. The distribution of Atheta vestita, Falagria dissecta, Myrmecopora vaga, Stenus erythropus, and Ochthephilum fracticorne in Atlantic Canada.